Dr. Jo Zayner is a visionary biochemist and genetic designer. For over 15 years, they have pioneered work in the field of bioengineering, publishing a number of scientific papers on the topic. Jo received their PhD in Biophysics from the University of Chicago, winning several awards for their work on engineering proteins.
They then spearheaded work on developing engineered microbes for Mars terraforming at NASA, eventually leaving to start The ODIN, a bioengineering company based in Austin, Texas that is working to make genetic engineering accessible to everyone.
Zayner’s groundbreaking work in human genetic engineering and medicine has been the focus of many documentaries, including the Netflix documentary Unnatural Selection and the NYT documentary Gut Hack. They have been made fun of on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and written about in media all over the world including The New York Times, The New Yorker, El País, Le Monde, Time, Scientific American and NPR, among others.
Somehow Jo still finds time to be an accomplished artist whose work has been featured in exhibits at San Francisco MoMA, Philadelphia Museum of Art, NY MoMA, ZKM and the Smithsonian. Zayner is transgender and uses they/she pronouns advocating for diversity, body autonomy and science for all.
Twitter: @4LovOfScience
Instagram: @jzayner
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/josiah.zayner