Julius Goepp is the founder and CEO of Scaled Microbiomics, LLC, a pre-clinical stage biotech company focused on passive immunotherapy in the microbiome. Dr. Goepp trained in Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at Children’s Hospital, Boston, and in Pediatric Infectious Disease at Johns Hopkins, where he was active in the promotion of Oral Rehydration Therapy for childhood diarrheal disease. In 2017, he founded Scaled Microbiomics after recognizing the potential for microbiome modulation through the use of little-known avian antibodies, or IgY. Since that time, his energies have been devoted to exploring the characteristics of those antibodies and developing a drug discovery platform based on their use as selective immunomodulators of complex microbiome signaling pathways and event cascades. In addition to his work, Goepp is passionate about cooking, flying, and exploring the outdoors.
Maya Ivanjesku M.S. is a creative visionary, CSO and a formulation scientist at Dakota Biotech -The Live Probiotic Skincare company. With over 25 years of experience in developing products for the beauty industry, Maya is a formulation expert. Her career path started at Estee Lauder Companies where she was formulating products for Estee Lauder, Clinique, Origins, Bobby Brown, Aveda, LaMer etc. With her passion for science and nature, Maya also ventured into Biotech, OTC and topical Rx and Medical Device formulation and developed topical prescription formulas for numerous pharmaceutical companies. The diversity of her career path in formulating products, overseeing manufacturing, R&D and holding executive positions in numerous industries from cosmetic to pharmaceutical and biotech product launches, has lead Maya into an entrepreneurial opportunity at Dakota Biotech where LaFloreÒ Probiotic Skincare product line was born. Maya’s passion for wellness, education and helping people heal – naturally, is the main driver in developing performance focused products.
Prof. Arun K. Bhunia received his Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVSc) degree from India, PhD from the University of Wyoming (USA), and postdoctoral training from the University of Arkansas (USA). He is a professor of food microbiology in the Department of Food Science and is also affiliated with the Department of Comparative Pathobiology, Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease (PI4D), and Purdue University Life Science program (PULSe). He is chair of the Interdepartmental Food Science Graduate Program. His expertise is in the area of microbial pathogenesis (host-pathogen interaction), probiotic bioengineering and foodborne pathogen detection. To date, he has co-authored more than 188 research publications, 2 textbooks (Fundamental Food Microbiology; Foodborne Microbial Pathogens–Mechanisms and Pathogenesis), edited 4 books, and delivered over 140 talks. He served in the USDA National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF; 2013-2017) and has received Purdue Agriculture Research Award (2003), Purdue Faculty Scholar (2005), Purdue Team Award (2006), IFT R&D Award (2009), Outstanding Graduate Educator Award at Purdue (2013), Fulbright Specialist (2016-2021), and Maurice Weber Laboratorian Award from IAFP (2017).
Julius Goepp is the founder and CEO of Scaled Microbiomics, LLC, a pre-clinical stage biotech company focused on passive immunotherapy in the microbiome. Dr. Goepp trained in Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at Children’s Hospital, Boston, and in Pediatric Infectious Disease at Johns Hopkins, where he was active in the promotion of Oral Rehydration Therapy for childhood diarrheal disease. In 2017, he founded Scaled Microbiomics after recognizing the potential for microbiome modulation through the use of little-known avian antibodies, or IgY. Since that time, his energies have been devoted to exploring the characteristics of those antibodies and developing a drug discovery platform based on their use as selective immunomodulators of complex microbiome signaling pathways and event cascades. In addition to his work, Goepp is passionate about cooking, flying, and exploring the outdoors.
Maya Ivanjesku M.S. is a creative visionary, CSO and a formulation scientist at Dakota Biotech -The Live Probiotic Skincare company. With over 25 years of experience in developing products for the beauty industry, Maya is a formulation expert. Her career path started at Estee Lauder Companies where she was formulating products for Estee Lauder, Clinique, Origins, Bobby Brown, Aveda, LaMer etc. With her passion for science and nature, Maya also ventured into Biotech, OTC and topical Rx and Medical Device formulation and developed topical prescription formulas for numerous pharmaceutical companies. The diversity of her career path in formulating products, overseeing manufacturing, R&D and holding executive positions in numerous industries from cosmetic to pharmaceutical and biotech product launches, has lead Maya into an entrepreneurial opportunity at Dakota Biotech where LaFloreÒ Probiotic Skincare product line was born. Maya’s passion for wellness, education and helping people heal – naturally, is the main driver in developing performance focused products.
Ph.D. founded Primal Health, LLC in 2017 to focus on improving the dental health of both humans and animals by producing oral microbiome modulation products. She has spent 12 years developing SMMRT technology at Primal Therapies, Inc., which is focused on using metabolic influencers to re-engineer disease-causing bacterial biofilms into those that are health-promoting, to decrease inflammation and to improve outcomes. Prior to that, she spent 7 years as a research fellow at Stanford University in Rheumatology and Immunology focused on the neuro-endocrine-immune axis in autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases. She holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of California at Berkeley where she studied inter- and intra-cellular signaling pathways involved in stress response and community development in bacteria and received her B.S. in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Iowa where she studied the interaction between M. tuberculosis and innate immune cells.
Prof. Arun K. Bhunia received his Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVSc) degree from India, PhD from the University of Wyoming (USA), and postdoctoral training from the University of Arkansas (USA). He is a professor of food microbiology in the Department of Food Science and is also affiliated with the Department of Comparative Pathobiology, Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease (PI4D), and Purdue University Life Science program (PULSe). He is chair of the Interdepartmental Food Science Graduate Program. His expertise is in the area of microbial pathogenesis (host-pathogen interaction), probiotic bioengineering and foodborne pathogen detection. To date, he has co-authored more than 188 research publications, 2 textbooks (Fundamental Food Microbiology; Foodborne Microbial Pathogens–Mechanisms and Pathogenesis), edited 4 books, and delivered over 140 talks. He served in the USDA National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF; 2013-2017) and has received Purdue Agriculture Research Award (2003), Purdue Faculty Scholar (2005), Purdue Team Award (2006), IFT R&D Award (2009), Outstanding Graduate Educator Award at Purdue (2013), Fulbright Specialist (2016-2021), and Maurice Weber Laboratorian Award from IAFP (2017).
Larry Weiss is the CEO and Founder of Symbiome (formerly Symbiome), a San Francisco skin microbiome company. Previously, he was Chief Medical Officer at AOBiome where he formulated and developed the Mother Dirt cosmetics, including AO Mist, the first live skin probiotic. He has an extensive background in natural products chemistry, microbiology, clinical medicine, dermatology, and pharmaceutical and cosmetic product development. He is board-certified in Anesthesiology, has an MD from Stanford University, and a BS in Biochemistry from Cornell University. He has multiple patents and publications in the areas of chemistry, electrophysiology, clinical pharmacology, and the microbiome. He is also a Co-Founder of CleanWell Company.
Skyler Stein leads Gladskin, a biotechnology-driven skincare brand. Gladskin is a leader in global endolysin technology and uses its science to improve inflammatory skin conditions by rebalancing the skin microbiome. Throughout his career, Skyler has advised, invested in and developed businesses across technology-driven sectors. Most recently, at Obvious Ventures, a venture capital firm dedicated to startups that combine profit and purpose, Skyler focused on companies commercializing microbiome science to improve human health. While seeking investment opportunities in microbiome focused companies, Skyler met the European-based Gladskin team. Gladskin's endolysin technology developed by Micreos B.V. was the most impressive applied science in the space. This inspired Skyler to join the team to further build on Gladskin’s success in Europe and to make the products available to the millions of Americans with inflammatory skin conditions. Previously, Skyler was a Principal at Bregal Investments, a global private equity firm where he was on the board of various high growth portfolio
companies. Skyler has served as an Advisor to Clarity Genomics, which develops computational platforms to elucidate mechanisms of action for human - microbiome interactions. Skyler holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Duke University
