Trained as a systems biologist, Kit McDonnell specializes in communication at the intersection of biotech, design, and sustainability. She is currently Director of Communications at LanzaTech, the carbon recycling company transforming waste carbon into sustainable raw materials with biology. Kit focuses on advocating for a circular carbon economy and works with energy-intensive companies and consumer brands alike to incorporate recycled carbon into their value chains. Since starting her career at the Field Museum’s Pritzker Lab, she’s led Corporate Affairs at the crop health company Enko Chem and Special Projects at Ginkgo Bioworks. Her work has influenced the global synthetic biology agenda and popularized pesticides and GMOs for good. Kit has collaborated with global NGOs on policy and pre-competitive industry alignment and advised F500 executives on their bio-strategies. She frequently collaborates with scientists and designers to tease apart human nature’s relationship with the natural world, such as in creating the first museum label printed in DNA with Faber Futures, resurrecting the fragrance of extinct flowers with Resurrecting the Sublime, and serving as a founding mentor for the Ginkgo Creative Residency. She has spoken about biodesign and consumer biotech at Harvard, MIT Sloan School of Business & Media Lab, Broad Institute, World Economic Forum, and Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, among other places. Kit studied at Biology Tufts University and Global Creative Industries & Biotech Business at the University of Hong Kong.