Sarah Richardson is a postdoctoral fellow in synthetic biology at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) and at the University of California, Berkeley. Richardson focuses on harnessing bacteria to make molecules that could lead to the development of new biofuels and medicines.

Specifically, Richardson’s research on CRISPR and other bacterially derived tools for genome editing will make it easier for other scientists to implement biomanufacturing. The L’Oréal USA For Women in Science fellowship will enable Richardson to conduct independent research that will further her career.

Since getting her start interning in a Johns Hopkins School of Medicine laboratory when she was in high school, Richardson has performed, and been awarded for, her extensive community outreach focused on minority and economically disadvantaged students including her current work with the Oakland Unified School District’s “Dinner with a Scientist” program.

Richardson, 32, received a Ph.D. in Human Genetics and Molecular Biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a B.S. in Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Maryland. Raised in Baltimore, Richardson currently lives in Oakland with her husband.