biosynthesis
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Max Mikheev Is Teaching Oily Yeast a More Valuable Trick
The BIOMEDICAN founder has spent two decades moving between genomes, models and microbes. His current wager is simple to describe and difficult to execute: make scarce compounds in fermentation tanks instead of fields.
Paul Orlady Is Teaching Tiny Factories to Think Bigger
The economics graduate behind Khona Scientific is making a business case for microscopic order: line up the enzymes, simplify the supply chain, and let ordinary yeast attempt unusually complicated work.
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.