Appointments & Affiliations

Duke University

Department of Biomedical Engineering. Assistant Professor. (2023- Present)

Center for Advanced Genomics Technologies. Member. (2023- Present)

Center for Quantitative Biodesign. Member. (2023- Present)

Education.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Post-doctoral Fellow, Oct 2018- July 2023
MIT Media Lab & Department of Biological Engineering
Advisor(s): Prof. Kevin Esvelt & Prof. James Collins

MIT Media Lab profile

Stanford University

Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Sept 2018
M.S. Chemical Engineering, 2014

Advisor: Professor Gerald Crabtree, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Co- Advisor: Professor Andrew Spakowitz, Department of Chemical Engineering

Northeastern University

B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Jun 2012
Magna Cum Laude, College Honors Distinction, Dean’s Scholar
Minor(s): Chemistry, Biology, and Biochemical Engineering

Publications.

  1. E. A. DeBenedictis*, E. J. Chory*, D. Gretton, B. Wang. S. Golas. K.M. Esvelt. Systematic molecular evolution enables robust biomolecule engineering. Nature Methods (2021).

  2. Zhao, Evan M; Mao, Angelo S; de Puig, Helena; Zhang, Kehan; Tippens, Nathaniel D ; Tan, Xiao; Ran, F; Han, Isaac; Qguyen, Peter; Chory, Emma J; Hua, Tiffany Y; Ramesh, Pradeep; Thompson, David B; Oh, Crystal Yuri; Zigon, Eric S; English, Max A; Collins, James J. RNA-responsive elements for eukaryotic translational control. Nature Biotechnology (2021): 1-7.

  3. E. J. Chory*, D. W. Gretton*, E. A. DeBenedictis, K. M. Esvelt. (2020). Enabling high‐throughput biology with flexible open‐source automation. Molecular systems biology. 17 (3), e9942.

  4. E. J. Chory, J. G. Kirkland, C.-Y. Chang, V. D. D’Andrea, S. Gourisankar, E. C. Dykhuizen, G. R. Crabtree (2020), Chemical Inhibitors of a Selective SWI/SNF Function Synergize with ATR Inhibition in Cancer Cell Killing. ACS Chem. Biol. 15, 1685–1696.

  5. J. M. Stokes, K. Yang, K. Swanson, W. Jin, A. Cubillos-Ruiz, N. M. Donghia, C. R. MacNair, S. French, L. A. Carfrae, Z. Bloom-Ackermann, V. M. Tran, A. Chiappino-Pepe, A. H. Badran, I. W. Andrews, E. J. Chory, G. M. Church, E. D. Brown, T. S. Jaakkola, R. Barzilay, J. J. Collins, (2020) A Deep Learning Approach to Antibiotic Discovery. Cell. 181, 475–483.

  6. EJ Chory, JP Calarco, NA Hathaway, O Bell, DS Neel, & GR Crabtree. (2019). Nucleosome turnover regulates histone methylation patterns over the genome. Molecular Cell. 73:1-12.

  7. BZ Stanton*, EJ Chory*, & GR Crabtree. (2018). Chemically induced proximity in biology and medicine. Science, 359(6380) eaao5902

  8. EJ Chory*, S Divakaran*, JE Bradner, & GR Crabtree (In Preparation). A high-throughput platform for assessing synergy of drug combinations.

  9. SMG Braun, JG Kirkland, EJ Chory, D Husmann, JP Calarco, and GR Crabtree (2017). Rapid and reversible epigenome editing by endogenous chromatin regulators. Nature Commun., 8, 560.

  10. C Kadoch, RT Williams, JP Calarco, EL Miller, CM Weber, SMG Braun, JL Pulice, EJ Chory, and GR Crabtree (2017). Dynamics of BAF-Polycomb complex opposition on heterochromatin in normal and oncogenic states. Nature Genetics, 49, 213–222.

  11. JS Yi, AJ Federation, J Qi, S Dhe-Paganon, M Hadler, X Xu, R St Pierre, AC Varca, L Wu, JJ Marineau, WB Smith, A Souza, EJ Chory, SA Armstrong, and JE Bradner (2015). Structure-guided DOT1L probe optimization by label-free ligand displacement. ACS Chem. Bio., vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 667–74.

  12. W Yu, EJ Chory, AK Wernimont, W Tempel, A Scopton, AJ Federation, . . . JE Bradner, and M Schapira (2012). Catalytic site remodelling of the DOT1L methyltransferase by selective inhibitors. Nature Commun., vol. 3, p. 1288.

  13. DL Vickers, EJ Chory, MC Harless, and SK Murthy (2013). p38 Signaling and Receptor Recycling Events in a Microfluidic Endothelial Cell Adhesion Assay. PLoS One, vol. 8, no. 6.

  14. DL Vickers, EJ Chory, and SK Murthy (2012). Separation of two phenotypically similar cell types via a single common marker in microfluidic channels. Lab on a Chip, vol. 12, no. 18, 3399.

Patents.

  1. Methods of multiplexing crispr, M Avila, KM Esvelt, EA Strait, E Chory. US Patent App. 16/931,389.

  2. BAF Complex Modulating Compounds and Methods of Using the Same. EJ Chory, GR Crabtree, EC Dykhuizen. US Patent App. 16/635,542.

Research.

Collins & Esvelt Laboratories

Biological Engineering & Media Lab
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Post-doctoral associate (Oct 2018 - Present)

As a post-doctoral associate under the mentorship of James Collins and Kevin Esvelt I am combining directed evolution with synthetic biology to develop a platform for the discovery of novel, affordable and accessible peptide therapeutics for classically “undruggable” targets.

Crabtree Laboratory

Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Stanford University

PhD. Candidate (Dec 2012 - Sept 2018)

My doctoral training focused on the dynamic mechanisms that control chromatin regulation, specifically investigating the functional consequences of and systematically controlling high- er-order chromatin structure in disease through the development of in vivo chemical tools.

Bradner Laboratory

Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Harvard Medical School

Research Fellowship (May 2011 - June 2012)

Under the guidance of Dr. James Bradner, I developed a high-throughput platform against the methyltransferase domain of the human DOT-complex and synthesized selective inhibitors to prevent side-chain methylation of lysine 79 on histone 3. Our findings provided insights into therapeutic targets in an effort counteract epigenetic gene mis-regulation in cancer.

Murthy Laboratory

Department of Chemical Engineering
Northeastern University

Undergraduate Research Assistant (Jan 2010 - June 2011)

In the laboratory of Professor Shashi Murthy, I investigated the roles of surface receptor recycling as applied to high-resolution cell capture and isolation in microfluidic channels— devices which have revolutionized cancer diagnostics and single-cell sequencing.

Industry.

Firefly Bioworks Inc.

Bioassay Scientist (Co-op) (May-Dec 2010)
Cambridge, MA

(Acquired by Abcam in 2015)
Through the co-operative education program at Northeastern University, I became Firefly Bioworks’ 3rd full-time employee. I contributed to Firefly’s first commercial product—a multi-functional microparticle, microfluidic flow-based, high-throughput platform for the detection of microRNA and tissue-specific biomarkers.

Propel(x)

Contributor (June 2015 - Present)
San Francisco, CA

Propel(x) is a recent crowd-funding angel investment platform which provides due diligence on deep technology start ups. I leverage my diverse scientific expertise to provide insight and analysis into technology advances within the life sciences.

Procter & Gamble

Upstream R&D Co-op (July-Dec 2009)
Needham, MA

Within Duracell R&D, I developed formulations, prototype evaluations, X-ray Microtypography characterization methods, and bench-scale synthesis equipment to enable upstream recharge- able battery chemistries.

Fellowships.

  • 2020 Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellow, NIH/National Cancer Institute (F32 CA247274-02)

  • 2020 Hanna H. Gray Semi-Finalist, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

  • 2018 Hanna H. Gray Semi-Finalist, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

  • 2016 Ruth L. Kirschstein, Pre-doctoral Fellowship. NIH/National Cancer Institute (F31 CA203228-02)

  • 2012 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

Honors.

  • 2018 Gordon Research Conference 1st Place Poster, Genome Instability, Hong Kong

  • 2018 Gordon Research Conference Travel Award, National Science Foundation

  • 2018 FASEB Travel Award, Genome Engineering, Florence IT

  • 2017 Best Capstone Mentor Award, Northeastern University Dept. Chemical Engineering

  • 2016 Distinguished Student Speaker, Stanford Chemical Engineering Convocation & Research Symposium

  • 2012 Jeffrey R. Pierce Outstanding Service Award, Northeastern University

  • 2012 100 Most Influential Seniors, Northeastern University

  • 2011 Steamboat Scholar of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Steamboat Foundation

  • 2011 Provost Undergraduate Research Award, Northeastern University

  • 2010 Provost Undergraduate Research Award, Northeastern University

  • 2011 Merck Annual Conference Scholarship, American Institute of Chemical Engineers

  • 2011 Outstanding Student in Chemical Engineering, Boston Institute of Chemical Engineers

  • 2010 Matz Scholar Award, Barnett Institute, Northeastern University

  • 2010 Gordon Engineering Leadership Scholar, Northeastern University

  • 2010 Jean R. Beers Award, Connecticut Society of Women Engineers

Teaching.

  • 2019 Lecturer, MAS.841, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Evolution: Natural and Directed”

  • 2015 Guest Lecturer, Biotechnology E25B, Stanford University, “Advances in Genome Engineering”

  • 2014 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Biotechnology E25B, Stanford University

  • 2011 Teaching Assistant, New Strategies in the Fight Against Cancer, Northeastern University

  • 2010 Teaching Assistant, Introduction to the Study of Engineering, Northeastern University

  • 09-12 Engineering Tutor, Student Athlete Support Services, Northeastern University

Presentations & Seminars.

  • Edison Lecture Series. University of Notre Dame, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. South Bend ID. (Feb 2022). Phage and Robotics-Assisted Biomolecular Evolution. Invited Speaker.

  • Bioengineering Seminar Series. University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia PA. (Oct 2021). Phage and Robotics-Assisted Biomolecular Evolution. Invited Speaker.

  • NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Division of Preclinical Innovation (NCATS DPI). Bethesda MD (virtual, May 2021). “High‐Throughput Directed Evolution with Flexible Open‐Source Automation”. Invited Speaker.

  • GlaxoSmithKline Protein, Cellular, and Structural Sciences Data Forum. London UK (virtual). (April 2021). “Enabling high‐throughput biology with flexible open‐source automation”. Invited Speaker.

  • International Conference on Epigenetics and Bioengineering. San Francisco, CA. (Nov 2018). “Nucleosome turnover regulated histone methylation patterns over the genome”. Invited Speaker.

  • Gordon Research Conference: Genome Instability. “A Novel Inhibitor of Specific BAF Complexes as Synthetic Lethal Cancer Therapy through Synergy with ATR inhibitors”. Hong Kong. (July 2018).

  • International Conference on Epigenetics and Bioengineering. ”Dynamic Control of the Dot1L Histone Methyltranferase Reveals Precise Kinetics of H3K79me Is Governed By Nucleosome Turnover”. Miami FL. (Dec 2017).

  • Chemical Engineering Convocation and Research Symposium. "Engineering the epigenome via chemically inducible DNA loops.” Stanford CA. (Sept 2016) .

Posters.

  • 2018 EJ Chory. “Nucleosome turnover establishes histone methylation valence status genome-wide”. FASEB: Genome Engineering. Florence, Italy. June 2018.

  • 2017 EJ Chory, JG Kirkland, V D’Andrea, CY Chang, EC Dkyhuizen, and GR Crabtree. “A Novel Inhibitor of Specific BAF Complexes as a Synthetic Lethal Cancer Therapy through Synergy with ATR Inhibition”. Stanford Biotechnology Symposium. Stanford CA.

  • 2011 EJ Chory, DL Vickers, and SK Murthy. “Endothelial Cell Stage Identification Using PEG-ylated Microfluidic Channels.” American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Conference. Minneapolis, MN. Oct 14-17. 1st Place Ribbon.

  • 2011 EJ Chory, DL Vickers, and SK Murthy. “Endothelial Cell Stage Identification Using PEG-ylated Microfluidic Channels.” ISPE Student Poster Competition. Boston MA. 1st Place Ribbon.

Mentorship.

  • Program Director, ChemE Capstone Industry Mentor Program. Northeastern University Dept. of Chemical Engineering (2021- Present)

  • Capstone Advisor (CHME 4703): Chemical Process Design, Northeastern University Dept. of Chemical Engineering

2021 Ben Fischer, Jakob Farnham, Liz Fink, Amelia Heesen
 “Production of Viral Glycoproteins in a plant cell-based bioreactor”

2020 Anthony Salvatore, Peter Sieg, Aidan Hawkins, Lindsay Perrea
 “Oral Delivery of CBD Using Lipid Based Carriers”

2019 Gabrielle Rabadam, Faisal Usman, William Medeiros, Bryan Wang
“rhEPO Production via Microbial Culture Coupled with Synthetic Glycosylation”

2018 Elisa Magrath, Michaela Toland, Dalton Cox, and John Sweeney
”The Production of Magnetite Nanoparticles through Cultivating Magnetococcus Marinus”

2017 Kelly Deans-Birmingham, Courtney Johnson, Alexander Julien, and Corei Moxey
“Hair Growth Regeneration by chemical stimulation of Insulin-like Growth Factor 1”

2016 Katherine Aldrich, Caleb Donnelly, Jaimie Rogner, and Paul Rousseau
”Process Development of a Novel Sf9-AAV2 HIV Vaccine”