
SynBioBeta 2026 Speaker
John DiLeo
MITRE
Dept Mngr, Life Sciences
John Dileo, Ph.D is a Senior Principal Biotechnologist and Manager of MITRE's Biotechnology and Life Science Department. In this role he oversees department efforts in the areas of biosafety, security and quality, c-WMD, medical countermeasures development, and human performance optimization and manages MITREโs Biotechnology Horizon Strategy.As a researcher, Dr. Dileo has led experimental and theoretical efforts in molecular, systems, and synthetic biology focused on developing cell based sense and respond systems and tools for screening orders for synthetic DNA for the presence of biosecurity threats. As a subject matter expert and project lead, Dr. Dileo has provided support and oversight to numerous large US Government research and development programs at DARPA BTO, DTRA, JPEO-CBRND, DHS S&T, and other national security organizations. Specific efforts have focused on assessing the national security implications of emerging developments in biotechnology, preventing the proliferation and use of biological weapons, biomanufacturing, and working with USG program managers to develop and execute novel program/project concepts.Prior to joining MITRE, Dr. Dileo was a research fellow in the Department of Urology at Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. There his research focused on developing gene based immunotherapies for cervical and prostate cancer and novel gene delivery methods. Dr. Dileo received his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics & Biochemistry in 2001 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.



Reagan
Jarvis
Anocca AB
CEO, Co-founder

Alex
Rives
CZI Biohub
Head of Science

Karenโฏ
Akinsanya
Schrodinger
President, R&D โ Therapeutics

Christopher
Arendt
Takeda
CSO, Head of Research

Stef
van Grieken
Cradle
CEO

Michael
Koeris
DARPA
Director, BTO

Jennifer
Dionne
Pumpkinseed
CEO

Daniyal
Hussain
GSK
Exec. Dir., Tech BD

Cynthia
Hong
Novartis
Dir., Search & Evaluation
SynBioBeta 2027 May 3-6, San Jose, California


