Northwestern Engineering’s Julius B. Lucks understands the value of lab work. As a professor of chemical and biological engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering and codirector of the Center for Synthetic Biology (CSB), Lucks and his lab investigate the molecular principles that enable biological systems to sense and adapt to changing environments. They then use the principles they discover, along with the techniques of synthetic biology, to develop new diagnostic technologies to tackle big societal challenges.

But Lucks stresses the importance of thinking beyond the science: learning about the people who will use new technology and their needs.

“Technologies can be beautiful and amazing and wonderful and special in the lab, and that’s cool,” Lucks said. “A lot of us in the field of synthetic biology are doing this because we believe it will make a difference for some of the world’s biggest problems… Continue reading.