Joel Kreps

Joel Kreps has over 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry. Joel began their career in 1996 as a Postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute. In 1999, they became a Senior Staff Scientist at Torrey Mesa Research Institute of Syngenta Co., where they used functional genomics to discover new genes and promoters for use in commercial strategies to create abiotic stress tolerant plants. In 2003, they moved to Diversa (now Verenium Corp) as a Principal Scientist, where they led a team to solve heterologous gene expression problems and provided experimental support for regulatory applications to national agencies in multiple countries. In 2008, they became an Associate Director at Verenium Corporation, where they oversaw early stage research groups in the areas of commercial strain construction and deployment. In 2010, they joined BP as a Research Manager, where they managed teams of scientists and engineers to deliver key technologies such as access to biodiversity, automation and high throughput robotics, and systems biology tools. In 2015, they moved to San Diego, California, where they worked in Synthetic Biology, Systems Biology, Metagenomics, Biofuels, and Regulatory. In 2016, they joined EVERY\u2122 as Vice President, Discovery and Research, and in 2017 they became Vice President, Technology at Clara Foods\u2122.

Joel Kreps received their BS in Immunology and Microbiology from The Ohio State University in 1987 and their Ph.D. in Plant Biology from Case Western Reserve University in 1992. Joel also attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, but did not receive a degree.