Henry S. Gibbons

Since 2008, Henry S. Gibbons, Ph.D. has been a Research Microbiologist at the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command - Chemical Biological Center, the Army laboratory charged with developing and testing non-medical protections against chemical and biological weapons. His group has employed a combination of genomics, bioinformatics, synthetic biology, and classical microbiological techniques to develop new techniques for characterizing biological and chemical threats. His group recently utilized microbial genetics and synthetic biology to create new, genetically tagged or “barcoded” strains of Bacillus thuringiensis for use as anthrax simulants and paired those strains with specific PCR-based detection assays to enable their tracking in the environment. Beginning in 2015, he co-chaired the DoD-wide technical working group that developed a standardized, validated method of inactivating B. anthracis spores by gamma-irradiation and currently serves as vice-chair of the Biological Select Agents and Toxins Biorisk and Safety Review Panel for the DoD. He is a member of the Chemical Corps Regimental Association’s Honorable Order of the Dragon, and in 2019 was awarded a Service Chiefs’ Fellowship from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In addition, he has authored or co-authored 27 primary scientific publications.