Michael Allen, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow

Dr. Michael Allen was born in Ft. Worth, Texas and received his B.S. degree in Biology with special emphasis in Ecology and Environmental Science from the University of Texas at Arlington. In 1997, he joined Dr. Gary Sayler’s lab at The University of Tennessee Center for Environmental Biotechnology where he received a Ph.D. based on his work involving the characterization and biosynthesis of novel exopolysaccharides from an industrially significant bacterium. Since his graduate work, he has joined Dr. Michael Simpson and the MENT group to pursue his interests on the interface between the biotic and the abiotic worlds and its applications to biotechnology. His specific interests include the synthesis and self-assembly of biopolymers, development of biofilms, intercellular communication and gene regulation, and the applications of discoveries in these areas to problems in nanobiotechnology and materials science and engineering. His work in MENT will focus on the development of synthetic genetic circuits both for fundamental studies on gene circuit and network architectures and for the realization of novel biosensors and hybrid devices.