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 executive 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 resulting in hundreds of new proposals and projects with whole of government federal agencies and commercial partners. Working in the fields of health, national security, and environment/infrastructure, Dr. Sanchez has led technical and business teams to perform advanced development of notable breakthroughs in neurotechnology, gene editing/synthetic biology, quantum, and chemical remediation in the full life cycle of idea generation, IP protection, and commercialization. Beyond advanced development, Dr. Sanchez has established an institute for neurotechnology (in partnership with The Ohio State University) and a national conference on innovations in resilience (in partnership with the National Labs). During his time at Battelle, Dr. Sanchez has driven national efforts in the establishment of a DOD microelectronics hub, HHS investor catalyst hub, and COVID testing for K-12 students.

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, eight patents, and 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.