Kiara Reyes Gamas

Kiara Reyes Gamas, Ph.D., is a Fellow in Residence in Biosciences at Schmidt Sciences, where she is helping develop programs at the intersection of microbes and the environment.

Dr. Reyes Gamas is an environmental synthetic biologist, science communicator, and Founder and Executive Director at the Genetic Engineering Transparency Label, where she is building a third-party certification label for genetically engineered products that are safe, effective, socially responsible, and environmentally sustainable. She is an advocate for the responsible use of synthetic biology tools to address the environmental crisis, while ensuring that their development and deployment are safe, effective, and socially responsible. She emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary research, good science communication, and the integration of non-academic communities into the governance and decision-making of biotechnology. Dr. Reyes Gamas is particularly engaged in conversations around biotechnologies beyond conventional containment (BBCCs) and engineered microbes for environmental release (EMERs).

Dr. Reyes Gamas’ doctoral research focused on developing RNA-based memory systems to study horizontal gene transfer dynamics in environmental microbial communities, and as a postdoctoral scholar she co-hosted an interdisciplinary seminar series on the social, technological, and environmental dimensions of environmental biotechnologies.

Dr. Reyes Gamas holds a B.S. in Bioengineering from Rice University, where she also earned her Ph.D. in the Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology Graduate Program under the mentorship of Dr. Lauren Stadler and Dr. Joff Silberg.