From 2007.igem.org

File:JKeasling.jpg

• Head of the synthetic biology department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and 
  director of the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC), which is headquartered at UC Berkeley 
  but involves scientists from universities around the country.
• Keasling also is a member of the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3), 
  a partnership between the state of California, industry, and the UC campuses at San Francisco, Berkeley and Santa Cruz.
• says that when semiconductors were first developed in the 1950s, each chip was, in effect, hand-made in an artisan-like process. Chip companies, of course, eventually learned techniques for mass production.
• Fighting malaria is just one part of Keasling's larger agenda to explore the staggering potential of synthetic biology. 
  In his laboratory, students are engineering microbes to break down pesticides, make biodegradable plastics, 
  and create ethanol and other fuels from plants."
• Discover magazine has named Jay D. Keasling, professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering at 
  the University of California, Berkeley, its 2006 Scientist of the Year for his ambitious efforts to "rebuild life itself."