The Center for Synthetic Biology, in collaboration with the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern, is pleased to welcome Dario Robleto, award-winning multi-media artist, for a screening of his film Ancient Beacons Long for Notice. This third part of Robleto’s trilogy explores the legacy of the “Golden Record”—a gold disc representing Earth's diverse life and cultures, sent beyond our solar system on NASA’s Voyager space probes. The film asks a core question:“ is our moral obligation to fully account for our actions—the good and the bad—in perpetuity, off-planet, and to beings we have yet to confirm exist?” A community conversation after the screening will explore this question in the context of synthetic biology’s history, encouraging us to consider its ethical implications as we forecast the future.

Dario Robleto’s work has been widely exhibited and is held in prominent collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. A portfolio of the artists prints titled The First Time, The Heart (A Portrait of Life 1854–1913) was acquired by the Block in 2018 with support of Northwestern Engineering. His work has also been featured in numerous media outlets, including Krista Tippett’s On Being and The New York Times. Robleto has held numerous artist-in-residence positions at prestigious institutions, including the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. In 2025, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Middlebury College.

From 2018 to 2023, Robleto Served as Artist-at-Large at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and the Block Museum of Art, where he developed and screened the first two parts of his trilogy about the history of the heart and the Golden Record. The residency culminated in the exhibition The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto, as well as a publication of the same name. During his time at Northwestern, Robleto built strong ties with the Center for Synthetic Biology and explored the intersection of art, technology, and ethics in society.

This event leads up to the Center for Synthetic Biology’s 10-year Anniversary, where Robleto is leading the development of a time capsule representing the future of synthetic biology at Northwestern and in the world.

Event Details - Northwestern University, Evanston Campus
📅 Wednesday, April 15, 2026
🕒 3:00–5:00 PM | Film Screening & Discussion
📍 The Block Museum of Art

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Please join us for the annual BME Jaharis Lecture.

Dr. Omid Veiseh from Rice University presents "Bioengineering Cell-based Therapeutics"

Abstract: Cell-based therapeutics are an emerging modality that can potentially treat many currently intractable diseases through uniquely powerful modes of action. Our group is innovating new biomaterials and cellular constructs for medicine and biology by combining chemical biology, cellular engineering, and multi-scale fabrication. We have pioneered innovative approaches to synthesizing and in vivo screening of large libraries of biomaterial formulations for tailored applications in immunology and medicine. In my talk, I will describe our advances in discovering immunomodulatory biomaterials that can interact appropriately with the host immune system for localized immunomodulation. I will highlight our efforts to develop “cytokine factories” locally activating the innate and adaptive immune response to generate systemic immunotherapy and eradicate metastatic cancer. This approach has advanced to phase I/II human clinical trials for treating recurrent, refractory ovarian cancer.

Bio: Dr. Omid Veiseh, Ph.D., is a Professor and CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research in the Departments of Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University. He is also the Director of Rice University's Biotech Launch Pad, a new initiative with a mission to accelerate the translation of Rice University discoveries and technologies into clinical practice to provide rapid patient access to leading-edge therapeutic products. He leads an interdisciplinary translational research program to engineer and commercialize next-generation cell-based therapeutics for various human diseases. His team leverages the latest techniques in synthetic biology, immunoengineering, and materials science to develop innovative cell-based platforms for real-time and feedback-regulated production of biologics. Throughout his career, he has authored or co-authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications, including those in Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Materials, Nature Medicine, and Nature Biomedical Engineering. He is an inventor on more than 50 pending or awarded patents. He is also a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded multiple biotechnology companies, collectively attracting ~ $500M in private and public investment capital. Dr. Veiseh has been elected as a fellow of the Controlled Release Society and a member of the National Academy of Inventors.

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Integrating Engineering Education into BME

Abstract

Engineering Education Research (EER) is a rigorous, interdisciplinary field which is distinct from other engineering disciplines. Scholars in EER focus on and apply research methods from education, learning sciences, and socialbehavioral sciences to address a variety of issues pertaining to teaching, learning, and practice in the process of educating engineers. EER uses research processes similar to those used in traditional engineering disciplines, but it relies on different (equally rigorous) methods and mechanisms to achieve and measure impact in the field. There are currently only doctoral programs related to engineering education and a few general engineering degree programs including some online credentialing offerings. More universities are embedding engineering education scholars into traditional engineering departments. The focus of this talk will explore the question of How Can EER be integrated into a BME department? To support this discussion, I will briefly describe the history that led to the development of engineering education as an independent research field and how I apply design principles to education research. I will highlight the similarities between BME and engineering education research and provide an overview of the current research projects within the Cross Inclusive Excellence in Engineering research group. I will summarize a few opportunities for the department to integrate EER into BME. The talk will conclude with a few guiding questions posed to the entire department that can lead to more discussion about the education mission of the department.

Bio

Dr. Kelly J. Cross, Assistant Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Georgia Tech and Emory University, is a datainformed, transformational mission-focused culturally responsive practitioner, researcher, and educational leader. She earned her Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University in 2007 and Masters of Science in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 2011. Cross completed her doctoral program in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech in 2015 and worked as a post-doctoral scholar in the Bioengineering Department at UIUC until 2017. She is a member of the ASEE Leadership Virtual Community of Practice (LVCP) that organizes and facilitates Safe Zone Training workshops. Dr. Cross has conducted online and in-person workshops on managing personal bias in STEM, inclusive teaching practices, and mitigating racialized power and privilege. Her research interests include inclusive excellence in STEM, the role of AI in BME curricula, interdisciplinary research, intersectionality, teamwork, and engineering identity construction. Dr. Cross is an NSF CAREER awardee; the national ITM Faculty Mentor of the Year Awardee; was named one of “1,000 Inspiring Black Scientists in America” by Cell Mentor; has delivered multiple distinguished invited lectures; and was lead co-Editor of the book Queering Stem Culture in US Higher Education, published in 2022. Her teaching philosophy focuses on student centered approaches such as problem-based learning and culturally relevant pedagogy. Dr. Cross’ complimentary professional activities promote inclusive excellence through collaboration.

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Mechanometabolic Control of Cell Behavior

Abstract

To move, cells must utilize ATP to fuel the cellular contractility and forces that sustain migration, however very little is known about how the metabolic state of a cell affects its ability to migrate and vice versa. In this talk, I will describe my lab’s efforts to understand the forces driving cell movements in the tumor microenvironment and the energy required for movement. Combining tissue engineering approaches, mouse models, and patient samples, we create and validate in vitro systems to understand how cells navigate the tumor stroma environment to identify novel targets of cancer metastasis. Microfabrication and native biomaterials are used to build mimics of the paths created and taken by cells during metastasis. Using these platforms, we have described a role for a balance between cellular energetics, cell and matrix stiffness, and confinement in determining migration behavior. Moreover, we have extended this work into investigating the intersection of diabetes and the diabetic tissue microenvironment with tumor progression, showing that mechanical changes in the tissue due to diabetes can promote cancer. Overall, our work has demonstrated key mechanical drivers of metastasis within the tissue microenvironment.

Bio

Cynthia Reinhart-King is the John W. Cox Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Bioengineering at Rice University. Before joining Rice, she was a University Distinguished Professor in Biomedical Engineering and Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University, where she also served as Senior Associate Dean for Research in the School of Engineering. She obtained undergraduate degrees in Chemical Engineering and Biology at MIT and her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Bioengineering. Her lab’s research interests are cell and tissue mechanobiology in cancer and atherosclerosis. She was awarded the Rita Schaffer Young Investigator Award, the inaugural Mid-Career Award, and the Herb Voigt Service Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society, an NSF CAREER Award, the Sonny Yau ‘72 Excellence in Teaching Award, the Cornell University Cook Award and the Zellman Warhaft Award from the Cornell College of Engineering, the Vanderbilt Chancellor’s Award for Research and the Edward J. White Service Award from the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering. She is a fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, and she was an inaugural New Voices Fellow of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. She served as a standing member of the NIH CMT study section panel, an elected Board Member of AIMBE, Secretary and Elected Board member of BMES, and Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of AIMBE. She is the current Past-President of the Biomedical Engineering Society.

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