Dr. Timothy Downing has been on the faculty at UC Irvine since 2016 and holds a primary appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics. Tim received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2008 from Northwestern University and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley in 2013 under the mentorship of Dr. Song Li. As a Ford Foundation and UNCF/Merck Fellow, Tim completed his postdoctoral training in stem cell epigenomics with Dr. Alexander Meissner at Harvard University and the Broad Institute (Cambridge, Massachusetts). The Downing Lab focuses on understanding gene regulation during tissue development, regeneration, and disease progression. Building on this information, the lab also aims to develop molecular tools and biomaterials to synthetically regulate the epigenome for better control over cell fate and behavior. Tim is a 2019 NIH (DP2) New Innovator Award recipient and a 2020 recipient of the “Rising Star” Award from the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Special Interest Group within the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES).