Crysten Blaby-Haas is a Staff Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), where she holds a dual appointment at the Molecular Foundry (TMF) and the Joint Genome Institute (JGI). At LBNL, she leads the Genome-encoded Biomaterials group in the Biological Nanostructures Facility at TMF and the Biomolecular Materials group at JGI focused on the discovery, design, and engineering of genome-encoded biomaterials. Her research centers on the molecular mechanisms of protein function, specifically focusing on metal-trafficking pathways and the redesign of biomaterials. She is particularly interested in advancing synthetic biology strategies that use algae as a chassis for the synthesis of sustainable biomaterials and bioenergy. Prior to joining Berkeley Lab in 2022, she was a group lead at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where she co-founded and led the Quantitative Plant Science Initiative. She earned her PhD in Microbiology and Cell Science from the University of Florida and completed an NIH-NRSA postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA.