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WIB Founders Forum – From the Bench to the C-Suite
January 29 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Join WIB’s Founders Forum for an inspiring conversation with three powerhouse women founders as they discuss how they founded and grew their biotech companies. Chorom Pak, Founder & CEO of Lynx Therapeutics; Stephanie Culler, Founder and CEO of Persephone Biosciences; and Natalie Castellana, Founder and CEO of Abterra Biosciences, will also share tips and inspiration from women for women on raising capital, growing their startups, and how JLABS supported their journey. A discount code for WIB membership will be provided to non-members who attend.
Speaker Bios
Natalie Castellana, PhD, CEO of Abterra Biosciences
Dr. Natalie Castellana is passionate about mapping the natural immune response to challenges, particularly the relationship between the B-cell receptor repertoire encoded in cells and secreted antibodies in serum. Abterra Bio specializes in next-generation antibody discovery and sequencing, leveraging machine learning to mine the immune repertoire of llamas, alpacas, rabbits, and humans. She earned a PhD in computer science from the University of California – San Diego and a BS in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.
Stephanie Culler, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO of Persephone Biosciences Inc.
Stephanie Culler, PhD, is the co-founder and CEO of Persephone Biosciences Inc., a synthetic biology company reimagining patient health through the development of microbiome-based medicines. Prior to establishing Persephone Biosciences, she was a senior scientist at Genomatica, where she developed and applied synthetic biology tools toward the engineering of microorganisms as biocatalysts for the commercial production of sustainable chemicals. She received her PhD in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology under the mentorship of Prof. Christina Smolke and has over sixteen publications and patents on synthetic biology and microbial-based technologies.
Chorom Pak, PhD, founder and CEO of Lynx Biosciences, Inc.
Dr. Chorom Pak is the founder and CEO of Lynx Biosciences, Inc. (LynxBio), where she leads the commercialization of Lynx Rufus™, a multi-omic microfluidic platform developed while earning her PhD in molecular and cellular pharmacology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. The technology was born out of an interdisciplinary collaboration between cancer biologists, physicians, biomedical engineers, physicists, and biostatisticians to generate data-driven, transformative insights into primary cancer biology. LynxBio has forged strategic partnerships with multiple pharmaceutical companies, focusing on the discovery of next-generation immuno-oncology therapeutics. Additionally, the company is dedicated to advancing an internal pipeline targeting a novel signaling pathway that involves the intricate interplay between immune and tumor cells. Prior to establishing LynxBio, Dr. Pak was the clinical and R&D lead at Cellectar Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLRB), where she co-developed a targeted radiotherapeutic against hematological malignancies and successfully advanced it to Phase 2 clinical trials. Dr. Pak was awarded the Biocom Catalyst Award, holds fifteen patents, and has over 15 years of experience in oncology and multi-omic platforms.