Co-Founder & CEO, Persephone Biosciences

Stephanie Culler, PhD, is the co-founder and CEO of Persephone Biosciences, a biotech company developing and commercializing proprietary microbiome products for the better health of infants & toddlers. As a mother, Stephanie spearheaded the idea of conducting a groundbreaking clinical study that revealed the extent of the dysfunction of the gut microbiome in US children and is the scientific backbone for her company’s first line of products. Stephanie is passionate about the long-term impact of Food As Medicine and through Persephone has partnered with Kroger Health to investigate the impact of diet in individuals that are at high risk for developing colorectal cancer. Stephanie is also passionate about helping cancer patients and the company has been collaborating for several years with Johnson & Johnson in this field.  Prior to establishing Persephone Biosciences, she was a senior scientist at Genomatica, where she developed and applied synthetic biology tools for the commercial production of sustainable chemicals. She received her PhD in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology under the mentorship of Christina Smolke and has numerous publications and patents on synthetic biology and microbial-based technologies.