The microbiome market is one of the hottest areas for innovation in the life sciences space. We are seeing an uptick in both research and venture capital dollars going into the microbiome industry—both in humans and plants. As a result, the global microbiome market is expected to grow from $235.8 million in 2018 to $521.23 million by 2022. Hear presentations by some of Boston’s most innovative companies in this space to learn about the science behind the microbiome, the utilization of emerging technologies, and various perspectives on the future of the industry. Photo credit: NIH Image Gallery, Human Microbiome Project (HMP)
Matthew Henn is the Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Seres Therapeutics and has more than 16 years of combined research experience in microbial ecology, genomics and bioinformatics that spans both environmental and infectious disease applications. Dr. Henn's research has focused on the development, implementation, and application of genomic technologies in the area of microbial populations and their metabolic functions. Prior to joining Seres, he was the Director of Viral Genomics and Assistant Director of the Genome Sequencing Center for Infectious Diseases at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications in microbiology and bioinformatics and has led multiple large-scale international genomic projects. He has served as a consultant for the WHO’s Grand Challenges in Genomics for Public Health in Developing Countries, as a scientific advisor for the National Institutes of Health’s Viral Pathogen Bioinformatics Resource Center, and as an ad-hoc reviewer and editor of many peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Henn earned his Ph.D. in ecosystem sciences from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a NASA Earth Systems Sciences Fellow, and trained as a NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in microbiology at Duke University.
Martha Herbert is pediatric neurologist and a brain development researcher and serves as a pediatric neurologist and research neuroscientist for Massachusetts General Hospital. She also produced the general audience-oriented book The Autism Revolution: Whole Body Strategies for Making Life All It Can Be (Harvard Health Publications/Random House, 2012).
Geoffrey is co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer for Indigo, as well as a Partner at Flagship Pioneering, where he focuses on inventing technologies and starting companies to address global challenges in nutrition, environmental sustainability, and medicine. He is also a co-founder of Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MCRB), Kaleido Biosciences, Sienna Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SNNA), Axcella Health and others.
Brian Klein is the Senior Staff Scientist at Vedanta Biosciences. He's a strong believer that microbial interventions may ameliorate illnesses that have so far eluded control. He also served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Forsyth Institute in the Lemon Lab until April 2017.
John "Brent" Hunt is the Founder & CEO of Soft Cell Biological Research headquarted in St. George, Utah. Hunt incorporated the company in August 2014.