Biofuels – Tinker Outside the Barrel
All across the globe countries are now taking a fresh look at the potential of biofuels as an alternative source of energy. Even though it may take decades or more before the oil pipeline dries up, researchers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, oil companies, and policy makers have already begun preparing for the inevitable.
Are biofuels the future? Our panelists will discuss:
Paul F. Bryan, Ph.D., Vice President – Technology, Biofuels Business Unit, Chevron Technology Ventures LLC
Paul Bryan is currently Vice President - Technology for Chevron Biofuels. In previous assignments during 12 years with Chevron, he has been an R&D Engineer, an R&D Team Leader, and most recently, Manager of Chevron's R&D Alliance in Perth, Western Australia. He also has 8 years of experience outside Chevron in industry (Cargill, Union Carbide) and academia (MIT, Colorado School of Mines). His educational background includes degrees in chemical engineering from Penn State (B.S.) and UC-Berkeley (Ph.D.), and a post-doc in applied thermodynamics at the Ecole des Mines - Paris. He has been active in a variety of industry and professional organizations, including the Separations Division of the AIChE, the North American Membrane Society, the Gas Processors Association, and the Gordon Research Conferences.
Through a corporate venture capital model, Chevron Technology Ventures makes power and energy investments and diversified technology investments in early-stage companies with meaningful technology for Chevron. They create and invest in new businesses and form partnerships to develop and commercialize new and emerging energy technologies.
Neil Renninger, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Development & Co-Founder, Amyris Biotechnologies
Dr. Renninger brings to Amyris a cross-disciplinary understanding of both the micro-world of strain engineering and the macro-world of chemical engineering. He received a doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley focusing on the metabolic engineering of bacterial cells for chemical transformations. Dr. Renninger received his undergraduate training in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while simultaneously receiving a M.S. in Environmental Engineering. While working as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Renninger focused on the proteomics of isoprenoid producing plants and microbes.
Amyris Biotechnologies is developing a large-scale fermentation process to renewably produce biofuels that can substitute for gasoline and diesel. These biofuel molecules contain more energy than ethanol and are fully compatible with today's cars and the existing petroleum infrastructure.
Moderator:
Karen K. Wong, Ph.D., J.D., Co-Founder, BioE2E
Dr. Karen Wong is a life science IP attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Her practice includes freedom-to-operate and due-diligence studies, patent preparation and prosecution, opinion work, litigation strategy and technology licensing. Dr. Wong serves as IP counsel to many venture-backed companies, and has done strategic alliance transactions, acquisitions, spin-outs, and IPOs. Concentrating on cutting-edge biotechnology, Dr. Wong focuses her practice in a multidisciplinary area combining molecular biology, optical physics, chemical engineering, pharmacology, molecular diagnostics, and/or cellular physiology. Karen has developed technical expertise in DNA sequencing techniques and instruments, biofuels, antibody engineering and design, drug delivery systems, gene therapies, cancer treatments, and point-of-care diagnostic tools.
Karen is a co-founder and board member of BioE2E, which has built one of the largest communities of life sciences entrepreneurs in the Bay Area.
