Dr. Andrew Ellington received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Michigan State University in 1981, and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard in 1988. His post-doctoral work was with Dr. Jack Szostak at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he developed methods for the in vitro selection of functional nucleic acids and coined the term 'aptamer.' He originally received the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator, Cottrell, and Pew Scholar awards, and later was a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellow of the DoD and a Howard Hughes Professor. Dr. Ellington's lab works centers on the development of nucleic acid circuitry for point-of-care diagnostics, on accelerating the evolution of proteins and cells through the introduction of novel chemistries, and using orthogonal control systems to engineer complex organisms.