Paul Blainey

Paul Blainey is a Professor of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Core Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He serves as an extramural faculty member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT and is the founding director of MIT’s BioMaker Space. Blainey earned a B.A. in Mathematics and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Washington, an M.A. in Chemistry from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Harvard University under the joint supervision of Professors Xiaoliang Sunney Xie and Gregory L. Verdine. He held a postdoctoral appointment at Stanford University in Professor Stephen Quake’s laboratory, where he developed high-throughput microoptofluidic methods for whole-genome amplification of DNA from individual, uncultivated microbial cells.

Blainey joined MIT as an Assistant Professor of Biological Engineering in 2012 and advanced to a tenured full professor. His research integrates molecular, optical, microfluidic, and computational technologies to tackle challenges in single-cell genomic and functional analysis, drug screening, and genomic screening. The Blainey lab develops microanalysis systems for individual molecules and cells, advancing understanding of DNA-protein interactions, evolutionary processes, functional cell differences, disease mechanisms, and drug target discovery. Key innovations include optical pooled screening techniques (Cell, 2019), droplet microfluidic platforms for large-scale drug screening and bacterial interactions (PNAS, 2018), and contributions to CRISPR-based diagnostics such as Sherlock for multiplexed disease testing. These tools have influenced genomics, diagnostics, drug development, mammalian cell biology, microbial community function, and disease biology. Blainey received the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award in 2017, the Agilent Early Career Investigator Award in 2014, and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface in 2011. Prominent publications include “Commensal microbiota promote lung cancer development via γδ T cells” (Cell, 2019), “Massively multiplexed nucleic acid detection with Cas13” (Nature, 2020), “A novel Ruminococcus gnavus clade enriched in inflammatory bowel disease patients” (Genome Medicine, 2017), and “A base-excision DNA-repair protein finds intrahelical lesion bases by fast sliding in contact with DNA” (PNAS, 2006).

Professional Email: pblainey@broadinstitute.org