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title: Yaoyu Yang
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      <p>
      I'm Yaoyu Yang. I am an engineer, researcher, and entrepreneur. I am the Founder and CEO of <a href="https://cypherbio.ai/">Cypher Technologies</a>, a software startup leveraging AI to supercharge the wet lab side of life science. Before Cypher, I worked at <a href="https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/" target="_blank">Ginkgo Bioworks</a> as a Principal Software Engineer with the aim of making biology easier to engineer through software. I joined Ginkgo
        in early 2017 as a Senior Software Engineer and was promoted to Principal Software Engineer via a Redwood Award in 2021! My work at Ginkgo had been focusing on building innovative software solutions that power Ginkgo's <a href="https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/our-platform/">Foundry Platform</a> and provide well-abstracted
        interfaces to enable users of the <a href="https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/our-platform/">Foundry Platform</a> to leverage its state-of-the-art capabilities to accomplish ambitious <a href="https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/blog/">Cell Engineering projects</a>. 
        
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      <p>I obtained my Ph.D. in  <a href="https://www.ece.uw.edu/" target="_blank">Electrical and Computer Engineering</a> at <a href="https://www.washington.edu/" target="_blank">University of Washington</a> at 2016, where I worked on synthetic biology and lab automation in the <a href="http://klavinslab.org/" target="_blank">Klavins Lab</a>. My Ph.D. thesis was titled <a href="/thesis/YYTHESIS.pdf">Design, Construction, and Validation of Dynamic Gene Circuits in Yeast</a>. I built novel synthetic gene circuits in yeast. I also built over 20 high quality, reproducible build and test workflows in the <a href="https://github.com/aquariumbio" target="_blank">Aquarium lab operating system</a>, a software-enabled human-in-the-loop automation platform invented in the Klavins Lab. I was a founding member of <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/uwbiofab/" target="_blank">UW Biofabrication Center (UW BIOFAB)</a>, a cloud lab service powered by <a href="https://github.com/aquariumbio" target="_blank">Aquarium</a>.
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      I studied <a href="http://www.automation.sjtu.edu.cn/en/" target="_blank">automation</a> in my undergraduate at <a href="http://en.sjtu.edu.cn/" target="_blank">Shanghai Jiao Tong University</a>. I was interested in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_theory" target="_blank">control theory</a> and its applications in electronic and electrical systems. At <a href="http://www.washington.edu/" target="_blank">University of Washington</a>, I was fascinated by the emerging area of <a href="http://www.synberc.org/what-is-synbio" target="_blank">synthetic biology</a> where I could apply my knowledge in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automation" target="_blank">automation</a> to engineer biological systems that lead to disruptive innovations in biotechnology. In <a href="http://klavinslab.org/" target="_blank">Klavins Lab</a>, I worked on several <a href="/research">research projects</a> in synthetic biology with the aim of designing, building, and testing synthetic dynamic gene circuits. I worked greatly on building high quality, reproducible build and test workflows in the <a href="https://github.com/aquariumbio" target="_blank">Aquarium lab operating system</a>, which we invented in the Klavins Lab. I also worked as an engineer building commercial solutions at Aquarium LLC, a startup based on <a href="https://github.com/aquariumbio" target="_blank">Aquarium</a>.</p>
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      <p>Outside work, I enjoy reading, making <a href="/apps">cool apps</a>, investing, and <a href="https://travelafterwork.com/">blogging</a>. Follow me on <a href="https://twitter.com/yaoyuyang" target="_blank">X (formerly Twitter)</a> for latest updates.
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