Avalo
Brendan Collins is a seasoned professional with a diverse background in biotechnology and software engineering. As a Co-Founder of Avalo, Inc. since October 2020, Brendan has previously held significant roles including Software Engineer at ShopBot Tools, Inc. from August 2015 to December 2020 and Co-Founder of FanPay from 2014 to 2015. Brendan's academic foundation includes a Master’s Degree in Clinical Neuroscience from University College London and a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the University of Notre Dame. Prior to entrepreneurial endeavors, Brendan worked as a Research Assistant/PhD student at University College London, focusing on cell-based therapies, and also as a Research Technician at Bolder BioPATH, Inc., managing pre-clinical trials. Additionally, Brendan served as a General Biology Teaching Assistant at the University of Notre Dame and completed an internship as a Quality Control Chemist at MillerCoors.
Avalo
Avalo is a plant biology company that harnesses interpretable machine learning, genomic discovery, and evolutionary theory to rapidly design new crops for the future of agriculture. Their process uses AI-assisted plant breeding, so all products are non-GMO and support the natural diversity of the world around us. The technological core of Avalo isa discovery engine that can identify the genetic underpinnings of complex traits with minimal training. In turn, these findings are leveraged into high-precision, low-cost simulations and forecasts. Even in understudied crops, Avalo can reduce the time that it takes to produce new crops by years and reduce the cost by an order of magnitude.