IMES community profile: Cholpisit (Ice) Kiattisewee
June 27, 2025
School of Engineering Postdoctoral Fellow Cholpisit (Ice) Kiattisewee, based at IMES, is focused on research around antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and engineered living therapeutics, or living organisms crafted for treating human diseases.
Mindy Blodgett | IMES
Cholpisit (Ice) Kiattisewee is a post-doctoral fellow in the Collins Lab, and is part of the MIT Postdoctoral Program for Engineering Excellence. Ice is originally from Thailand—using a nickname instead of the long full name as most Thai people do—and was initially trained as a chemist, before jumping to synthetic biology research. During his PhD studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, Ice worked on developing a bacterial CRISPR tool for the genetic manipulation of various microbes, primarily for applications in Metabolic Engineering and Genetic Circuitry. Ice started at the Collins Lab in September, 2024, because he says he was "interested in engineering of the multi-organism community, including that of microbial consortia and cross-kingdom interaction." He says he was prompted to join the Collins Lab to "explore the engineered microbe as living therapeutics to combat the antimicrobial resistance crisis. The team consists of researchers from various backgrounds and expertise, enabling the researchers to create unique multi-disciplinary ideas."
Can you tell us more about your research interests?
I aim to combine the research interests of the team and my own expertise in Synthetic Biology and AI-assisted Antibiotics Discovery to develop a genetic approach to combat antimicrobial resistance gene lurking in the environment.
What do you enjoy about being at MIT and IMES?
Moving to Boston and joining MIT community is a big shift of environment. The never-ending ideation together with abundant resources allows us to explore new research directions. Whenever we get stuck in the unknown state, we can always find someone with particular expertise to help the team navigate the direction.
I feel like I can never get completely lost with the large knowledge pool available here, but at the same time it can be a challenge, since there are so many trails to explore on this hike.
What are you hoping to accomplish with your career?
I really like conducting research, and I am having a lot of fun teaching and learning. Thus, I want to find myself an academic job that allows me to keep doing research and to teach in various set-ups. I’m highly interested in the idea of accessible education where we explore the path for low-resource communities to learn leading frontier technology concepts, regardless of their socio-economic environment.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I love nature! Living in Seattle for six years has spoiled me with access to infinite hiking trails in the Pacific Northwest. I haven’t gotten to explore much in the New England area but will do this summer! I also enjoy playing sports especially Thai Boxing and Badminton and will end my day by cooking Thai food or karaoke.
What is on your bucket list?
There are so many in the bucket right now but the ones at the top are one, traveling to the African savanna to explore diverse fauna and flora there, and two, getting to join an acting project or forming a music band—just something completely different from what my current career is, just for the thrill!
Can you tell us more about the area where you grew up?
I grew up in the countryside of Thailand. Growing up, I hung out with various wildlife and livestock from chicken, water buffalo, different types of reptiles, to migrating birds—throughout my childhood. My childhood upbringing shaped my lifestyle as being an adventurous individual, similar to how I explored the forest when I was young. Thailand itself is very welcoming to foreigners and multi-cultural gatherings, which made me felt like a global citizen even though I hadn’t traveled much during my younger school years. I miss street food in Southeast Asia…
What do you hope to be doing in 10 years?
Still doing research, and keeping my commitment to accessible education ongoing. Those are the most important things I hope that I'll be enjoying, and that I am looking forward to.