SynBioBeta Speaker
Stefan Lutz
Codexis Inc.
CSO
Stefan Lutz joined Codexis in 2020 as the Senior Vice President of Research to lead the company’s research team advancing the discovery of proteins. Prior to his arrival in Redwood City, he was a Professor and Chair of the Chemistry Department at Emory University, having joined the university in 2002 and ascending to Chemistry Department Chair in 2014. In addition to his academic work, he has consulted for AgriMetis and served on the scientific advisory boards of ZuvaChem, CODA Genomics Inc. and SynBioX Inc. Stefan has co-authored more than 70 articles published in peer-reviewed journals and six technical books and journals. He holds six patents and is a frequent lecturer and speaker. Dr. Lutz received a BSc in chemistry/chemical engineering from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, an MSc in Biotechnology from the University of Teesside and a PhD in chemistry from the University of Florida. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Pennsylvania State University.
SynBioBeta 2026 Tickets are Live
Confirmed Speakers
Sessions Featuring
Stefan
This Year
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AIxBIO
Rewriting Enzyme Performance: Next-Gen Platforms for AI-Driven Protein Screening
AI is rapidly transforming how therapeutic enzymes and protein drug candidates are discovered, engineered, and validated. Generative models can now propose millions of novel variants optimized for specificity, stability, and target engagement. But the true bottleneck is no longer design, it is screening at scale. As model-generated libraries expand exponentially, the need for faster, more predictive experimental systems has become critical to translate computational insights into clinically relevant performance. This session explores the emerging generation of integrated platforms that combine AI-guided design, high-throughput functional screening, automation, and advanced analytics to accelerate therapeutic protein discovery. From self-driving labs and multiplexed cellular assays to adaptive screening strategies that prioritize pharmacologically meaningful readouts over simple activity metrics, speakers will examine how next-gen infrastructure is reshaping enzyme optimization for drug development.
Featuring
Weston Kightlinger
Ridge Bio
CEO
Cell-free synthesis pioneer building precision enzyme therapeutics.
Will Cao
Pando
CEO
Founder making enzyme development 80% cheaper
Stefan Lutz
Codexis Inc.
CSO
Directed-evolution expert shaping next-generation enzyme engineering.
David Virant
Acies Bio
Department Head
Ewa Elis
Koliber Bio
Founder & CEO
AI-driven peptide/protein drug-discovery builder (also microbiome engineering).
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AIxBIO
Rewriting Enzyme Performance: Next-Gen Platforms for AI-Driven Protein Screening
AI is rapidly transforming how therapeutic enzymes and protein drug candidates are discovered, engineered, and validated. Generative models can now propose millions of novel variants optimized for specificity, stability, and target engagement. But the true bottleneck is no longer design, it is screening at scale. As model-generated libraries expand exponentially, the need for faster, more predictive experimental systems has become critical to translate computational insights into clinically relevant performance. This session explores the emerging generation of integrated platforms that combine AI-guided design, high-throughput functional screening, automation, and advanced analytics to accelerate therapeutic protein discovery. From self-driving labs and multiplexed cellular assays to adaptive screening strategies that prioritize pharmacologically meaningful readouts over simple activity metrics, speakers will examine how next-gen infrastructure is reshaping enzyme optimization for drug development.
Featuring
Weston Kightlinger
Ridge Bio
CEO
Cell-free synthesis pioneer building precision enzyme therapeutics.
Will Cao
Pando
CEO
Founder making enzyme development 80% cheaper
Stefan Lutz
Codexis Inc.
CSO
Directed-evolution expert shaping next-generation enzyme engineering.
David Virant
Acies Bio
Department Head
Ewa Elis
Koliber Bio
Founder & CEO
AI-driven peptide/protein drug-discovery builder (also microbiome engineering).
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
