We are thrilled to announce our Keynote Speaker for SciX 2026!

Jennifer (Jen) Dionne is a Professor of Materials Science and, by courtesy, of Radiology at Stanford. She is also deputy director of Q-NEXT (a DOE-funded National Quantum Initiative), a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator, and co-founder of Pumpkinseed, a protein-sequencing company.

Professor Dionne's keynote talk: Exploring light and life: Nanophotonics and AI for Molecular Sequencing and Single-Cell Phenotyping will present her work developing and applying Si-photonic resonators as sensors for multiple biochemical features in a range of environments.

Dionne's lab has applied their "Very-large-scale Integrated high-Q Nanophotonic Pixels” (VINPix) sensor arrays with autonomous underwater robots from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute for targeted gene, protein, and metabolite detection. Combining the VINPix sensors with selective chemical functionalization, and AI frameworks they have been able to tackle multiple challenges including the detection of multi-omic signatures and peptide and glycoconjugate sequencing.

Professor Dionne is confident that these nanophotonic platforms can provide completely new data on the biosphere – from improved understanding of molecular communication systems, to optimization of novel biochemical sensing platforms for health and sustainability.

To learn more about Jen's work at Stanford, please visit the D-Lab page!