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SynBioBeta Speaker

John Robson

Managing Director

BioOra

May 2026, SynBioBeta

Speaker

John Robson is the CEO and Managing Director of BioOra, a New Zealand biotech company scaling automated CAR-T cell therapy manufacturing. He brings over two decades of deep-tech investment experience from his role at Bridgewest Ventures, and has been closely involved in early-stage life-science companies since 2008. As a board member of multiple biotech startups, Robson combines financial acumen, risk strategy, and vision to help BioOra deliver affordable, high-quality cell therapies.

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Beyond Static Predictions — AI for Protein Dynamics and Multi-Cell Models

AIxBIO

Draft Session

May 2026

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Confirmed Speakers

Sid Sijbrandij

GitLab

Co-founder & EC

Leroy Hood

ISB

Co-founder & Prof.

Alicia Jackson

ARPA-H

Director

David Sinclair

Harvard Medical School

Professor, Genetics

Austin Nasso

TechRoast

Comedian

David Eagleman

Stanford University

Adjunct Professor

Bruce Friedrich

Good Food Institute

Founder & President

Marc Tessier-Lavigne

Xaira

Chairman & CEO

Sue Siegel

Align & Illumina

Board Director

Micha Breakstone

Cellular Intelligence

Co-founder & CEO

Jeanne Loring

Scripps, Aspen Neuro

Professor

Ola Wlodek

Constructive Bio

CEO

Simon Kohl

Latent Labs

Founder & CEO

Eric Kelsic

Dyno Therapeutics

CEO

Emily Leproust

Twist Bioscience

CEO

Neil Parry

Unilever

R&D Dir. Biotech

Jonathan Anomaly

Herasight

Professor & Founder

Jean Hebert

ARPA-H

Program Manager

Michael Koeris

DARPA

Director, BTO

Alexandre Zanghellini

Arzeda

Co-founder & CEO

Drew Endy

Stanford University

Hoover Inst Fellow

Kit McDonnell

Superorganism VC

Head of Ecosystem

Gregory Hocking

Mars Snacking

VP Global R&D New Innov. Territories

Kim Branson

GlaxoSmithKline

SVP, Global Head

Elise de Reus

Cradle

Co-founder

Christina Smolke

Antheia

CEO & Co-Founder

Jacob Glanville

Centivax

CEO

Ron Alfa

NOETIK Inc.

Co-Founder & CEO

Deena Emera

Buck Institute

Senior Scientist

Amy Jenkins

AstraZeneca

Sr Dir, Strat & Ops

David Hallett

Recursion

CSO

Bill Tai

ACTAI Global

Chairman, Co-founder

Paul Bielewicz

W. L. Gore & Associates

Dir. of Innov. & Venture Dev.

Mark Budde

Plasmidsaurus

Co-founder & CEO

Ross Uhrich

ARPA-H

Program Manager

Amy Trejo

Procter & Gamble Company

Dir. Hair Care Sustain.

Aindrila Mukhopadhyay

Joint Bioenergy Institute

VP, Biofuels and Bioproducts

Joy Jiao

OpenAI

Research Lead

Paul Schnier

Lilly

AVP, Oncology

Michael Hershkowitz

IFF

Dir., Sustainable Innovation

Samuel King

Stanford University

BioEng Doctoral Candidate

Relly Brandman

A-Life / Google X

Moonshot Lead

Bryan Walsh

Vox Media

Senior Editorial Dir.

Adrian Woolfson

Genyro

President & CEO

Johnny Yu

Tahoe Therapeutics

CSO & Co-founder

Monique Coy

Corteva Agriscience

Program Leader

Robert-Jan de Voogd

Corbion

General Manager

Kristina Kitko

Eli Lilly

Director of Venture

Stacie Calad-Thomson

NVIDIA

BD, Life Sciences

Matt Angle

Paradromics

Founder & CEO

Jens Nielsen

BioInnovation Inst.

CEO

Jen Asher

1910

Founder & CEO

Jacob Becraft

Strand

CEO & Co-founder

Tanja Kortemme

UCSF

Vice Dean of Research

Nima Alidoust

Tahoe Therapeutics

CEO & Co-founder

Shelby Newsad

Compound

Partner

Avantika Lal

Genentech

Principal ML Scientist II

Una Ryan

Ulux

Founder and CEO

Ekaterine Kortkhonjia

J&J

Sr. Dir, Transactions

Peter Clark

Novo Nordisk

VP, CDD

Jamie Justice

XPRIZE

EVP, Health

Jessica Owens

Initiate Ventures

Managing Partner

Eric Nguyen

Radical Numerics

Co-founder & CEO

Susan Klaeger

Genentech

Principal Scientist

Ling Li

ADM

Dir. Market Dev., Prec. Ferm.

Tommaso Biancalani

Lila Sciences

SVP

Bart Haverkorn

The EVERY Company

CTO

Sergiy Velychko

Soxogen

Founder & CEO

Peyton Greenside

BigHat Biosciences

CEO & Co-Founder

Po Bronson

SOSV

General Partner

Viola Folli

D-Tails

Co-Founder & CSO

Krish Ramadurai

AIX Ventures

Partner

Viviana Mucci

Saudi German Hosp.

Founder and Innovator

Laura Glickman

Adjuvia

Co-Founder & CEO

Babu Raman

Corteva Agriscience

External Collab. Portfolio Leader

Erum Azeez Khan

Messaginglab

Partner

Ouwei Wang

Pow.Bio

CTO & Co-founder

Shannon Hall

Pow.Bio

CEO & Co-founder

Jason Gammack

Ansa Biotechnologies

CEO

Stefan Lutz

Codexis Inc.

CSO

Raphael Townshend

Atomic AI

Founder & CEO

Tessa Alexanian

IBBIS

Technical Lead

Elizabeth Swenson

Teal Health

Medical Director

Lauren Greenlee

XPRIZE

EVP

Benedetta Di Robilant

ProMIND Therapeutics

Co-founder & CEO

Riccardo LoCascio

Novonesis

Partnering - Precision Proteins

Oliver Dodd

Nucleate

Co-Founder & Exec. Director

Eriona Hysolli

Manhattan Genomics

Co-founder

Jerry McLaughlin

Life Biosciences

CEO

Jim Cooper

Unfinished Ventures

Director

Maria Thacker-Goethe

Georgia Life Sciences

President & CEO

Weston Kightlinger

Ridge Bio

CEO

Douglas Crawford

Mission Bay Capital

GM & Mng Partner

Eric Lee

Primient

Director, B&D - Fermentation

Paul Sheehan

ARPA-H

Program Manager

Anastasia Shindyapina

Retro Biosciences

Team Lead

Ali Madani

Profluent

CEO

Trevor Nicks

Caravel Bio

Founder & CEO

Cindy Groff-Vindman

CINBIO

Founder

Eduarda Franklin

Orby.co

CEO

Wyatt McDonnell

Infinimmune

CEO

Gloria Elliot

ARPA-H

Program Manager

Deepti Tanjore

LBNL

Director, ABPDU

Zack Abbott

ZBiotics

CEO

Michael Gay

Univ. of Wisconsin CDR

Tech Transfer/Bus Dev

Nick Ohler

Oobli

COO

Jessica Green

ARPA-H

Program Manager

Meliza Mokrani

WORTHY Wellness

Founder

Zara Butte

Human Longevity

Physician

Maria Lence

For Women's Health

CEO & Founder

Yves Falanga

NOETIK

Corporate Strategy & BD

Ricky Cassini

Michroma

CEO

Liliana Nordbakk

NEVA SGR

Partner

Verena Kallhoff

GHP

Sr. Dir, Global Life Sciences

Karl Schmieder

Messaging Lab

CEO

Anthony Costa

NVIDIA

Director, Digital Biology

Eduardo Abeliuk

TeselaGen

Founder & CEO

Isabelle Decitre

ID Capital

Founder

Neeka Mashouf

Rubi Laboratories

CEO and Co-founder

Alexandra Brocato

Beakr

CEO & Co-founder

Nick Edwards

Potato

Founder & CEO

Elizabeth Kellogg

St. Jude CRH

PI, Kellogg Lab

Andrew Hessel

Human Genome Project

Chairman

Matthew Osman

Polyphron

CEO and Co-Founder

Karl Handelsman

Codon Capital

Managing Partner

Christopher Bradley

Matter Bio

CEO

Gregory Rieker

University of CO Boulder

Professor

Marieke Klijn

Delft University of Technology

Associate Professor

Jenny Rooke

Genoa Ventures

Managing Director

Jacob Beal

RTX BBN Technologies

Engineering Fellow

Shai Melcer

Israel Innovation Authority

Head of Nat'l. Bioconvergence Prog.

Christopher Petzold

LBNL

Staff Scientist

Esthèle Goure

Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant

BD Manager

Kang Kang

LinkZill

Partner & CBO

Bingyin (Brian) Wang

LinkZill

Dir. of Life Sciences BU

Gleb Kuznetsov

Manifold Bio

Co-founder & CEO

Josh Armstrong

Corteva

Discovery & Bioprocess Leader

Samuel Levin

Neion Bio

Co-Founder & CTO

Mikah Coffindaffer

Procter & Gamble

R&D Director

Nigel Mouncey

DOE Joint Genome Institute

Director

Jose Carlos Garcia-Garcia

Procter & Gamble

Sr. Dir., Research Fellow

Rajesh Krishnamurthy

Laurus Bio

CEO

Tim Schnabel

Switch Bioworks

Founder and CEO

Daniel de la Torre

Constructive Bio

VP of R&D

John DiLeo

MITRE

Dept Mngr, Life Sciences

Ravit Netzer

Scala Biodesign

CEO & Co-founder

Luis Cascão Pereira

IFF Health & Biosciences

Head of R&D Ventures & Digital Biology

Simone Bianco

Altos Labs

VP, Physics, Molecular & Hybrid Modeling

Chong Wing Yung

LBL

Program Manager

Tim Friede

Centivax

Dir. of Herpetology

Karen Warner

BEAM Circular

Founder & CEO

Da Lin

General Biotechnologies

Principal Scientist

Michelle Chen

Form Bio

Pres, CEO & Board Mem.

Matthew Thompson

Biomatter

VP - Industrial Biotech

Niko McCarty

Astera Institute

Founding Editor

Jennifer Dionne

Stanford University

Professor

Michael Clear

Schmidt Sciences

Program Scientist

Andrew Chang

DeepSeq.AI

CEO

Matt Anderson-Baron

Future Fields

CEO

Ori Zakin

BioRaptor

CEO

Vineet Rajgarhia

Erg Bio

Co-Founder & CEO

John Robson

BioOra

Managing Director

Leonardo Magneschi

Ingenza

VP Research & Tech Dev.

Zachary Gobst

Leapcure

CEO

Barry Bunin

CDD

Founder & CEO

Will Cao

Pando

CEO

Gideon Lapidoth

Enzymit

CEO & Co-founder

Jodi Barrientos

Ribbon Bio

CEO

Eric Wasiolek

Biomed. Reasoning Sys.

Technology Analyst

Vanessa Braunstein

Eli Lilly

Sr. Director, Tunelab

Derek Smith

Gilead Sciences

Principal Scientist

Geoff Hamilton

Ansa Biotechnologies

Chief Business & CFO

Stuart Sevier

IMI

President

David Ewing Duncan

Arc Fusion

CEO

Cynthia Collins

Ginkgo Bioworks

GM, Ginkgo Reagents

Gabriele Corso

Boltz

CEO

John Cumbers

SynBioBeta

Founder & CEO

Amy Dockser Marcus

The Information

Reporter

Max Unfried

The Thalion Initiative

Scientific Director

Inhwan Kim

Enveda

CSO

Colby Adolph

Evonik

Sales Director

Lyle Ralston

Bayer Crop Science

CE Platform Lead

Elisabeth Brier

Forbes

Deputy Editor

Fay Lin

GEN

Sr Editor, Technology

Kerri Dugan

Applied Research Institute

SVP Biotech

Kyle Daniels

Stanford University

Assistant Professor

Sharroll Bachas

Onava AI

Co-founder & CSO

Ivan Jaubert

SynBioBeta

Director of Entrepreneurship

Vanderlei Bellettini

ADM

VP Precision Ferm. Ops

Christopher Pirie

Decycle Bio

CEO

Alexandra Boelrijk

Kerry Group

Sr. R&D Dir. ProActive

Ashoka Madduri

Sanofi

Head, Scientific Strategy

Elliot Hershberg

Amplify Partners

Partner, Author

Tina Boville

Aralez Bio

Co-founder & CEO

Jonathan Good

Scentian Bio

CEO & Co-founder

Stephanie Wisner

Centivax

Co-founder & CBO

Daniel Georgiev

Sampling Human

CEO & Co-founder

Casey Lippmeier

Checkerspot

CTO

Nabiha Saklayen

Cellino Bio

CEO & Co-founder

Imad Ajjawi

RyboDyn

CEO

Dong-Eun Chang

GFfermentech

Vice President

Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro

Imperial College London

Professor & Director

Kirsten Engel

SecureDNA

Dir. Strat. Partnerships & Client Rel.

Orly Savion

Alagene

CEO

Blair Willette

KdT Ventures

Investor

Joshua Meier

Chai Discovery

CEO & Co-founder

Ariel Blumovich

YDLabs

CEO

Brian Wang

ARIA

Programme Director

Omri Schanin

Algocell

CEO

Fabio Boniolo

Polyphron

CSO & Co-founder

Ignacio Massone

Resistia

CEO & Co-founder

Ivana Aguiar

NanoProX

COO

Sushmita Sudarshan

Molecular Devices

Application Scientist, Assay Dev.

Sandy Yao

CZI Biohub

VP, AI, IP & Tech.; CLO

Lauren Avenius

Node Labs

CEO

Rimma Boshernitsan

DIALOGUE

CEO, Futurist, Strategist

Santiago Maddaloni

Arakion

Co-founder & CBO

Juan Cassini

BioClé

CEO

Leah Briscoe

Bayer Crop Science

Data Scientist

Tommi White

Bayer Crop Science

Structure & Mech. Team Lead

Paramita Deria

Bayer Crop Science

Discovery Chem. & Chem. Biology

Maria Fátima Lucas

Zymvol

CEO & Founder

Pablo Montequin

Calfix

CEO

Mario Fuenzalida

Lipock

CEO

Magdalena Chullmir

Levya

CEO

Nicolas Castellazzi

Cauldron Ferm

Chief-of-Staff

Mary Maxon

Caltech

Visiting Associate

Antonio Regalado

MIT Technology Review

Senior Editor Biomedicine

Alberto Iandolino

Bayer Crop Science

Ext. Innov. & Partnership - Biologics

Will Serber

Ginkgo Bioworks

GM, Automation

Emily Hatas

Revive & Restore

Vice President

Kaihang Wang

Caltech

Assistant Professor

Colin Harvey

Hexagon Bio

Co-founder & VP, Early Discovery

Blake Simmons

LBNL

Dir. Bio. Sys & Engg

Maria Astolfi

Keasling Lab, UCB

Doctoral Candidate

Omri Amirav-Drory

NFX

General Partner

Rolando Perez

Stanford University

Senior Scientist

Ronjon Nag

Superbio.ai / Stanford

CEO / Adjunct Prof

Pierre Thiam

Founder & President

Yolélé

Shrikrishnan Sankaran

Leibniz INM

Research Grp Ldr

Richard Kenny

Hawkwood Bio

Founder & Mng. Partner

Le Cong

Stanford University

Associate Professor

Michael Chen

Nuclera

CEO & Mng. Director

Jonathan Weinstein

Scala Biodesign

Prin. Scientist, Protein Design Alg. & AI

Laura Powell

EverGlade

Director

Amy Locks

Anzen Industries

CEO

Abhishek Singharoy

ASU

Professor

Roya Amini-Naieni

Trilobio

CEO & Co-founder

John Chodera

Achira Labs

Co-founder & CEO

Georgia Lu

Magnet Ventures

Founder & Mng Partner

Dawn Musil

New Bloom

Co-founder

Nicole Nrichards

Allonnia

CEO

Andrea Stephany Diaz

OncoSwab

CEO & Founder

Max Jamilly

Hoxton Farms

CEO & Co-founder

Juliette Humer

Muse Bio

Founder & CEO

Michael Weiner

Abbratech

Founder & CEO

Kavya Sharman

Phase Capital

Managing Partner

Joshua Geilhufe

Rhiza Bio Cons.

Principal

Ewa Lis

Koliber Bio

Founder & CEO

Jamie Bacher

Huxley Project

Principal

Samuel Jayakanthan

Vandstrom

Research Director

Birgit Cameron

Prism Bio, Inc.

CEO, Co-founder

Per Falholt

21st.BIO

CSO, Co-founder

Megan Thomas

Ladder 17

Founder & CEO

Ryan Olf

ARIA

Programme Director

Arthur Gardner Smith

[Re]formation Hair

Founder & CEO

Laura Luebbert

FutureHouse

Postdoctoral Fellow

Eileen Spindler

Alta Resource Tech

VP of R&D

Victoria Mascetti

University of Bristol

Assistant Professor

Chase Olle

Robot on Rails

Founder & CEO

Eric Sundstrom

LBNL

Staff Scientist

Heather Courtney

Alwyn Capital

GP

Fan Yang

Capital O

Partner

T.J. Chen

NVIDIA

Product Leader, Bio Sciences

Chase Denecke

Bootstrap Bio

CEO

Chris Kantrowitz

Quorum Earth

Founder & CEO

Luis Valencia

AlkaLi Labs

Co-Founder & CEO

Eric Bennett

Frontier Bio

CEO

Jake Miller

Marvel Labs

Co-founder & CEO

Hector Garcia Martin

LBNL

Staff Scientist

Surge Biswas

Nabla Bio

Co-founder & CEO

Celine Schiff-Deb

MISTA | Givaudan

CSO

David Welch

Synthesis Capital

CSO & Co-founder

Onye Ahanotu

Ikenga Wines

Founder

Michael Ferrari

Moby

VP, Head of Research

Jayme Feyhl-Buska

Homeworld Collective

Critical Minerals Lead

Alice Pettitt

ARIA

Frontier Specialist

Andrew Han

Ion Genomics

Editor

Alex Smith

ARIA

Programme Specialist

Kevin Flyangolts

Aclid

CEO

Jason Ryder

Oobli

Founder & CTO

Ivan Jayapurna

ARIA

Programme Director

Takashi Ebihara

GeneFrontier

COO

Elena Itskovich

Nest Catalyst

Partner

Alex Rosay

Cascade Bio

Co-founder & CEO

Mariëlle van Kooten

Powerhouse Bio

CEO

Xuecheng Jiao

Asymchem

Vice GM

David Virant

Acies Bio

Department Head

Aaron Blotnick

SynBioBeta

Bay Area Community Manager

Christopher Vakulskas

Integrated DNA Technologies

Sr. Dir. of Enzyme Dev.

Gordon Freedman

MitoWorld

Publisher

Callie Chappell

Stanford University

NSF Postdoc Fellow

Julie O'Shaughnessy

Vivodyne

COO

Laura Kliman

Impossible Foods

Senior R&D Director

Leon Elcock

Independent

Researcher

Lilly Wollman

Synteny

CEO & Co founder

Jim West III

BioTools Innovator

Associate Director

Sierra Lore

Buck Institute

Doctoral Student

Huafeng Xu

Atommap

Founder & CEO

Aryé Elfenbein

Wildtype

Co-founder

Kid Parchariyanon

SeaX Ventures

Managing Partner

Vayu Hill-Maini

Stanford University

Asst. Prof. BioEng

Colwyn Headley

Stanford University

Instructor

Rongzhen Tian

Okapi Bioscience

Co-founder & CEO

Bruce Schnicker

Pivot Bio

VP, Product Dev

Aayush Chadha

ARIA

Frontier Specialist

Jonas Sandbrink

Sentinel Bio

Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Nicholas Larus-Stone

Benchling

Head of AI Agents

Sakti Subramanian

Stanford University

Undergraduate

Justin Eyquem

UCSF

Associate Professor

Inja Radman

New Culture

Co-founder & CSO

David Virant

Acies Bio

Department Head

T.J. Chen

NVIDIA

Product Leader, Bio Sciences

Kavya Sharman

Phase Capital

Managing Partner

Michael Chen

Nuclera

CEO & Mng. Director

Inhwan Kim

Enveda

CSO

Nicholas Larus-Stone

Benchling

Head of AI Agents

Drew Endy

Stanford University

Hoover Inst Fellow

David Ewing Duncan

Arc Fusion

CEO

Previous Speakers Include

Jennifer Doudna

UC Berkeley

Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

Jennifer Doudna

UC Berkeley

Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

Sam Altman

OpenAI

CEO

Sam Altman

OpenAI

CEO

Steve Wozniak

Fusion-io

Chief Scientist

Steve Wozniak

Fusion-io

Chief Scientist

Vinod Khosla

Khosla Ventures

Founder & Partner

Vinod Khosla

Khosla Ventures

Founder & Partner

Frances Arnold

Caltech

Nobel Laureate

Frances Arnold

Caltech

Nobel Laureate

Eric Schmidt

Schmidt Science

Chair & CEO

Eric Schmidt

Schmidt Science

Chair & CEO

Kate Rubins

NASA

Astronaut

Kate Rubins

NASA

Astronaut

Craig Venter

JCVI

Craig Venter

JCVI

Christina Smolke

Antheia

CEO & Co-Founder

Christina Smolke

Antheia

CEO & Co-Founder

George Church

Harvard Medical School

Professor

George Church

Harvard Medical School

Professor

Thomas Bostick

Ginkgo Bioworks

Chairman

Thomas Bostick

Ginkgo Bioworks

Chairman

Ro Khanna

U.S. Congress

Ro Khanna

U.S. Congress

Peter Diamandis

XPRIZE

Founder

Peter Diamandis

XPRIZE

Founder

Drew Endy

Stanford University

Hoover Inst Fellow

Drew Endy

Stanford University

Hoover Inst Fellow

Kevin Scott

Microsoft

CTO

Kevin Scott

Microsoft

CTO

Cathie Wood

Ark Invest

Founder & CEO

Cathie Wood

Ark Invest

Founder & CEO

Hermann Hauser

Amadeus Capital

Founder

Hermann Hauser

Amadeus Capital

Founder

Emily Leproust

Twist Bioscience

CEO

Emily Leproust

Twist Bioscience

CEO

Oliver Morton

The Economist

Senior Editor

Oliver Morton

The Economist

Senior Editor

Daphne Koller

Insitro

Founder & CEO

Daphne Koller

Insitro

Founder & CEO

Jay Keasling

UC Berkeley

Professor

Jay Keasling

UC Berkeley

Professor

Thomas Knight

University of Florida

Dept. Chair & Professor

Thomas Knight

University of Florida

Dept. Chair & Professor

Eben Bayer

Ecovative

CEO

Eben Bayer

Ecovative

CEO

Esther Dyson

BAMF Health

Executive Founder

Esther Dyson

BAMF Health

Executive Founder

Jim Collins

Author

Jim Collins

Author

Lora Kolodny

CNBC

Tech Reporter

Lora Kolodny

CNBC

Tech Reporter

D.A. Wallach

Time BioVentures

General Partner & Co-Founder

D.A. Wallach

Time BioVentures

General Partner & Co-Founder

Gavin Newsom

Governor of California

Gavin Newsom

Governor of California

Pardis Sabeti

Harvard

Professor

Pardis Sabeti

Harvard

Professor

George Whitesides

CA-27

Congressman

George Whitesides

CA-27

Congressman

Eleni Kounalakis

CA Lieutenant Governor

Eleni Kounalakis

CA Lieutenant Governor

Gaurab Chakrabarti

Solugen

Co-Founder & CEO

Gaurab Chakrabarti

Solugen

Co-Founder & CEO

Jeanne Loring

Scripps, Aspen Neuro

Professor

Jeanne Loring

Scripps, Aspen Neuro

Professor

Alison Snyder

Axios

Managing Editor

Alison Snyder

Axios

Managing Editor

Jason Kelly

Ginkgo Bioworks

Founder & CEO

Jason Kelly

Ginkgo Bioworks

Founder & CEO

Ron Weiss

MIT

Professor

Ron Weiss

MIT

Professor

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