Michael Rood is an Assay Development Scientist at Alphazyme, responsible for design and implementation of assays to determine activity and purity of new enzyme products. Michael received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Kent State University and his Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology. Studying under Dr. Andreas Bommarius and Dr. Bahareh Azizi, his work focused on the development of genetic selection systems for directed evolution of biocatalysts. Upon completing his graduate studies, Michael joined the lab of Dr. Min Guo as a postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, FL where he worked on engineering biosensors for various applications. Within the biotech industry, Michael worked as a research scientist for BlinkBio, Inc. where he developed conjugation/purification strategies for bioconjugate therapeutics as well as assays to assess the interaction of the drug-conjugates with their target receptors. Outside of the lab Michael is passionate about music, composing and playing bass guitar with other local musicians, and is an avid board gamer.