Erika Alden DeBenedictis

I’m a computational physicist and molecular biologist. I’m interested in solving big problems using evolution. Today I’m a serial founder supported by The Astera Institute’s Residency program.

I received a PhD in Biological Engineering from MIT in 2021 and a BS in Computer Science from Caltech in 2014. I did a postdoc in David Baker’s Lab, where I worked on machine learning for protein design. I’ve also worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Sandia National Laboratories, Dropbox, and D. E. Shaw Research.

Top of the mind: A podcast I was on about the future biotech-fueled space travel, and an interview where I talk about the origins of life.

Most recently

Pioneer Labs

I am the CEO of Pioneer Labs, a nonprofit startup engineering microbes for Mars.

The Biodesign Laboratory

I ran an academic lab at the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK. We use Robotics-Accelerated Evolution to push the limits of biotech for use on Earth and in Space.