Biography
Biography
Maurice Filo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge, in the Information Engineering Division and Control Group. He is also a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College. His research spans control theory, dynamical systems, synthetic biology, and AI. His research develops mathematically grounded biomolecular feedback controllers—built from chemical reaction networks—to improve robustness and adaptation in noisy cellular environments, translating theory into genetically implemented circuits in close collaboration with experimental teams. He has authored multiple publications, holds two pending patents, and has also developed a generative AI tool that automatically designs reaction networks to realize user-defined functions.
Trained in electrical and computer engineering and later mechanical engineering, Maurice earned two master’s degrees and a PhD, with earlier work spanning stochastic uncertainty, inner-ear instabilities, and large-scale optimal control for mobile sensing and PDE-constrained estimation—experience that continues to shape his approach to rigorous, cross-disciplinary research.
Research Interests
My research interests include
Biomolecular Controllers
Reinforcement Learning and GenAI
Deterministic and Stochastic Chemical Reaction Networks
Genetic Circuits
Control and Estimation Theory
Distributed Dynamical Systems
Mobile Sensor Path Planning
Tomographic Sensing
Structured Stochastic Uncertainty
Optimal Control
Cochlear Modeling
Education
Postdoc in BioSystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, 2023
Supervisor: Prof. Mustafa KhammashPhD in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2018
Advisor: Prof. Bassam BamiehMS in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2017
MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering, American University of Beirut, 2013
Diploma in Electrical Engineering, Lebanese University, 2010
Fellowships and Awards
“PID Feedback Control Systems for Robust Control of Molecular Networks”,
ranked among the Top 20 Inventions Spark Award, 2021Best PhD Thesis Award, 2019
Center for Control, Dynamical-Systems & Computations (CCDC)Featured as the Researcher of the Term, 2016
Center for Control, Dynamical-Systems & Computations (CCDC)Best Teacher Assistant Award at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, UCSB, 2015
Institute for Energy Efficiency (IEE) Holbrook Foundation Fellowship, 2013-2014