John Marken, Ph.D., is an EMBO postdoctoral fellow in the Section of Microbiology at the University of Copenhagen. He earned his Ph.D. in bioengineering from the California Institute of Technology and his B.S. in applied mathematics from the College of William and Mary.

Marken's research interests lie at the intersection of synthetic biology, microbial ecology and biotechnology regulation and governance. His current work develops molecular tools to measure the dynamics of horizontal gene transfer in environmental microbiomes to better understand the ecological and evolutionary roles of mobile genetic elements and to inform risk assessment strategies for the use of microbial bioinoculants in such environments.