Shannon Nangle is a postdoctoral fellow in Pam Silver’s lab at Harvard. She received her PhD from the University of Washington in Ning Zheng’s lab and studied the structure biology of circadian clock machinery. Her work at Harvard focuses on the optimization of a device called the bionic leaf. Briefly, the bionic leaf comprises biocompatible water-splitting electrodes that provide hydrogen gas to CO2-reducing bacteria in a single reactor. She manipulates the metabolic pathways through genetic engineering to produce bioplastics, biofuels, feedstocks for heterotrophic microbes, and fertilizers; all with water, CO2, and electricity as the primary inputs. Her prime directive is to use synthetic biology to address the challenges of ISRU to promote a permanent human presence beyond Earth.