AB/BE candidate Camilo Toruno '20 was awarded The Mazilu Engineering Research Fellowship for 2019–2020. The award will support Toruno's work with Dartmouth engineering professor Rahul Sarpeshkar on biological cellular chemical production for sustainability.

Camilo Toruno '20

"I’m grateful for the committee’s vote of confidence in my project to develop biological cellular chemical production, an exciting avenue towards sustainability," says Toruno. "I’m also extremely grateful to Professor Sarpeshkar for his guidance and support of my project, and its goals, and the other professors who’ve provided guidance along the way. And, of course, I’m grateful for the Mazilu family generously supporting this research.

"I’m excited to apply the techniques and tools that Sarpeshkar has developed towards sustainability. We are using a fascinating mixture of analog circuit theory, evolutionary techniques, and metabolic engineering—something that, to our knowledge, hasn’t been done before. It’s an exciting time to be in the field of bioengineering, and the interdisciplinary nature of the work fits in beautifully with Thayer’s goal of creating broadly educated engineers to solve the big problems of our day."

"I am happy that Camilo is interested in taking fundamental synthetic circuits in living cells from my lab and using them to innovate systems that can be useful in biotechnology," says Professor Sarpeshkar. "The Mazilu Fellowship will provide valuable support for doing so."