Our story

Dr. Jason Kelly is the co-founder and CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks. Ginkgo is pioneering autonomous labs that accelerate bioengineering across biopharma, agriculture, and industrial biotech industries. Jason also previously served as the Chair of the U.S. National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology which oversees how advancements in emerging biotechnology will shape current and future activities of the US Department of Defense. Prior to Ginkgo, Jason received B.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering and Biology and a PhD in Biological Engineering all from MIT.

Reshma Shetty co-founded Ginkgo Bioworks in 2008. As President, Chief Operations Officer, and member of our board of directors, she has seen the company grow to over 500 people. Reshma has been active in the field of synthetic biology for 15+ years, and in 2006, she was an advisor to the iGEM competition where she was best known for engineering bacteria to smell like bananas and mint. Forbes magazine named Reshma one of 2008’s Eight People Inventing the Future, and Fast Company named her one of 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2011. Dr. Shetty has a B.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of Utah and a Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from MIT.

Barry is responsible for overall foundry technology strategy and direction. He holds a PhD in Biological Engineering from MIT, where his thesis focused on refinement of standard biological parts and the interactions between a host cell and an engineered genetic circuit. At MIT, he was involved with the Synthetic Biology Working Group that was instrumental in catalyzing the new field. He also holds an MEngSc in Mechanical Engineering from University College Dublin.

Austin is currently focused on strategic partnerships, investments, and expanding the Ginkgo ecosystem by working with non-traditional customers. He previously led software development at Ginkgo and built out a number of functions including the finance, people ops, IT, and infrastructure teams. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT working in the nascent field of synthetic biology. He also has a B.S. in Computer Science and A.B. in Psychology from Stanford University where he was awarded the departmental best honors thesis.

Ginkgo Fellow; AAAS Fellow; MIT Professor in EECS; considered father of synthetic biology. Featured prominently in Steven Levy’s book Hackers. Tom Knight supports R&D for the Foundry.