Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) and Vice President of DNA Technology at Synthetic Genomics, Inc. (SGI). He joined SGI in February of 2011 after spending more than six years at the JCVI where he co-led the team that created the first synthetic cell. Since joining the JCVI as a postdoctoral researcher in 2004, his teams have synthesized two complete bacterial chromosomes. Those projects resulted in creation of the first synthetic bacterial cell and development of an enabling suite of DNA synthesis and assembly methods, including Gibson Assembly™, which is being used in laboratories around the world. At SGI, Dr. Gibson leads a group that is developing cutting edge technologies for genome design, automated genome synthesis and assembly, and genome activation. He received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Southern California in 1999.