SynBioBeta Speaker
Laura Powell
EverGlade
Director
Laura Powell, PhD is a seasoned advisor in federal non-dilutive funding, with extensive experience helping biotechnology companies navigate and secure capital from agencies including ARPA-H, DARPA, BARDA, and others. At EverGlade, she manages a portfolio exceeding $1 billion in federal funding and works closely with founders and leadership teams to translate cutting-edge science into fundable, mission-aligned programs.Dr. Powell’s expertise spans the full lifecycle of government engagement—from early-stage positioning and Tech Watch meetings through proposal development, contracting, and post-award execution. She brings a deep understanding of how agencies evaluate technical risk, define impact, and structure partnerships that bridge innovation and deployment.Trained as a PhD scientist in monoclonal antibody discovery and development, Dr. Powell combines technical depth with strategic insight, making her uniquely positioned to navigate conversations at the intersection of venture, government funding, and biotech innovation.
SynBioBeta 2026 Tickets are Live
Confirmed Speakers
Sessions Featuring
Laura
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.
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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.
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Session lineup still growing
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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?
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Featuring
Speaker Coming Soon
