Contact: melody_w@mit.edu
Country of Origin: USA
Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Melody Wu is an undergraduate at MIT majoring in Biological Engineering and minoring in Design. She joined the Planetary Health Alliance as a campus ambassador to explore how environmental and human health relates to Planetary Health, and to bring those concepts to MIT. Her interest in this intersection, along with interests in sustainable global development, design, and science communication, has led her to think further about the ways that biotechnology can play a role in further connecting our global community. At MIT, she has conducted research in synthetic biology on immune cell swarms through the iGEM (another global community), on promoter construction for mammalian genetic circuits in the Weiss Lab, and on genetic modifiers for Huntington’s. She advises the MIT iGEM 2020 team and also is co- chair of MIT Biomarkers. Additionally, she is involved in several communities at MIT including iHouse, Terrascope, GlobeMed@MIT, and Peer Ears, all of which are focused on sustainability, development, design, and public and mental health. Outside of the lab, she enjoys creating art for fun and for science communication, trying new foods from around the world, and exploring new places. She hopes to learn a lot from being a PHCA and bring the Planetary Health community into the MIT ecosystem.