Originally from San Diego, CA, Gray moved to North Carolina for college and graduated from University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2013 (summa cum laude, 4.0) with a B.S. in Biology (biotechnology concentration) with chemistry and anthropology minors. In 2018, they ... completed their PhD in Kris Wood's lab at Duke University in the Molecular Cancer Biology program. Their work focused on utilizing functional genomics approaches to uncover novel vulnerabilities in cancers with intrinsic or acquired resistance to anti-cancer therapies. They were fortunate enough in graduate school to secure many fellowships and awards, most notably, The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, The NCI Pre- to Postdoctoral Transition Award (F99/K00), The BWF Graduate Diversity Enrichment Program, The Chancellor's Award for Research Excellence, and others. Following graduate school, Gray was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in the Genetics Department where they worked closely with another postdoc to understand the genetic liabilities associated with 3D growth in cancer spheroid models. Currently, they lead the mammalian cell engineering and functional screening team at an early stage start-up that pairs functional genomics and multiplexing technology to solve key bottlenecks in viral vector production. They attribute much of their success to the mentorship they received in high school, undergraduate, and graduate training. As such, Gray has a strong passion for mentoring undergraduates, early graduate students, and research technicians.

Jim Collins is the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering & Science and Professor of Biological Engineering at MIT, as well as a Member of the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology Faculty. He is also a Core Founding Faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically ... Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, and an Institute Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He is one of the founders of the field of synthetic biology, and his research group is currently focused on using synthetic biology to create next-generation diagnostics and therapeutics. Professor Collins' patented technologies have been licensed by over 25 biotech, pharma and medical devices companies, and he has co-founded a number of companies, including Synlogic, Senti Biosciences, Sherlock Biosciences and Cellarity, as well as Phare Bio, a non-profit focused on AI-driven antibiotic discovery. He has received numerous awards and honors, including a Rhodes Scholarship and a MacArthur "Genius" Award, and he is an elected member of all three national academies - the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine.

Can Dincer is currently junior research group leader at FIT Freiburg Center for Interactive Materials and Bioinspired Technologies and IMTEK - Department of Microsystems Engineering of the University of Freiburg. The main research interest of his group "Disposable Microsystems" ... is the development of bioanalytical microsystems for various applications including diagnostics, especially wearables and point-of-care diagnostics, food and environmental monitoring. Having completed his studies in microsystems engineering, Can received in 2016 his Ph.D. degree with summa cum laude from the University of Freiburg. In early 2017, he has been awarded by the second place in Gips-Schüle Young Scientist Award for his dissertation. Between June 2017 - June 2019, Can also worked as a visiting researcher at the Department of Bioengineering at the Imperial College London. In September 2019, he joined the editorial team of the journal "Biosensors and Bioelectronics" as an Associate Editor. In late 2019, Can received the Adolf Martens Prize in the category "Analytical Chemistry". In September 2020, he won the Best Paper Award 2020 of iba Heiligenstadt with his publication on the first CRISPR-powered electrochemical microfluidic biosensor in "Advanced Materials". Besides, in 2020 Can is also recognized within 25 early-stage investigators advancing the field of sensor science in the Special Issue "Rising Stars in Sensing" of the journal "ACS Sensors".