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Yonatan Chemla

Yonatan Chemla

Assistant Professor of Bioengineering
Email:
chemla@ucsb.edu
Office:
3106 Bioengineering
Website:
Chemla Lab
Twitter Link:
Twitter/X
Publications:
Publications

Biography

Yonatan Chemla is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his B.Sc. (Honors) in Biological Engineering from Ben-Gurion University (2014) and his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences with an emphasis on Molecular and Synthetic Biology from Ben-Gurion University (2020), where he worked with Profs. Lital Alfonta and Michael Meijler on mRNA translation and termination in bacterial operons, genetic code expansion, and quantitative omics methods. He then joined MIT's Department of Biological Engineering as an HFSP Postdoctoral Fellow and
subsequently a K99 Pathway to Independence Fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Christopher Voigt, supported by an NIH K99/R00 award.

His research bridges fundamental molecular biology with the challenge of deploying engineered organisms in real-world environments. He has developed sequence-to-function design principles for mRNA structure, translation, and stability; engineered genetically encoded hyperspectral reporters that enable biological detection across scales from bench microscopes to satellite remote sensing; and led quantitative studies of horizontal gene transfer risk in environmental settings. Beyond the laboratory, he has authored scientific and policy publications on environmental biotechnology and advised government agencies, international organizations, and industry on the governance and responsible release of engineered organisms—toward applications spanning pollutant sensing and remediation to human health.

Research

The Chemla Lab makes engineered biology predictable, observable, and deployable for applications beyond the lab, in the real world, developing mRNA design principles for sequence-level control of gene expression, hyperspectral reporters detectable from bench microscopes to satellite remote sensing, and the ecological design and governance frameworks needed to responsibly release engineered organisms into the environment for applications spanning pollutant sensing and remediation to human health.