Prime Movers Lab Welcomes New Longevity, Water Treatment, Biochemical, & AI Fellows
At the heart of Prime Movers Lab’s deep technical and scientific diligence process are our research fellows and squads. Every fall and spring, we select a new cohort of research fellows to help us delve into specific innovation categories that we think need a breakthrough or are on the verge of one. These fellows dive deep and review the latest advances with our partners, landscape existing startups, and meet with leading experts in the sector. Check out our latest group of fellows and the sectors that they will be tackling below.
Nick Schaum — Longevity
Nick is a biologist focusing on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of aging. His goal is to accelerate the development of therapies targeting these mechanisms to prevent diseases like cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, stroke, and diabetes. Nick received his PhD from Stanford University where he co-led Tabula Muris Senis, a large-scale effort to comprehensively characterize mouse aging at single-cell resolution throughout the body. Most recently, he co-founded Rejuvenome at the Astera Institute before starting as Chief Scientific Strategist at Emles Advisors.
Erin Picton — Water Treatment
Erin is passionate about building resilient communities and sustainable technology at the nexus of food, energy, and water. She is an environmental engineering PhD candidate in the Shaffer Lab at the University of Houston where she studies membrane separations for water treatment and renewable energy applications. In addition, as a senior TEX-E fellow, Erin works with a cohort of Texas students in collaboration with MIT and Greentown Labs to build an entrepreneurship ecosystem around sustainable energy innovation. Just prior to pursuing her PhD, she worked in R&D as the chief sustainability officer of a desalination startup company based out of Houston, TX. Erin has spent time as a visiting graduate researcher at Argonne National Lab and at INSA in Lyon, France.
Mike Blaisse — Biochemical
Mike earned his PhD in Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, investigating enzymes and pathways to engineer microbes for the production of bio-based fuels and chemicals. He went on to work in various scientific, commercial, and strategic roles at Zymergen, a company leveraging high-throughput microbial engineering platforms to create sustainable products for agriculture, advanced materials, healthcare, and other sectors. Mike’s history in the biochemical manufacturing industry has shown him the necessity to apply a deep, pragmatic understanding of scientific principles to evaluate if prospective solutions are truly feasible at a global scale. He is excited to apply this perspective to the question of sustainable aviation fuels.
John Mern — Artificial Intelligence
Dr. John Mern is an expert in artificial intelligence for autonomous systems and human decision support. He is passionate about applying artificial intelligence to meaningful, real world problems, in particular those supporting the transition to a net zero economy. He was previously the senior decision scientist at KoBold Metals, where he implemented AI systems to guide exploration for critical mineral deposits. John received his MS and PhD from Stanford University, where he was a member of the Stanford Intelligent Systems Lab (SISL). In SISL, his research explored reinforcement learning and Monte Carlo planning for large-scale decision problems. He has published research applying these methods to a variety of fields including wind-farm design, critical infrastructure cyber security, aquifer remediation, and critical mineral exploration.
Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation, and agriculture.
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