Max Schubert

After Double majors in Microbiology and Molecular Environmental Biology at UC Berkeley, Max was introduced to the world of Synthetic Biology through his work at Amyris, where he contributed to the development of CRISPR methods and product development.

Max then began PhD studies at Harvard University, completing a thesis in the lab of George Church. His thesis work focuses on Retron Library Recombineering, a new approach for pooled screening in bacteria, alongside contributions to other studies and helping organize the Boston Bacterial Meeting conference.

Wanting to work more explicitly in climate technology, Max then began work in photosynthetic bacteria, helping to develop automated culture systems for cyanobacteria, directed evolution approaches for cyanobacteria, and contributing to studies on genome streamlining of cyanobacteria. This work includes a bio-prospecting study in which novel fast-growing cyanobacteria were isolated from shallow, marine CO2-emitting volcanic seeps. These bacteria were found to possess traits promising for carbon-sequestration, and are now being investigated for this purpose.

Max gained broad exposure to the world of climate technology through his role as a Scientific Advisor to the Grantham Foundation for Protection of the Environment, and serves as a science advisor for two small climate start-ups.

The BioBloom project resulted from realizing that many climate efforts needed a technology that is unavailable, but potentially related to Max's thesis work on genetic methods. Max is now full-time on BioBloom, and believes this is the best way he can make a climate impact!

December 2022