SynBioBeta Speaker
Samuel Jayakanthan
Vandstrom
Research Director
Samuel Jayakanthan leads the Protein Sciences team at Vandstrom, a company revolutionizing water desalination by harnessing the unique filtration properties of proteins. With a background that spans biophysics, structural biology, and protein engineering, he seeks to leverage innovative technologies to help solve the world’s environmental crises and push humanity forward. He is passionate about integral membrane proteins and how harnessing their unrivaled capabilities can help solve some of the world’s toughest challenges, from water scarcity to the recovery of rare earth elements and critical minerals.
SynBioBeta 2026 Tickets are Live
Confirmed Speakers
Sessions Featuring
Samuel
This Year
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Planetary Health
DNA Over Dynamite: How Biomining is Transforming Resource Recovery
Mining has long relied on brute force and chemistry, but biology is opening a new frontier. Biomining uses engineered microbes to extract metals and minerals with precision, efficiency, and far less environmental impact than traditional methods. From rare earth elements essential to clean energy to critical metals powering electronics, synthetic biology is reshaping how we source the building blocks of modern life. This session spotlights innovators designing bio-based recovery systems, scaling sustainable solutions, and reimagining resource extraction.
Purchase Pass
Featuring
Jayme Feyhl-Buska
Homeworld Collective
Critical Minerals Lead
Geomicrobiology builder turning microbes into cleaner mining tech
Nicole Richards
Allonnia
CEO
Chemical-to-cleanup veteran leading bioremediation’s next wave.
Eileen Spindler
Alta Resource Tech
VP of R&D
Mining rare earth elements with enzymes
Samuel Jayakanthan
Vandstrom
Research Director
Protein nanochannel engineer chasing cheaper desalination at scale.
Luis Valencia
AlkaLi Labs
Co-Founder & CEO
Collaborating with microbes to recycle waste
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Planetary Health
DNA Over Dynamite: How Biomining is Transforming Resource Recovery
Mining has long relied on brute force and chemistry, but biology is opening a new frontier. Biomining uses engineered microbes to extract metals and minerals with precision, efficiency, and far less environmental impact than traditional methods. From rare earth elements essential to clean energy to critical metals powering electronics, synthetic biology is reshaping how we source the building blocks of modern life. This session spotlights innovators designing bio-based recovery systems, scaling sustainable solutions, and reimagining resource extraction.
Purchase Pass
Featuring
Jayme Feyhl-Buska
Homeworld Collective
Critical Minerals Lead
Geomicrobiology builder turning microbes into cleaner mining tech
Nicole Richards
Allonnia
CEO
Chemical-to-cleanup veteran leading bioremediation’s next wave.
Eileen Spindler
Alta Resource Tech
VP of R&D
Mining rare earth elements with enzymes
Samuel Jayakanthan
Vandstrom
Research Director
Protein nanochannel engineer chasing cheaper desalination at scale.
Luis Valencia
AlkaLi Labs
Co-Founder & CEO
Collaborating with microbes to recycle waste
Session lineup still growing
Purchase Pass
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?
Purchase Pass
Featuring
Speaker Coming Soon
