SynBioBeta Speaker
Jennifer Dionne
CEO / Professor
Pumpkinseed & Stanford
May 2026, SynBioBeta
Speaker
Jennifer (Jen) Dionne is a Professor of Materials Science and, by courtesy, of Radiology at Stanford. She is also deputy director of Q-NEXT (a DOE-funded National Quantum Initiative), a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator, and co-founder of Pumpkinseed, a protein-sequencing company. Jen received her B.S. degrees in Physics and Systems Science and Mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis, her Ph.D. in Applied Physics at Caltech, and her postdoctoral training in Chemistry at Berkeley. As a pioneer of nanophotonics, she is passionate about developing novel methods to detect and direct biochemical transformations, emphasizing critical challenges in global health and sustainability. Her lab has demonstrated how AI-enabled Raman spectroscopy can be used to identify pathogens and predict their antibiotic resistance; and to monitor drug susceptibility of melanoma. She also forged new ground in developing in vivo tools for mechanobiology. Finally, she has pioneered environmental transmission electron microscopy, providing atomic-scale insights that enable catalysts for sustainable chemical manufacturing. Her work has been recognized with the NSF Waterman Award, a NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, a Moore Inventor Fellowship, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, and was featured on Oprah’s list of “50 Things that will make you say ‘Wow’!”.
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