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University of Illinois Cancer Center member Bradley Merrill, PhD, was awarded the 2025 iBIO iCON Innovator Award for advancing CRISPR-based synthetic biology and stem cell engineering. 

Bradley Merrill, PhD

A Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), the Merrill Lab pioneered CRISPR-Cas9 systems that enable cells to perform sequential programmable gene edits. Building on this work, Merrill co-founded Syntax Bio with former PhD student Ryan Clarke to create CRISPR platforms for generating therapeutic cells from stem cells.

Merrill was presented with the award at an event iBIO (short for the Illinois Biotechnology Innovation Organization) hosted on November 6 in Chicago that also recognized the innovation of other honorees. iBIO is a life sciences industry association representing 85,000 life sciences employees across member companies, universities, service providers and venture firms.

At the Cancer Center, Merrill is a member of the Cancer Biology Research Program. The Cancer Center is part of UIC and its academic health enterprise, UI Health.