SynBioBeta Speaker
Omri Amirav-Drory
NFX
General Partner
Omri Amirav-Drory, Ph.D. is the General Partner at NFX Bio. He is a scientist and an operator who has founded, scaled, and invested in some of today’s most important techbio companies. Before becoming an investor, Omri was the Founding CEO of Genome Compiler, which developed software for genetic engineers and molecular and synthetic biologists. He led the company to a successful acquisition by Twist Bioscience, a next-generation DNA synthesis company currently valued at ~$2.5 Billion. Omri stayed at Twist for almost three years after the acquisition as the Head of Corporate Development. After leaving Twist, Omri became the Founding Partner at Tech.Bio where he invested and advised in companies like Mammoth Biosciences, immunai, C2i Genomics, and more. Now as an investor, Omri understands what it means to be a Scientist-CEO and is committed to a future where this is the norm, not the exception.
SynBioBeta 2026 Tickets are Live
Confirmed Speakers
Sessions Featuring
Omri
This Year
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Business of Biology
Fueling the Bioeconomy: How Founders Can Unlock Government Capital to Build the Next Generation of Biotech
Venture capital alone is no longer enough to power the next wave of biotechnology innovation. Across health, biosecurity, climate, and advanced biomanufacturing, government agencies are emerging as catalytic partners, deploying billions in non-dilutive funding to accelerate high-risk, high-impact breakthroughs. But accessing this capital requires more than strong science. Founders must understand how agencies like ARPA-H, DARPA, BARDA, and others evaluate risk, define mission impact, and structure partnerships that bridge research and real-world deployment. This session brings together agency leaders, founders, and experienced operators to demystify how government funding actually works in today’s market. The panelists will explore how startups can position themselves for success, avoid common pitfalls in proposal development and contracting, and strategically leverage non-dilutive funding to extend runway, de-risk technology, and unlock new commercial pathways.
Featuring
Alicia Jackson
ARPA-H
Director
DARPA veteran driving ARPA-H’s next-generation health moonshots.
Michael Koeris
DARPA
Director, BTO
Protecting National Security with Biology
Omri Amirav-Drory
NFX
General Partner
Scientist-founder VC: built Genome Compiler, now backs techbio.
Laura Powell
EverGlade
Director
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Business of Biology
Fueling the Bioeconomy: How Founders Can Unlock Government Capital to Build the Next Generation of Biotech
Venture capital alone is no longer enough to power the next wave of biotechnology innovation. Across health, biosecurity, climate, and advanced biomanufacturing, government agencies are emerging as catalytic partners, deploying billions in non-dilutive funding to accelerate high-risk, high-impact breakthroughs. But accessing this capital requires more than strong science. Founders must understand how agencies like ARPA-H, DARPA, BARDA, and others evaluate risk, define mission impact, and structure partnerships that bridge research and real-world deployment. This session brings together agency leaders, founders, and experienced operators to demystify how government funding actually works in today’s market. The panelists will explore how startups can position themselves for success, avoid common pitfalls in proposal development and contracting, and strategically leverage non-dilutive funding to extend runway, de-risk technology, and unlock new commercial pathways.
Featuring
Alicia Jackson
ARPA-H
Director
DARPA veteran driving ARPA-H’s next-generation health moonshots.
Michael Koeris
DARPA
Director, BTO
Protecting National Security with Biology
Omri Amirav-Drory
NFX
General Partner
Scientist-founder VC: built Genome Compiler, now backs techbio.
Laura Powell
EverGlade
Director
Session lineup still growing
Featuring
Speaker Coming Soon
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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?
Featuring
Speaker Coming Soon
