Ellen Jorgensen

My research interests have encompassed such diverse areas as free radicals in disease, DNA fingerprinting, virus protein structure/function relationships, and cancer biomarkers. In 1993 I helped found the nonprofit Sabin Vaccine Institute and served as its Scientific Program Director. I've held a variety of research & development positions in the biotechnology industry. From 2001 to 2009 I directed a comprehensive program to develop early detection biomarkers of lung cancer, integrating data from studies utilizing high-density expression arrays, proteomics, phosphomics, and laser scanning cytometry. In 2009 I returned to the nonprofit sphere by co-founding Genspace NYC, the world’s first community biotechnology laboratory. Its mission is to promote science literacy and demystify the latest advances in biotechnology and synthetic biology though education, outreach, and engaging the general public in a hands-on manner. I was the head mentor for a gold medal-winning team housed at Genspace and composed of students from Cooper Union and the Columbia School of Architecture who successfully competed in the 2011 International Genetically Engineered Machine competition. I've spearheaded many of Genspace’s unique outreach programs such as the collaborative effort between the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Genspace to mentor students competing in the Urban Barcode Project. For the past two years I have served as Genspace’s president, and our efforts to develop Genspace into a haven for entrepreneurship, innovation and citizen science have been chronicled in Nature Medicine, BBC News, Science, Discover Magazine, Dan Rather Reports, and the science section of the New York Times. My 2012 TEDGlobal talk encourages everyone to participate in hands-on bioscience.

June 2013