He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology under the supervision of Professor Andy Ellington at the University of Texas at Austin in 2006. He was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor Chris Voigt at the University of California San Francisco between 2006 and 2010. He started his research group at Rice in 2010. His group engineers 'optogenetic' tools - genetically encoded photoreceptors - in order to control molecular biological processes in live organisms with light. He also engineers edible bacteria that sense disease-linked molecules in the gastrointestinal tract. These bacteria may serve as non-invasive early stage diagnostics of inflammation, cancer and other diseases. His work has been covered in numerous international media outlets including the New York Times, and he has received several national awards including the NSF CAREER and ONR Young Investigator.