Harris H. Wang, PhD

  • Professor of Systems Biology, of Pathology and Cell Biology, and of Biomedical Engineering
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Overview

Harris Wang is a professor at Columbia University in the Department of Systems Biology. Dr. Wang received B.S. degrees in mathematics and physics from MIT and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard, where he pioneered the Multiplex Automated Genome Engineering (MAGE) platform for rapid and combinatorial genome editing. Dr. Wang’s current research focuses on applying synthetic biology methods to manipulate microbial communities and mammalian systems. Using advanced approaches in genome engineering, gene synthesis, and next-generation sequencing, he studies how genomes are shaped and maintained by the environment, and how they evolve over time. His research group is developing enabling technologies in systems and synthetic biology to engineer microbial systems and mammalian cells in ways that could address key challenges in health, energy and the environment. Dr. Wang is the recipient of numerous awards including the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, NSF CAREER Award, Sloan Research Award, ONR Young Investigator Award, and was named in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Science in 2012.

Academic Appointments

  • Professor of Systems Biology, of Pathology and Cell Biology, and of Biomedical Engineering

Languages

  • Chinese

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • PhD, Biophysics, Harvard University
  • BS, 2005 Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • BS, 2005 Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Honors & Awards

  • Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
  • ONR Director of Research Early Career Award
  • ONR Young Investigator Award
  • Sloan Research Fellowship
  • NSF CAREER Award
  • Forbes 30 under 30 in Science in 2012
  • NIH Director’s Early Independence Award
  • Collegiate Inventors Competition Grand Prize Winner, National Inventors Hall of Fame
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship
  • National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship
  • National Merit Scholar

Research

Research Interests

  • Principles that drive formation, maintenance, genome evolution within/across microbial populations

Selected Publications

  • Ricaurte D, Huang Y, Sheth RU, Gelsinger DR, Kaufman A, Wang HH. High-throughput transcriptomics of 409 bacteria-drug pairs reveals drivers of gut microbiota perturbation. Nat Microbiol. 2024 Feb;9(2):561-575.
  • Liu L, Huang Y, Wang HH. Fast and efficient template-mediated synthesis of genetic variants. Nat Methods. 2023 Jun;20(6):841-848.
  • Huang Y, Sheth RU, Zhao S, Cohen LA, Dabaghi K, Moody T, Sun Y, Ricaurte D, Richardson M, Velez-Cortes F, Blazejewski T, Kaufman A, Ronda C, Wang HH. High-throughput microbial culturomics using automation and machine learning. Nat Biotechnol. 2023 Oct;41(10):1424-1433.
  • Trolle J, McBee RM, Kaufman A, Pinglay S, Berger H, German S, Liu L, Shen MJ, Guo X, Martin JA, Pacold ME, Jones DR, Boeke JD, Wang HH. Resurrecting essential amino acid biosynthesis in mammalian cells. Elife. 2022 Sep 27;11:e72847.
  • McBee RM, Lucht M, Mukhitov N, Richardson M, Srinivasan T, Meng D, Chen H, Kaufman A, Reitman M, Munck C, Schaak D, Voigt C, Wang HH. Engineering living and regenerative fungal-bacterial biocomposite structures. Nat Mater. 2022 Apr;21(4):471-478.
  • Yim SS, McBee RM, Song AM, Huang Y, Sheth RU, Wang HH. Robust direct digital-to-biological data storage in living cells. Nat Chem Biol. 2021 Mar;17(3):246-253.
  • Vo PLH, Ronda C, Klompe SE, Chen EE, Acree C, Wang HH, Sternberg SH. CRISPR RNA-guided integrases for high-efficiency, multiplexed bacterial genome engineering. Nat Biotechnol. 2021 Apr;39(4):480-489.
  • Blazejewski T, Ho HI, Wang HH. Synthetic sequence entanglement augments stability and containment of genetic information in cells. Science. 2019 Aug 9;365(6453):595-598.
  • Sheth RU, Li M, Jiang W, Sims PA, Leong KW, Wang HH. Spatial metagenomic characterization of microbial biogeography in the gut. Nat Biotechnol. 2019 Aug;37(8):877-883.
  • Ronda C, Chen SP, Cabral V, Yaung SJ, Wang HH. Metagenomic engineering of the mammalian gut microbiome in situ. Nat Methods. 2019 Feb;16(2):167-170.
  • Johns NI, Gomes ALC, Yim SS, Yang A, Blazejewski T, Smillie CS, Smith MB, Alm EJ, Kosuri S, Wang HH. Metagenomic mining of regulatory elements enables programmable species-selective gene expression. Nat Methods. 2018 May;15(5):323-329.
  • Sheth RU, Yim SS, Wu FL, Wang HH. Multiplex recording of cellular events over time on CRISPR biological tape. Science. 2017 Dec 15;358(6369):1457-1461.