Mark Charbonneau
He/Him
I am gay and I am a computational biologist.//
I am a biotechnology R&D leader with expertise in live biotherapeutic drug development, mechanistic modeling, computational biology, and biomarker assay development. In my current role, I am the Head of Quantitative Biology at Synlogic, Inc in Cambridge, MA, a company pioneering the development of engineered live bacterial therapeutics. My team and I work to connect the dots between preclinical in vivo and in silico data and human biology, with the goal of predicting engineered strain efficacy and developing new drug candidates.
I was the valedictorian of my rural Michigan high school and the first in my family to attend college. I studied microbiology at Michigan State University and then got a PhD at Washington University in St. Louis. After that, I jumped into biotech, joining Matatu in St. Louis, MO before moving to Synlogic to build the Quantitative Biology team. I first came out when I was 23 years old, and the courage behind that decision has helped me to live my life with openness and authenticity. I’ve applied that mindset in my approach to science, to ask difficult questions and innovate to solve challenging problems. Today, I use that strength to continue growing as a leader and scientist.