Justin Flory

Associate Director, Research, LightWorks

Office: Walton Center for Planetary Health, Room 324; 777 East University Dr Tempe, AZ 85281
Mail code: 8204

Campus: Tempe
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Long Bio

Dr. Justin Flory is an Associate Director of Research in the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions (CNCE) at Arizona State University where he has served since 2021. His responsibilities include building and maintaining Center faculty, capabilities and collaborations for current and prospective research programs; developing, integrating and managing interdisciplinary research teams, concepts and proposals with a focus on federally sponsored programs; developing and executing strategic research development plans, and monitoring and evaluating research progress in coordinating with faculty, academic and administrative leadership, external sponsors and stakeholders.

For six years before that Dr. Flory served as Associate Research Development Scientist in the Biodesign Institute at ASU in the Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery where he developed research teams and concepts; integrated content, critically reviewed, and edited proposals; managed project teams, communication, and reporting, including four DOE funded projects; developed and fostering strategic collaborations; and science communication and outreach.

He received his Ph.D. in Biological Design from ASU in 2014 researching artificial photosynthesis. Before that Dr. Flory worked for 2 years at Abbott Diabetes Care in software quality of blood glucose monitoring systems and 5 years at Symmetricom as a test engineer for precise time and frequency systems. Dr. Flory received his B.S. in Physics from Sonoma State University in 2002.

Education

Ph.D., Biological Design, Arizona State University, 2014

B.S., Physics, Sonoma State University, 2002

Curriculum Vitae

Research Website URL

https://globalfutures.asu.edu/cnce/

ORCID Profile ID

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9786-9092

Research Interests

Drawing upon the vast resources available on our planet, human innovation has made it possible for dramatic improvements in the standard of living and capacity of our species. Such progress takes advantage of the earth's ability to provide vast supplies of energy, clean water, air and other resources. The scale and pace of such innovation in many instances exceeds the ability of the environment to adapt to these advances, and thus sustainable methodologies are essential to maintain and improve our standard of living and to provide a viable development path for the rest of our species.

Over billions of years nature has evolved green chemical solutions to assemble novel devices from earth abundant materials, which carryout many services necessary to support our species including, converting solar energy into useful chemical and electrical energy, purifying and delivering clean air and water, and synthesizing materials with a diverse set of useful properties. Dr. Flory's research interests are in engineering systems using or inspired by nature that generate sustainable chemicals, fuels, materials and devices.

Publications

Lewis, C., Flory, J., Moore, T., Moore, A., Rittmann, B., Vermaas, W., Torres, C., and Fromme, P. (2022) Electrochemically driven photosynthetic electron transport in cyanobacteria lacking photosystem II, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 144, 7, 2 doi:10.1021/jacs.1c09291.
Justin Flory, Petra Fromme, Willem Vermaas, Bruce Rittmann, Cesar Torres, Thomas Moore, Ana Moore; Microbial Electro-photosynthesis; Patent No. US 10,385,304 B2, Filled Dec. 17, 2015 (provisional Dec. 18, 2014); Issued Aug. 20, 2019
Systems and methods of atmospheric carbon dioxide enrichment and delivery to photobioreactors via membrane carbonation; Bruce Rittmann, Klaus Lackner, Justin Flory, Megha Patel, Allen Wright; Patent No. US 11,306,280 B2, Filled Apr. 7, 2016 (provisional Apr. 7, 2015); Issued Apr. 19, 2022
Rittmann, Bruce, Lackner, Klaus, Flory, Justin, Stirling, Robert, Eustance, Everett, Lai, Yen-Jung, Shesh, Tarun, Wright, Allen, Kmon, Jason, L'Heureux, Zara, and Badvipour, Shahrzad. (2019) Atmospheric CO2 Capture and Membrane Delivery. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1509489
Flory, J. D., Johnson, T., Simmons, C. R., Lin, S., Ghirlanda, G., and Fromme, P. (2015) Purification and assembly of thermostable Cy5 labeled γ-PNAs into a 3D DNA nanocage. Artif. DNA. PNA XNA 5, 1–8.
Flory, J. D., Simmons, C. R., Lin, S., Johnson, T., Andreoni, A., Zook, J., Ghirlanda, G., Liu, Y., Yan, H., and Fromme, P. (2014) Low Temperature Assembly of Functional 3D DNA-PNA-Protein Complexes., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 136, 8283–8295.
Flory, J. D., Shinde, S., Lin, S., Liu, Y., Yan, H., Ghirlanda, G., and Fromme, P. (2013) PNA-Peptide Assembly in a 3D DNA Nanocage at Room Temperature., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 135, 6985–6993.

Research Activity

Wade, Jennifer*; Green, Matthew; Lackner, Klaus; Miller, Clark; Sheehan, Staff; Flory, Justin. ECO-CBET: GOALI: Autothermal Direct Air Capture (aDAC) for a Circular Carbon Economy. National Science Foundation, Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) (10/1/2022 - 9/30/2026).
Vermaas, Wim*, Green, Matthew, Lackner, Klaus, Flory, Justin, McGowen, John, Quinn, Jason. ASU’s DAC polymer-enhanced cyanobacterial bioproductivity. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Bioenergy Technology Office (10/1/2020 - 9/30/2023).
Green, Matthew*, Lackner, Klaus, Flory, Justin, Freeman, Benny, Wade, Jennifer. Mining Air for Fuels and Fine Chemicals. Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (8/15/2019 - 8/14/2022).
Rittmann, Bruce*, Flory, Justin, Krajmalnik-Brown, Rosa, McGowen, John, Lai, Yen-Jung, Eustance, Everett. Membrane Carbonation for 100% Efficient Delivery of Industrial CO2 Gases. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Bioenergy Technology Office (1/1/2019 - 6/30/2022).
Rittmann, Bruce*, Flory, Justin, Lackner, Klaus. Atmospheric CO2 Capture and Membrane Delivery. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Bioenergy Technology Office (10/1/2015 - 3/31/2016).

Industry Positions

Sensor Chemistry Research Mentorship, May 2008 – July 2009

Abbott Diabetes Care, Alameda CA

Investigate problems for 3-5 hours per week related to the research and manufacturing of in vivo continuous blood glucose monitoring sensors for Dr. Udo Hoss, Director of Sensor Chemistry.

Software QA Engineer, July 2007 – July 2009

Abbott Diabetes Care, Alameda CA

Verify and validate software of consumer medical devices for FDA compliance.

Lead Test Engineer, March 2003 – June 2007

Symmetricom, Inc., Santa Rosa CA

Design tests, build automation systems and lead strategy for product quality of precise time and frequency distribution systems.

Materials Characterization Lab Scientist Internship, September 2000 – December 2001

Optical Coating Labs (JDS Uniphase), Santa Rosa CA

Perform metrology and investigate problems related to research and manufacturing of optical thin films for Dr. Said Mansour, Materials Characterization Lab Manager.

Expertise Areas

Artificial Photosynthesis

Energy and Sustainability

Software Development Methodologies

Bioenergy Markets

Physics

Music