# Christina Smolke

> Christina Smolke is the CEO and Co-Founder of Antheia, Inc., a Menlo Park-based synthetic biology company programming yeast to manufacture complex pharmaceutical ingredients — including the active ingredient in Narcan — in days rather than the years required by traditional plant cultivation. A Stanford professor turned biotech entrepreneur, she pioneered the engineering of baker's yeast to produce opioids and other plant-derived medicines, raising over $175 million to bring her lab breakthroughs to global pharmaceutical supply chains.

- **Role:** CEO & Co-Founder at Antheia, Inc.
- **Organizations:** Antheia, Inc., Stanford University, Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub, AIMBE
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of Southern California, Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, UC Berkeley
- **Known for:** NIH Director's Pioneer Award (2012), MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 (2004), Beckman Young Investigator Award (2005)

## Career timeline

- **2001** — Completed Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at UC Berkeley
- **2003** — Joined Caltech as Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering; pioneered RNA device research
- **2004** — Named to MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35
- **2005** — Received Beckman Young Investigator Award
- **2006** — Awarded NSF CAREER Award
- **2008** — Named Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow
- **2009** — Joined Stanford University faculty; received World Technology Award in Biotechnology
- **2012** — Won NIH Director's Pioneer Award — one of biomedical research's most prestigious honors
- **2015** — Published landmark Science paper engineering yeast to produce opioids from sugar; co-founded Antheia, Inc.
- **2016** — Elected Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering
- **2019** — Named Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator
- **2020** — Antheia expanded pharmaceutical API production platform
- **2025** — Antheia raised $56M Series C led by GHIC and EDBI; named in Rising Leaders 2025
- **2026-01** — Completed Series C with additional $24M, bringing total raised to over $175M
- **2026-03** — Announced $9M expansion of U.S. government BioMaP-Consortium contract; CNBC Fortt Knox interview

## Achievements

- NIH Director's Pioneer Award (2012)
- MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 (2004)
- Beckman Young Investigator Award (2005)
- NSF CAREER Award (2006)
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow (2008)
- World Technology Award in Biotechnology (2009)
- Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator
- Fellow of AIMBE
- Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering (2016)
- Named in Nature's 10
- Novozymes Award for Excellence in Biochemical Engineering
- Engineered the first yeast strains capable of producing opioids from sugar (Science, 2015)
- Raised over $175 million for Antheia in under 10 years
- Secured $21M+ in U.S. government contracts for domestic medicine manufacturing

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Announced $9M expansion of U.S. government BioMaP-Consortium contract, bringing total government investment to $21M. Appeared on CNBC Fortt Knox to discuss domestic medicine manufacturing.
- **2026-01** — Antheia completed second close of Series C with additional $24M, raising total capital to over $175M over the past year.
- **2025-06** — Antheia raised $56M in Series C financing led by Global Health Investment Corporation (GHIC) and EDBI (Singapore).
- **2025-01** — Named in Rising Leaders 2025 feature by Citeline/In Vivo for translating research into real-world pharmaceutical impact.

## Links

- Website: https://antheia.bio
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-smolke-87a8b3b6

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/christina-smolke
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-13