Mary Dunlop

Mary Dunlop is a Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University. Her research focuses on synthetic biology, microbial systems, and optogenetics, with emphasis on single-cell methods and metabolic engineering. She leads the Dunlop Lab, known for integrating deep learning and advanced imaging techniques to study antibiotic resistance and cellular stress responses.

Education:

• PhD in Biomedical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 2008
• M.S., Biomedical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 2004
• B.S.E., Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, 2002

Her research interests include engineering microbial systems using optogenetic tools and developing predictive models for gene expression dynamics. Recent work highlights applications of deep learning in cell segmentation (Cell-TRACTR), optogenetic control of metabolic pathways, and single-cell analysis of antibiotic resistance mechanisms.

Honors and awards include the 2024 Dorf-Ebner Distinguished Faculty Fellowship and the 2023 AIMBE Fellowship. Her grants include NSF and DOE funding for projects on synthetic biology and microbial engineering.

Advising and mentoring contributions are recognized through the 2024 Excellence in Mentoring Postdocs Award. She also co-leads educational initiatives like the Cold Spring Harbor Synthetic Biology Summer Course.

Labs/Teams: Dunlop Lab (Boston University), affiliated with Synthetic Biology and Tissue Engineering programs.