Jing-Ke Weng received his B.S. (2003) in Biotechnology from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. He received his Ph.D. (2009) in Biochemistry from Purdue University, and was a pioneer postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Howard Hughs Medical Institute between 2009 and 2013. Currently he is a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and an Associate Professor of Biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Weng's research focuses on understanding the origin and evolution of plant specialized metabolism at enzyme, pathway, and systems levels, as well as how plants exploit discrete small molecules to interact with their surrounding biotic and abiotic environments. In addition, he utilizes plant as a unique model system to study human diseases, including metabolic syndromes and neurodegenerative diseases.