Jenn Brophy

Jenn Brophy is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University, where she leads a research lab focused on developing technologies for genetic engineering of plants and their associated microbes. Her work aims to uncover fundamental mechanisms of environmental stress resilience and to enable sustainable innovation in agriculture through synthetic biology. Her research integrates genetic circuit design, microbial engineering, and plant biology to create tools that allow precise control of gene expression across plant tissues and microbial communities. She is particularly interested in engineering non-model organisms and leveraging plant–microbe interactions to improve crop performance under environmental stress. She earned her Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she developed foundational tools for engineering non-model bacteria, and completed postdoctoral research at Stanford University working on synthetic genetic circuits for spatial control of gene expression in plants. Her interdisciplinary research bridges bioengineering, synthetic biology, and agricultural science. Their research directions are illustrated by key works including "Assessing the Feasibility of Ion Beam-Based Asteroid Deflection for Planetary Defense", and "Comparison of Planetary Defense Deflection Methods".