Maxwell Wilson

Dr. Max Wilson is a molecular biologist and engineer who develops optogenetic tools to control cellular behavior with light, integrating synthetic biology, robotics, and artificial intelligence to accelerate discovery for aging and age-related disease. He directs the Robotic Synthetic Biology Foundry at UC Santa Barbara, where he automates the scientific process through AI-guided experimental design and high-throughput robotic screening.

Wilson earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, combining experimental biology with applied mathematics to model how cells allocate metabolic resources under stress. He showed that the spatial organization of enzymes controls metabolic flux and that engineered protein assemblies can reprogram cellular behavior. He also built one of the first imaging-based AI platforms for antibiotic discovery.

As a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton, Wilson turned to optogenetics, recognizing light as an ideal tool to manipulate cells with precision. He engineered the first optogenetic systems to control key signaling pathways with light, establishing a foundation for dynamic, light-based cellular engineering. His lab now extends these tools to decode how cells respond to stress and reveal strategies that make them more resilient, a principle central to both antiviral defense and longevity.

At UC Santa Barbara, Wilson studies how cells process information and make fate decisions. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, he redirected his team toward an urgent public health need, co-developing UCSB's CRISPR-based diagnostic platform (CREST) and helping build regional testing infrastructure.

Wilson's work bridges academia and biotechnology, theory and experiment. By developing optogenetic technologies, AI-driven discovery platforms, and robotic systems within an academic setting, he expands what is experimentally possible while keeping discovery grounded in the search for therapies that restore resilience in aging cells.

July 2026