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A future powered by plants
We’re committed to making agriculture both sustainable and bountiful
Our Story
If everything we used came from plants, the world would be sustainable by default”. Unbeknownst to Chris Eiben, this stray thought from a high school AP Biology class would eventually lead him to founding Perlumi 15 years later. During that time, the core goal remained the same. It just took Chris a PhD, a postdoc, an entrepreneurial fellowship, and a whole lot of pipette tips to hone the strategy of how to do it.
Ultimately, the strategy is improving photosynthesis to sustainably supply the food, feed, fiber and materials the future needs. Today, Perlumi is a team of like minded individuals, sharing in this common mission. The first plants we will improve are major crop plants, including corn and soybean. After that, we will improve the plants needed for future carbon management.
If you would like to join us on our journey, please reach out.
Team
Our team shares a mission to empower a sustainable world of plenty.
Founder, CEO
Chris Eiben
Chris aims to create a more bountiful and suitable future by building companies solving deeply technical sustainability challenges. On this journey, Chris earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering at UC Berkeley, focusing on synthetic metabolism and protein engineering in Jay Keasling's lab. To compliment his scientific skills, Chris pursued two years of entrepreneurial training via the prestigious Activate fellowship. Outside of company building, Chris loves music, working out, and super creative cinema.
Senior Scientist
Michelle Dougherty
Michael is passionate about doing cool science. He has a background in microbiology and protein engineering. Michael earned a B.S. from Penn State and a Ph.D. from UW-Madison, followed by post-doctoral appointments at CalTech and the Joint Bioenergy Institute. Prior to joining Perlumi, he spent several years working in the Bioengineering Branch at the NASA Ames Research Center.
Scientist II
Rahman Rahman Pour
Rahman earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warwick in the UK. During his doctoral studies, his research focused on enzymology and structural biology of bacterial lignin degradation.
After completing his Ph.D., Rahman held two postdoctoral positions in protein engineering and synthetic biology in the UK and the USA. During his postdoctoral work, he conducted research on protein engineering and developed tools for heterologous gene expression and genome engineering of non-model organisms.
Before joining Perlumi, Rahman worked as a protein engineer scientist at Illumina. In this role, he utilized protein engineering methods to optimize enzymes involved in Next Generation Sequencing (NGS).
Research Associate III
Victor Vela
Victor attended undergrad at the University of California, Davis—studying molecular biology. After working in Bayer and BASF’s fruit and vegetable seed breeding programs, Victor continued his passion for plant biology research by collaborating with various startups, focusing on plant secondary metabolites. Driven by his passion for climate change, sustainability, Victor joined Perlumi.
Advisors
Our advisors fill important roles, rounding out our team with active involvement as our company grows.
Jay Keasling
Jay Keasling is a pioneer in engineering microbes and metabolism. During the early 2000s, Jay led a UC Berkeley research team to use engineered yeast to synthetically produce artemisinin, the powerful anti-malarial drug. Researchers at the Keasling Lab are now using the same technology to produce other pharmaceuticals, commodity chemicals, and cellulosic biofuels.
Daphne Preuss
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Jay Keasling, PhD.
Jay Keasling is a pioneer in engineering microbes and metabolism. During the early 2000s, Jay led a UC Berkeley research team to use engineered yeast to synthetically produce artemisinin, the powerful anti-malarial drug. Researchers at the Keasling Lab are now using the same technology to produce other pharmaceuticals, commodity chemicals, and cellulosic biofuels.
Daphne Preuss, PhD.
Daphne Preuss is an executive leader with over 20 years in agribusiness and plant biotechnology. She has negotiated dozens of alliances with top-tier agriculture and biotechnology companies, bringing multiple products to market. Preuss frequently serves as an advisor and board member for innovative companies that are transforming agriculture’s sustainability, helping their leadership team create win-win partnerships with the largest companies in the industry.
Stakeholders
Perlumi has been awarded funding for core technology development through highly selective granting programs from ARPA-E, the Grantham Foundation, and Activate Global.
