SynBioBeta Speaker

Mariëlle van Kooten

CEO

Powerhouse Bio

May 2026, SynBioBeta

Speaker

Mariëlle is a synthetic systems biologist and mitochondrial engineer trained at ETH Zurich and Stanford University. She strongly believes in employing synthetic biology for human enhancement, in which novel sequences from other organisms are incorporated to engineer novel traits inspired by evolutionarily divergent systems. Her startup Powerhouse Biology seeks to redefine the frontiers of synthetic biology and advance health in the aging US population.

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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

Alicia Jackson

ARPA-H

Director

David Sinclair

Harvard Medical School

Professor, Genetics

David Eagleman

Neosensory

Co-founder and CEO

Pardis Sabeti

Harvard

Professor

Bruce Friedrich

The Good Food Inst.

Founder & President

Marc Tessier-Lavigne

Xaira

Chairman & CEO

Sue Siegel

Align Technology

Board Director & Chairman

Jonathan Anomaly

Herasight

Professor & Founder

Jean Hebert

ARPA-H

Program Manager

Michael Koeris

DARPA

Director, BTO

Emily Leproust

Twist Bioscience

CEO

Neil Parry

Unilever

R&D Dir. Biotech

Alexandre Zanghellini

Arzeda

Co-founder & CEO

Bart Haverkorn

The EVERY Company

CTO

Drew Endy

Stanford University

Hoover Institution Fellow

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 and Co-Founder

Yue Webster

Eli Lilly

VP Research IT

Jacob Glanville

Centivax

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Ron Alfa

NOETIK Inc.

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Amy Jenkins

AstraZeneca

Senior Director, Strategy and Operations

David Hallett

Recursion

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Bill Tai

ACTAI Global

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Jeanne Loring

Scripps, Aspen Neuro

Professor

Eric Kelsic

Dyno Therapeutics

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Ola Wlodek

Constructive Bio

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Samuel King

Stanford University

Bioengineering Phd Candidate

Relly Brandman

A-Life / Google X

Moonshot Lead

Bryan Walsh

Vox Media

Senior Editorial Director

Jens Nielsen

BioInnovation Institute

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Jen Asher

1910

Founder & CEO

Tanja Kortemme

UCSF

Vice Dean of Research

Shelby Newsad

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Avantika Lal

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Principal ML Scientist II

Ekaterine Kortkhonjia

Johnson and Johnson

Sr. Director, Transactions

Peter Clark

Novo Nordisk

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Jessica Owens

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Managing Partner

Krish Ramadurai

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Ansa Biotechnologies

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Stefan Lutz

Codexis Inc.

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Oliver Dodd

Nucleate

Co-Founder & Exec. Director

Eriona Hysolli

Manhattan Genomics

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Douglas Crawford

Mission Bay Capital

GM & Managing Partner

Yves Falanga

NOETIK

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Isabelle Decitre

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Andrew Hessel

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Matthew Osman

Polyphron

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Karl Handelsman

Codon Capital

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Matt Angle

Paradromics

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Jenny Rooke

Genoa Ventures

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Jose Carlos Garcia-Garcia

Procter & Gamble

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Laurus Bio

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Tim Schnabel

Switch Bioworks

Founder and CEO

Tim Friede

Centivax

Director of Herpetology

Karen Warner

BEAM Circular

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Genyro

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Matthew Thompson

Biomatter

VP - Industrial Biotech

Niko McCarty

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Ori Zakin

BioRaptor

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Vineet Rajgarhia

Erg Bio

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John Robson

BioOra

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Leonardo Magneschi

Ingenza

VP Research & Technology Dev.

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Barry Bunin

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Pando

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Armaan Dhanda

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Gabriele Corso

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John Cumbers

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Ling Li

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Kyle Daniels

Stanford University

Assistant Professor

Sharroll Bachas

Onava AI

Co-founder & CSO

Ivan Jaubert

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Christopher Pirie

Decycle Bio

CEO

Alexandra Boelrijk

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Ashoka Madduri

Sanofi

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Elliot Hershberg

Amplify Partners

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Jonathan Good

Scentian Bio

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Kaihang Wang

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Blake Simmons

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Maria Astolfi

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Omri Amirav-Drory

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Rolando Perez

Stanford University; Blue Marble Space; Open Fung

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Leibniz Inst. New Mat.

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Richard Kenny

Hawkwood Biotech Partners

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Superorganism

Head of Ecosystem

Le Cong

Stanford University

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Jory Bell

Playground Global

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Eileen Spindler

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Victoria Mascetti

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Eric Sundstrom

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Fan Yang

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Kiana Aran

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Ebihara Takashi

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Elena Itskovich

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Alex Rosay

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Mariëlle van Kooten

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Stanford University

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Alex Kyabarongo

GMU

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Nicholas Larus-Stone

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Sakti Subramanian

Stanford University

Undergraduate

Justin Eyquem

UCSF

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Inja Radman

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Drew Endy

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Hoover Institution Fellow

Elizabeth Kellogg

St. Jude CRH

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Previous Speakers Include

Jennifer Doudna

UC Berkeley

Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

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Sam Altman

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Frances Arnold

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Eric Schmidt

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Kate Rubins

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Christina Smolke

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George Church

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Drew Endy

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Kevin Scott

Microsoft

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Kevin Scott

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Cathie Wood

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Ark Invest

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Hermann Hauser

Amadeus Capital

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Emily Leproust

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Pardis Sabeti

Harvard

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Pardis Sabeti

Harvard

Professor

Oliver Morton

The Economist

Senior Editor

Oliver Morton

The Economist

Senior Editor

Daphne Koller

Insitro

Founder & CEO

Daphne Koller

Insitro

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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

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Eben Bayer

Ecovative

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Esther Dyson

BAMF Health

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Jim Collins

Author

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Lora Kolodny

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Lora Kolodny

CNBC

Tech Reporter

D.A. Wallach

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D.A. Wallach

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Gavin Newsom

Governor of California

Gavin Newsom

Governor of California

George Whitesides

CA-27

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Eleni Kounalakis

CA Lieutenant Governor

Eleni Kounalakis

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Gaurab Chakrabarti

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Gaurab Chakrabarti

Solugen

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Jeanne Loring

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Scripps, Aspen Neuro

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MIT

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Ron Weiss

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Professor

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