Wendell Lim is the Byers Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and the Director of the Cell Design Institute at the University of California San Francisco. He received his A.B. in Chemistry, summa cum laude, from Harvard College, his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed his postdoctoral training at Yale University. His research focuses on the design principles of molecular circuits that govern cell decision-making and responses. His lab has made contributions in understanding the molecular machinery of cell signaling and how molecular modules have been used in evolution to build novel new behaviors. Most recently he has been a pioneer in the emerging field of synthetic biology, exploring how these design principles can be harnessed to engineer cells with customized therapeutic response programs. He was the founder of the cell therapy biotech startup, Cell Design Labs, which was acquired by Gilead Biosciences in 2017.