SynBioBeta Speaker

Gordon Freedman

MitoWorld

Publisher

Gordon Freedman is the founder and president of the National Laboratory for Education Transformation (NLET, www.NLET.org), a California-based nonprofit that now anchors several initiatives driving what he calls the “mitochondrial revolution” in medicine and health. Through NLET, he founded MitoWorld.org as a neutral, science-forward public gateway to mitochondrial biology, curating expert content, interviews, and explainers that connect cutting-edge research to clinicians, patients, investors, and policy makers.Building on this foundation, Freedman launched MITOS.org as an emerging global collaboration platform focused on translating mitochondrial science into diagnostics, therapeutics, and prevention strategies. MITOS convenes researchers, clinicians, and technology partners to identify high-value opportunities in areas such as metabolic disease, neurodegeneration, immune dysfunction, aging, and women’s health, while emphasizing rigorous validation and cross-disciplinary collaboration.Freedman’s work sits at the intersection of biomedicine, data, and systems transformation. Drawing on his background in large-scale education and workforce innovation, he is building new narratives, tools, and coalitions to move mitochondria from a niche specialty to a central organizing framework for understanding human biology and environmental stress. Through MitoWorld.org and MITOS.org, he is assembling scientific advisory networks, mapping the global mitochondrial research landscape, and designing communication and funding strategies that can support the next generation of mitochondrial diagnostics and interventions.At SynBioBeta 2026, Freedman’s session on mitochondrial advances will highlight how synthetic biology, precision measurement, and high-throughput screening can unlock mitochondrial mechanisms as platforms for drug discovery, cell and gene therapies, and systems-level models of human health. His goal is to help bridge pioneering mitochondrial science with the entrepreneurial, engineering, and investment communities needed to scale mitochondrial innovation for global impact.

SynBioBeta 2026 Tickets are Live

Confirmed Speakers

Sessions Featuring

Gordon

This Year

Breakout Session

4:30 PM

-

5:15 PM

Longevity

Mitochondrial transplantation and genome editing: engineering the metabolic engine of complex life

Mitochondria are often pigeon-holed as the "powerhouse of the cell", giving the false impression that their primary role is as an ATP generator passively responding to the energetic demands of their environment. This is far from the truth. The mitochondria exist as a dynamic network that senses, integrates, and transduces biochemical, energetic, and physical signals, and these signals shape cell fate, lifespan, cancer risk, and more. This session explores emerging tools and methods to edit the small, maternally-inherited, circular mitochondrial genome present in dozens-to-hundreds of copies per cell as a means to prevent mitochondrial disease and optimize metabolic fitness. Additionally, we will discuss the promise of mitochondrial transplantation methodologies as a therapeutic intervention and to discuss the possible routes for mitochondrial metabolic engineering and a range of synthetic developments.

Purchase Pass

Breakout Session

4:30 PM

-

5:15 PM

Longevity

Mitochondrial transplantation and genome editing: engineering the metabolic engine of complex life

Mitochondria are often pigeon-holed as the "powerhouse of the cell", giving the false impression that their primary role is as an ATP generator passively responding to the energetic demands of their environment. This is far from the truth. The mitochondria exist as a dynamic network that senses, integrates, and transduces biochemical, energetic, and physical signals, and these signals shape cell fate, lifespan, cancer risk, and more. This session explores emerging tools and methods to edit the small, maternally-inherited, circular mitochondrial genome present in dozens-to-hundreds of copies per cell as a means to prevent mitochondrial disease and optimize metabolic fitness. Additionally, we will discuss the promise of mitochondrial transplantation methodologies as a therapeutic intervention and to discuss the possible routes for mitochondrial metabolic engineering and a range of synthetic developments.

Purchase Pass

TBD

Session lineup still growing

Purchase Pass

Featuring

Speaker Coming Soon

Fireside Chat

12:00 AM

-

8:30 AM

Human Health

From Cells to Patients: Solving the Scale Mismatch in Virtual Biology

Drug discovery often measures biology at the cell level while interventions work at the tissue, organ, or whole-patient scale. This mismatch can make accurate cell-level predictions irrelevant in the clinic. This session dives into strategies to bridge that gap: multiscale modeling that nests single-cell dynamics within organ-level simulations, spatial transcriptomics that preserve context, and surrogate models that translate cell-level outputs into clinical biomarkers. Speakers will ask: how do we ensure virtual biology reflects not just what cells do in isolation, but how biology behaves in the real complexity of patients?

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Featuring

Speaker Coming Soon

Previous Speakers Include