School of Humanities and Sciences
Showing 691-700 of 5,635 Results
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Lynette Cegelski
Monroe E. Spaght Professor of Chemistry and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemical Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur laboratory uncovers the chemical principles that organize living systems. Across biology - from microbial communities to human disease - chemical and macromolecular composition, molecular interactions, and chemical modifications govern the assembly, function, and persistence of complex biological systems, yet many of these principles remain hidden from conventional approaches. We develop innovative chemical, structural, and biological strategies to preserve and interrogate intact biological systems, revealing chemistry that cannot be observed by studying isolated components alone. Our work has uncovered previously unknown molecular structures, chemical modifications, and mechanisms of biological organization, including the discovery of phosphoethanolamine (pEtN) cellulose, a chemically modified form of cellulose that fundamentally changed our understanding of bacterial extracellular matrices.
In parallel, we discover and engineer molecules that probe, disrupt, and control biological systems. A major focus is the development of new strategies to combat antibiotic resistance and persistent bacterial communities. Our laboratory has introduced first-in-class vancomycin conjugates with multiple modes of action, unusually broad-spectrum activity, and the ability to sterilize biofilms - properties not observed together in other vancomycin conjugates. We also develop anti-biofilm agents, molecular probes, imaging agents, and other chemical tools that both reveal new biology and provide starting points for addressing pressing challenges in human health and disease.
Together, our research spans fundamental chemical discovery and molecular invention: uncovering the chemistry that enables biological systems to assemble and persist, and using those insights to create new ways to interrogate and control them. This work opens opportunities to combat infectious disease, improve human health, preserve marine ecosystems, advance sustainable materials, and deepen our understanding of how chemistry organizes life. -
Carlos Centeno Lairet
Affiliate, Ethics In Society
BioCarlos is a 2026 Ethics & Tech Practitioner Fellow at the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society. He co-founded SOMOS Civic Lab. At the lab, the team is researching and designing tools to democratize generative AI in Global Majority countries. Somos is part of the UNDP AI Trust & Safety Programme, and it's supported by the Pulitzer Center's AI Accountability program. As MIT Emerging Talent Director, he equips learners from migrant and refugee communities with computer science skills. He co-founded and directed MIT's Governance Innovation Initiative, as Associate Director of Innovation; co-designed and launched MIT's first Governance Innovation Research Fellowship, and hosted MIT's "Power to the Who" governance innovation podcast. He was previously at the UN for 10 years, where he worked in community and government preparedness to natural disasters based in Latin America, Asia and Africa. His AI (NLP) prototype ALIA was a Google launchpad finalist in Munich (2018). He has supported investigative journalism projects at Pro Publica on disappearances and detentions by the US federal government.
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Giovanna Ceserani
Professor of Classics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsIntellectual history, data science in the humanities, ancient and modern historiography, history of archaeology, early modern travels and explorations of the past
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Chris Chafe
Duca Family Professor
BioChris Chafe is a composer, improvisor, and cellist, developing much of his music alongside computer-based research. He is Director of Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). In 2019, he was International Visiting Research Scholar at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies The University of British Columbia, Visiting Professor at the Politecnico di Torino, and Edgard-Varèse Guest Professor at the Technical University of Berlin. At IRCAM (Paris) and The Banff Centre (Alberta), he has pursued methods for digital synthesis, music performance and real-time internet collaboration. CCRMA's jacktrip project involves live concertizing with musicians the world over. Online collaboration software and research into latency factors continue to evolve. An active performer either on the net or physically present, his music reaches audiences in sometimes novel venues. An early network project was a simultaneous five-country concert was hosted at the United Nations in 2009. Chafe’s works include gallery and museum music installations which are now into their second decade with “musifications” resulting from collaborations with artists, scientists and MD’s. Recent work includes the Earth Symphony, the Brain Stethoscope project (Gnosisong), PolarTide for the 2013 Venice Biennale, Tomato Quintet for the transLife:media Festival at the National Art Museum of China and Sun Shot played by the horns of large ships in the port of St. Johns, Newfoundland.
