Fermenting the Future While Making Biomanufacturing Nimble - with Shannon Hall

In this episode of the Podcast, SynBioBeta founder and CEO, John Cumbers, speaks with Harshal Chokhawala, co-founder and CEO of ZymoChem, about how the company is reengineering the foundations of materials science using microbial fermentation. Harshal discusses his scientific journey from organic chemistry to building a carbon-conserving biotech platform capable of producing bio-based adipic acid, a key component in nylon 66. Their recent partnership with lululemon aims to bring sustainable, high-performance textiles to market. The conversation also touches on ZymoChem’s second major innovation: a biodegradable superabsorbent polymer for use in diapers—a response to the overwhelming waste generated by the hygiene industry. Harshal explains their BAYSE platform, the technology powering these innovations, and how they’re scaling up production to meet market demand. The discussion closes with thoughts on scaling biomanufacturing, policy support, and the broader bioeconomy opportunity in the U.S.

In this episode of the SynBioBeta Podcast, John Cumbers sits down with Shannon Hall, co-founder and CEO of Pow.bio, to talk about how her team is flipping traditional fermentation on its head. Pow.bio’s AI-enabled, continuous fermentation platform decouples cell growth from production—enabling higher yields, faster scale-up, and dramatically lower costs. Shannon shares what led her to leave a successful career at Bio-Rad, why manufacturing is the often-overlooked bottleneck in synthetic biology, and how her company is bringing modern, data-rich, software-driven biomanufacturing to life. From food proteins and fine chemicals to probiotics and enzymes, this episode explores the promise of continuous systems, digital twins, and the smart bioreactors of tomorrow.

On this SynBioBeta podcast, John Cumbers talks with Edward Shenderovich, the Founder and CEO of Synonym, a company creating bioeconomy infrastructure to help next-generation bioproducts scale and get to market. Edward will speak at this year’s SynBioBeta conference on “Scaling Biological Capacity,” and in today’s episode, John and Edward will discuss how Synonym addresses some of the challenges in biomanufacturing with its technology-driven products and focus.  Edward Shenderovich is the founder and CEO of Synonym, which provides startups with a way to value the feasibility of their technology and effectively de-risk scalability. Edward has extensive experience in the tech industry and has founded numerous companies and VC firms, including Essential Capital, Knotel, Kite Ventures, and Merchantry. Edward and his co-founder Joshua Lachter started Synonym in January 2022 to establish, fund, and construct large-scale bio-manufacturing facilities, offering synthetic biology producers of various scales adaptable production capabilities while simultaneously providing infrastructure investors with opportunities in a novel, carbon-negative bio-manufacturing asset class. Connect with Edward: @eshender  Connect with John: @johncumbers Stay updated on the latest news in synthetic biology, check out our weekly newsletter, and follow us on social media: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook Be sure you make it to our SynBioBeta events! Click here for more information.

On this SynBioBeta podcast, John Cumbers talks with Eben Bayer, the CEO of Ecovative, a pioneering company at the forefront of developing sustainable materials using mycelium. John and Eben will discuss Ecovative’s journey toward creating a billion pounds of mycelium, explore some of the cutting-edge agricultural technology used in mushroom growing, and discuss the transformative potential of new mycelium crops in consumer goods. Additionally, John and Eben will dive into Ecovative’s unique use of AI and digital twins. Eben Bayer is the CEO of Ecovative, a pioneering company at the forefront of developing sustainable materials using mycelium, Co-founder of My Forest Foods, which uses mycelium to make foods like Mybacon, and is listed as an inventor on 64+ patents. As an entrepreneur, inventor, and futurist, Eben speaks around the world, communicating the immense potential of natural technologies and advocating sustainable stewardship of Spaceship Earth. In addition to his executive roles at Ecovative and MyForest Foods, he advises environmental start-ups in New York and worldwide.  Connect with Eben: @ebenbayer Connect with John: @johncumbers Stay updated on the latest news in synthetic biology, check out our weekly newsletter and follow us on social media: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook Be sure you make it to our SynBioBeta events! Click here for more information.

On this SynBioBeta podcast, John Cumbers talks with Sean McClain, founder, and CEO of Absci, a generative AI drug creation company on a mission to create better drugs for patients faster. Sean and John will continue some of the discussion that we started on the SynBioBeta stage around generative AI and its critical role in drug discovery, some news from AbSci’s recent R&D day, and Sean’s recent visit to Congress to discuss the opportunities and threats from AI and bio. Sean McClain is the Founder and CEO of Absci, which he built from a basement lab to a publicly traded company that continues to strive towards his vision of creating therapeutics at the click of a button. Under his leadership, Absci scaled to over 200 employees, raised over $450M in capital, established a growing number of industry-leading partnerships and built an Integrated Drug Creation Platform that merges bleeding-edge generative AI models with proprietary high-throughput wet-lab data. Sean studied biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Arizona and has been the recipient of numerous recognitions for his entrepreneurship and innovation. He serves as a board member for the Oregon Translational Research and Development Institute and Life Science Washington. Connect with Sean: @SeanRMcClain Connect with John: @johncumbers Stay updated on the latest news in synthetic biology, check out our weekly newsletter and follow us on social media: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook Be sure you make it to our SynBioBeta events! Click here for more information.

Today, John Cumbers talks with Ursheet Parikh, a general partner at Mayfield Fund, an early-stage, global venture capital firm with a people-first philosophy and a 50-plus-year history of investing and partnering with founders. John and Ursheet will discuss the state of the synthetic biology market and what startups can do to survive and thrive in this turbulent economy. Ursheet Parikh is a general partner at Mayfield Fund, where he has been investing in both human and planetary health companies since 2013. Ursheet’s investments include companies such as Mammoth Biosciences, which has a focus on discovering novel CRISPR systems; Mission Bio, which is looking to apply a Single-Cell Sequencing platform toward oncology; Qventus, which is blazing a trail in Healthcare-AI; and Endpoint Health, which is reshaping the Precision Immunology space—just to name a few. Ursheet holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a Bachelors in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai. He is passionate about accelerating healthcare innovation and transforming college education, where his family foundation is focused. Connect with Ursheet: @ursheet Connect with John: @johncumbers Stay updated on the latest news in synthetic biology, check out our weekly newsletter and follow us on social media: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook Be sure you make it to our SynBioBeta events! Click here for more information.

Today John Cumbers talks with Kyle Giffin, Co-Founder and COO of Latch Bio, the San Francisco-based company that is looking to harmonize data analysis through the application of its integrated bioinformatics platform. Over 50 leading biotechs in drug discovery, therapeutics, agriculture, and climate use LatchBio to accelerate R&D. The team is young, bold, and hiring. To learn more, go to www.latch.bio.  Check out this week’s sponsor: Mayfield Kyle Giffin is a co-founder and the COO of LatchBio. He studied neuroscience and data science at UC Berkeley. In 2021, Giffin dropped out of Berkeley to found LatchBio with the aim of accelerating fundamental science. Connect with Kyle: @kylegiff Connect with John: @johncumbers Stay updated on the latest news in synthetic biology, check out our weekly newsletter, and follow us on social media: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook Be sure you make it to our SynBioBeta events! Click here for more information.

In this episode, John Cumbers chats with Michael Kamdar, President & CEO and Phil Paik, CTO, both of whom are  at Molecular Assemblies—a San Diego-based life sciences company developing an enzymatic DNA synthesis technology designed to power the next generation of DNA-based products. The trio will discuss the competitive DNA synthesis landscape, Molecular Assemblies plans for commercialization, and what Mike and Phil envision for the future of the company and the industry. Check out this week’s sponsor: Form Bio Mike Kamdar is an industry veteran with business development and financing expertise who joined Molecular Assemblies in 2016. Mike has been in leadership positions within the biotech industry for numerous years, guiding companies such as Aguron, Pfizer and Hepion, Mike has a bachelor's in biology from St. Joseph’s University and an MBA from Villanova University. Phil Paik has over 16 years of experience in technology innovation and platform development and joined Molecular Assemblies in 2020 after serving as an Associate Director of Engineering at Illumina—where he spent a number of years responsible for fluidics architecture and instrument development. Phil received both his master’s and PhD degrees from Duke University. Connect with Mike & Phil: @molassemblies Connect with John: @johncumbers Stay updated on the latest news in synthetic biology, check out our weekly newsletter, and follow us on social media: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook Be sure you make it to our SynBioBeta events! Click here for more information.

Today John Cumbers talks with Claire Aldridge, Chief Strategy Officer at FormBio. Together they will discuss Form Bio, the spin-out from Colossal Laboratories & Biosciences, cell and gene therapies, why they are so difficult to manufacture, and the regulatory environment for these technologies.   Check out this week’s sponsor: Molecular Assemblies Claire Aldridge, Chief Strategy Officer at FormBio. Claire brings decades of experience facilitating the translation of scientific discoveries into patient and commercial benefits.  Claire has leveraged her training as a translator to act as a liaison between scientists and non-scientists, effectively communicating the potential of science. Her career has focused on technology commercialization, improving patient outcomes, working with disease-specific nonprofits, venture philanthropy, and biotech and life science investing.   Claire has a Ph.D. from Duke University in the Department of Immunology and Program in Genetics, and her Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science is from Texas A&M University.  Since grad school, Claire has had an extensive career in the biotech industry, leading them to numerous successful endeavors. Connect with Claire: @ClaireAldrige2 Connect with John: @johncumbers Stay updated on the latest news in synthetic biology, check out our weekly newsletter, and follow us on social media: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook Be sure you make it to our SynBioBeta events! Click here for more information.

Today John Cumbers talks with Jason Kelly, Co-founder and CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks. Together they will discuss synthetic biology’s coming of age” and get Jason’s take on several topics, such as the history of programmable biology, Sam Altman, Ai and the role of AI in biology, and the new congressional commission covering national security and emerging biotechnology. Check out this week's sponsor: Twist Bioscience Jason Kelly is a co-founder and the CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks. He obtained his doctorate in Bioengineering from MIT in 2008, where he worked on engineering bacteria to produce biofuels. In 2009, Kelly co-founded Ginkgo Bioworks along with four other co-founders. Under his leadership, Ginkgo has grown to become one of the leading companies in the field of synthetic biology, with a focus on developing custom microbes for a wide range of applications, including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and industrial chemicals. Jason has been recognized for his contributions to synthetic biology, receiving several awards, including MIT Technology Review's Innovator Under 35 and Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Energy. Connect with Matt: @jrkelly Connect with John: @johncumbers Stay updated on the latest news in synthetic biology, check out our weekly newsletter, and follow us on social media: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook Be sure you make it to our SynBioBeta events! Click here for more information.