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Robert

Bertrand

SF Bay Area

Joint BioEnergy Institute

Build a bioreactor platform that can make commodity molecules cost-competitively with petroleum or petroleum-derived products. This will be achieved by feeding H2 and CO2 to industrial microorganisms.

I love carpentry and DIY. I *literally* grew up in a hardware store. I have a cottage in Ontario that I'm working to renovate. I'm eager to learn and practice skills in carpentry, plumbing, electrical, masonry, et cetera. The amount of online tutorials that are available on every building subject is truly astounding.

I have an African Grey parrot named Juno (That's the species of bird well-known for talking). She can use some English words in their correct context, and we taught her how to high-five and shake a paw. I built an aviary for her to enjoy the outdoors.

Edwin

Neumann

Boston

MIT PhD student in Jonathan Weissman's Lab, previously a tech in Feng Zhang's lab at the Broad Institute

I am developing epigenetic editing tools for neurodegenerative diseases. I hope to see these approaches reach the clinic for a range of historically intractable diseases, including prion and Huntington's

I have an interest in history (bronze age) and economics. I appreciate learning about science policy and public-private partnerships

I am a midwesterner (from Wisconsin) and used to work on a dairy farm in high school

Geoffrey

Stanley

San Francisco/NYC

GRAIL

I'm most interested in building LLM-based applications for biotech, helping biotech companies manage and communicate their scientific knowledge. But open to more traditional biotech plays particularly in single-cell 'omics drug discovery.

how to make use of china's massive factory glut, defense tech, splice isoform-specific therapeutics

I used to have a giant afro, and Barack Obama complimented it

Daniel

Rahn

Sunnyvale / San Francisco

SpaceX

I want to reduce waste and inefficiency in manufacturing. My goal is to develop a low cost system to improve inspections in electronics manufacturing and more effectivly identify defects.

Anything to do with biology, chemistry, computer science,

I lived in a sailboat for a while! (Currently in staying it)

Pascal

Notin

Boston

Harvard University

I'm conducting research at the intersection of generative AI and protein engineering. My goal is to develop novel enzymes that will support our transition towards a sustainable economy.

New materials, chemistry, batteries

Father of an 11-month-old boy

Josh

Zelina

Idaho Falls, Idaho

Idaho National Laboratory

I want to get my technology out of the lab and making an impact in the real world.

Space exploration/infrastructure

I’ve lost my pants at work 4 times in one day

Dan

Voicu

Montreal

McGill University - Codruta Ignea Department of Bioengineering is where I am currently affiliated. Have also been previously associated with McGill iGEM (see top 10 in 2022, and grand prize winners in 2023). Have also worked in Multhaup lab, Chen lab at McGill, and Irina Dinu lab at University of Alberta.

I want to unlock the biodiversity of the natural world, and in doing so create better therapeutics, but also leverage these discoveries for better bioprocesses (generally). I am working on improving biosynthetic pathway elucidation. We acquire so many interesting compounds both medicinal, or environmental (like saponins as soaps), but we know relatively little about the actual metabolic pathways that let us elucidate these pathways, and elucidating them is a slow and laborious process. Since many of the compounds produced by biology are inaccessible by synthetic chemistry we aim to use synthetic biology to speed up the discovery process. I want to build this because I feel that unlocking nature's vast biodiversity is key to us better understanding and building with biology. If we truly believe we are going to live in a biotic society in the next 25 years, we need to be able to understand what is happening in the pathways we want to engineer and control.

I am extremely curious about simulating cells - that said, how can we improve our spatio-temporal understanding of cells such that we can make better informed engineering decisions about biology. Generally I am quite interested in the disease prevention ("longevity" or healthy living rather) space, as well as climate tech and plant engineering. There is just too much crazy science going on, and I am just sad that I don't have time to learn it all. I would love to push the frontier of being a great founder, and then try to make other great science possible.

I used to play soccer professionally in Canada (in the Canadian premier league, where I was the captain of the reserve team, and played once before deciding to leave home for university when I was 17). Many of my friends from there are playing in europe (second division german, a couple in first divisions in spain and england). I also love playing piano, but have not practiced in a while :(.

Alex

Araki

Gordian Biotechnology

A world where animal models can be reproduced and readily available for researchers to use. This could then significantly accelerate the pace of new drug development and research to create new cures, faster.

climate tech, fitness/nutrition, backpacking

different colored eyes!

Kenza

Samlali

Boston (watertown)

Panoplia Laboratories (Alvea, Concordia Uni)

I'm passionate about biosecurity and would like to transform the way we manufacture drugs globally, provide accessible diagnostics, and safe and secure genomics for all. Right now, I dream about a world where antivirals are as common as antibiotics, and we don't have to rely fully on vaccines. For the past 8 months, I've been developing an antiviral therapeutic drug that I believe could be a stepping stone towards this.

botany, food security, space exploration, climate change (and geoengineering), digital democracy, cybersecurity, design/architecture/furniture

I will be going on a 350 mile bikepacking trip during the program!

Daniel

Almonacid

Santiago, Chile; and San Diego, California

CEO of DrugBiome. Previously I was CSO at Digbi Health, Head of Data Science and Product Development at Biome Makers, SVP of Science and Innovation at uBiome, Adjunct Professor of Bioinformatics at U. Andres Bello, postdoc in bioengineering and therapeutic sciences at UCSF, PhD in molecular informatics for the U. of Cambridge. Cofounder of a few startups, advisor.

The drug development industry has largely overlooked the role of the commensal microbiota in human health. We will leverage the current knowledge of the microbiome together with advancements in protein structure prediction to systematically uncover bacterial targets for drug development. Initially, these efforts will improve the efficacy of FDA-approved drugs or those that were safe but failed in phase 2 or 3 clinical trials. In the long term, this approach will deliver targets and drugs for health conditions lacking current therapeutic interventions.

Leadership, management, brain circulation, marketing, fostering innovation.

I am the scientist with the most patents in the microbiome field worldwide.

Sung

Yeon

Seattle, Washington

Dr. Aaron Ring, Yale University/Fred Hutch

My work focuses on building proteogenomic and functional tools to identify novel tumor-specific epitopes so that we can build safer immunotherapies.

mental health, aging, cardiovascular health, radiopharmaceuticals

Competing in an ironman this year

Scott

Riggs

San Francisco, CA

Applied Materials

My Work I'm passionate about harnessing AI to accelerate innovation and scientific discovery. My research centers on using Bayesian optimization to tackle the challenges of complex systems, particularly temporal-spatial systems with limited experimental data. This has applications ranging from streamlining synthetic DNA assembly to optimizing large-scale supply chains. I envision a world where AI accelerates progress by transforming how we tackle complex systems. Companies shouldn't be held back by a lack of AI expertise; my goal is to create accessible tools that empower them to optimize processes, drive innovation, and achieve breakthroughs. These advancements won't just boost their bottom line – they can lead to faster scientific discoveries, reduced environmental impact, and more cost-effective solutions across industries.

Building large scale art installations

I've motorcycled across the US more than 10 times.

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