Justin Sanchez, PhD

Justin C. Sanchez, PhD is a Battelle Technical Fellow. As a noted expert in biotechnology, he creates strategic vision to guide Battelle’s life sciences and biotechnology businesses. Serving on the leadership team, Dr. Sanchez leads the organization’s technical investment strategies and initiates and drives collaboration across Battelle, as well as with government, industry, and academia partners.

Prior to joining Battelle, Dr. Sanchez was the Director of the Biological Technologies Office (BTO) at DARPA. He advanced the mission of BTO through strategy development focused on vital breakthrough technologies and capabilities for national security, particularly in the areas of neurotechnology, gene editing/synthetic biology, and infectious disease. Major accomplishments include developing foundational human neurotechnology for the United States BRAIN Initiative, delivering the world’s most advanced prosthetic arm to military Veterans, accelerating gene editing techniques for national security/human health, and forming partnerships to deliver countermeasures in the African Ebola crisis. He was responsible for starting 31 new DARPA programs and investing more than $1.65 billion at national labs, industry, and academic institutions.

Prior to joining DARPA, he was an associate professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience at the University of Miami. He directed the Neuroprosthetics Research Group where he oversaw development of neural-interface medical treatments. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, holds eight patents and authored two books on the design of neurotechnology.

Dr. Sanchez holds a Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Engineering degrees in Biomedical Engineering, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Science, all from the University of Florida.