Paul A Jensen

Paul A Jensen is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with affiliations at the Institute for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access, Department of Microbiology, and Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. He leads the Jensen Lab at the University of Michigan's Department of Biomedical Engineering, focusing on synthetic bioengineering, AI-driven microbiology, and high-throughput assay design. His research integrates robotics, genomics, and computation to combat infectious diseases and design therapies.

• Education: Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering (University of Virginia, 2013); B.Ch.E. and B.Bm.E. (University of Minnesota, 2008).

Research interests include AI/machine learning in genome modeling, combinatorial biology, pathogen genomics, and automation in microbiology. His lab has secured funding from DARPA, NSF, and NIH for projects like AI-driven gene function analysis and self-driving labs. Notable awards include the Stanley H. Pierce Faculty Award and an NIH grant for microbial stress-response studies.

Advising: Mentors graduate students (e.g., Vasu Rao, Ben David) and undergraduates in automation and lab design. Recent grants include NSF support for student perceptions of AI careers and DARPA funding for unannotated gene analysis. The lab also develops tools for riboflavin production optimization in streptococci.