hardware
Biosecurity devices I took from concept to production as the R&D lead on Ginkgo Bioworks’ Physical Products team, along with the BOMs, procurement, and quality work behind them.
biosecurity · ginkgo bioworks · 2020 – 2024
On the Physical Products team at Ginkgo Bioworks, I took five biosecurity products through concept, prototype, field trials, and production. These included aircraft wastewater collection devices deployed at SFO, Boston Logan, and JFK during the COVID-19 pandemic response, and pathogen-surveillance field kits shipped to Ukraine.
I ran R&D and engineering on the triturator collection device (v1 at SFO and Logan, v2 at JFK), designed the device disinfection station, and co-designed the v2 collection device and a passive collection device for low-resource settings.
what I owned
I owned the BOMs, materials forecasting, procurement, and production tracking for seven product lines, through prototyping and contract manufacturing. We produced thousands of school testing kits and hundreds of wastewater devices with dozens of vendors.
Supplier and materials contracting was mine too. I wrote and evaluated RFQs and RFPs, and built the assembly workflows, SOPs, and inventory processes that production ran on.
When devices failed in the field, I ran the failure analysis, built test rigs, and added verification checks to assembly and refurbishment. The field failure rate fell from about 2% to 0.1% in six months.
I built automated lot tracking on our barcode system for shipped vials and devices, so we could recall and investigate suspect lots and follow each device’s lifecycle and failures in the field.
For the Ukraine deployment, I wrote the requirements for the custom tracking system Ginkgo engineering built: chain of custody, kit performance, refurbishment cycles, and failure modes.
I proposed decentralized disinfection stations near airports, with a cost and risk analysis and a working prototype. The Rwanda airport program used the approach, and it cut turnaround time and cost.
Trained and coordinated with technicians and assemblers on kit workflows.
the seven product lines
the devices
Built during the pandemic for COVID-19 monitoring. I ran development, testing, procurement, and the manufacturing schedule.
The second version of the collection device. I co-designed it and managed its testing, procurement, and manufacturing, including the collection tool that attaches to it.
Prototyped from custom and off-the-shelf parts and deployed at SFO and Boston Logan. I ran its R&D, engineering, and procurement.
The second version, built mostly from custom parts. I led the concept and oversaw engineering. It was deployed at JFK.
Field operators needed a consistent way to disinfect collection devices. I designed and built the station and wrote its SOP and quality documentation.
Collects pathogen material passively for testing and disease monitoring in low-resource settings. I co-designed it.
2020 – 2024 · Ginkgo Bioworks · deployed at SFO · Boston Logan · JFK
other hands-on hardware
Lawrence Hall of Science
Prototyped hardware exhibits and wrote their SOPs.
Keys to the City
Restored five Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos for the Oakland instrument lending library and performance series I co-founded.
University of California, Irvine
Later taught physics and engineering at Oakland High School.