Pamela A. Silver is a Professor in the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School and a founding core faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering of Harvard University. Dr. Silver’s research focus is on building cell-based machines, designing novel therapeutics, and reengineering photosynthetic bacteria to produce hydrogen and other fuels. She currently leads a project for the U.S. Department of Energy to develop new approaches for advanced microbial biofuels, as part of a national effort to accelerate innovation in clean technologies. Her team is developing a bacterium that uses electricity from renewable sources to convert carbon dioxide into gasoline. Dr. Silver received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California. She has served on numerous editorial boards and public and private scientific advisory boards. Her work has been funded by grants from NIH, NSF, DOD, DOE, American Heart Association, March of Dimes, Merck, Novartis and the Keck Foundation. She was the recipient of the Mentoring Award at Harvard Medical School, the NIH Director’s Lecturer and is currently the holder of an NIH MERIT award.