Kevin Chen
Kevin is an organizer, founder and synbio enthusiast. He is the CEO and cofounder of Hyasynth Bio, a Montreal startup producing cannabinoids using engineered yeast. Hyasynth has raised >$12M, employed >25 scientists since its founding in 2014 and continues to grow.
Outside of his entrepreneurial career, Kevin is also the founder and organizer of Bricobio, which aims to make biotech more accessible to citizens, makers and hackers. He has been an organizer and leadership coach for the Community Biosummit, hosted by the MIT Media Lab. And he has engaged with the government as an invited speaker for the DIYbio Summit, hosted by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Building teams, creating amazing projects and growing communities are things he loves to do.
Kashif Khan
With over two decades of expertise in R&D and drug discovery, Kashif brings a wealth of knowledge and leadership to the community. Currently serving as Manager, Discovery Biology at Dalriada, he leads a dynamic team and several projects, fostering key collaborations to drive innovation. Previously, he managed a graduate-level research lab at York University, overseeing critical projects, securing grants, and mentoring the next generation of scientists.
Holding a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Franche-Comté, France, Kashif is an author with over 25 publications and is fluent in both English and French. As a member of the founding Board of Directors at SynBio Canada, he is committed to advocating for scientific research and fostering a collaborative community.
Benjamin Scott
Ben believes that Canada can be a leader in engineering biology. Which is why he founded SynBio Canada in 2018, to create a strong national community, and to develop and retain expertise across the country.
He holds a BSc, MSc, and PhD with publications spanning medical science, protein engineering, lab automation, and science policy. He completed a postdoc at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) working at their microbial biofoundry in Maryland. He then returned to Canada to lead business development at the Concordia University Genome Foundry. Both roles gave him a strong appreciation for automation, and how it can expand the scale and scope of engineering biology.
Ben now leads the Engineering Biology Platform at the Global Institute for Food Security (University of Saskatchewan). His team harnesses lab automation and engineering biology to deliver innovative solutions for the production of globally sustainable food,
SEAN SEARS
Most of my career has been in innovation. I spent 11 years in big consulting and 30 years as an entrepreneur. That included about 10 years each in internet, software, and bioproduct development. I still love it. I believe in the process, of finding the right questions to answer and living with the outcomes.
My strengths include strategy, choice design, market positioning, and product development. I do not believe in data unless the source, context, and original purpose are known.
Within governance, I believe in form and structure, managing from formality to social, transparency, consistent communication, and not cutting corners.
Mackenzie Thornbury
Mackenzie Thornbury is a 4th-year PhD candidate in Dr. Vincent Martin’s lab at Concordia University, where she focuses on metabolic engineering in non-conventional yeast to valorize dairy industry waste. Her introduction to synthetic biology began as a member of the Dalhousie University iGEM team, where she developed a passion for the field and its surrounding topics, including frugal science, science communication, and DIY Bio.
Mackenzie’s enthusiasm for community-driven science led her to engage with local community bio spaces like BricoBio in Montreal and participate in international initiatives such as the Global Community Bio Summit. More recently, she helped launch Nucleate, a graduate student-run startup accelerator, in Canada. Mackenzie is excited about how synthetic biology drives innovation and creativity, and she plans to channel this energy into building a stronger syn bio community across Canada.