As Emmert Wolf said, “A man is only as good as his tools”. Something about him, and his gender normativity, is a bit old-fashioned. But the guy had a point. And when it comes to synthetic biology, we’re building the biodesign and bioanalysis tools that the industry has been waiting for.
We’re convinced that humanity’s future on Earth and beyond isn’t just concerned with biodesign. It’s dependent on it. That’s why our sights are set on making biodesign more intuitive, collaborative and essential. With every decision we make and each piece of software we develop, we’re catalyzing some of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken.
Abundant, nutritious, cruelty-free foods. Drugs to overcome even the most persistent diseases. Organisms that will terraform distant planets. The potential applications truly are as limitless as the human imagination – there’s no telling where the future could take us. By providing smarter tools, we’re freeing up minds, amplifying creativity, and empowering synthetic biologists to decide precisely how the future will look.
Eli, our CEO, started 2015 with a tough departure from his previous company. During this period his days started the same way. He’d put on a Tupac album and think about his next steps before starting his day in earnest. When the stressful process of leaving his former company ended, Eli was free to pursue his passion for revolutionizing bioinformatics tools. The very same day, he incorporated Tupac.Bio.
Tupac Shakur wasn’t the first to take up the name, and he isn’t the last. It bears a long-standing association with revolution - with rising above adversity and standing up for a cause. Our backgrounds, worldviews and goals may be a million miles apart from our predecessors, but it’s the same revolutionary spirit that inspires us do what we do every day.
One person alone would make for a poor revolution. Paul Sheridan, our Chief Science Officer brought additional extensive experience in bioinformatics and statistics. Add to that the full-stack software engineering chops of our CTO, Justin Kovalchuk, and you’ve got a well-rounded core leadership team that’s ready for anything. With this experienced team of cofounders and some of the industry’s most knowledgeable advisors, Tupac was built from the ground up with biodesign in mind.
Based in the US and Japan, we’re now supporting some of the most innovative companies in synthetic biology. That started with Yamagata-based Spiber, with whom we’ve been working to consistently improve and diversify our tools. Our recent relationship with California-based client, Finless Foods, has only served to bolster our rapidly expanding toolset.
We’re not just ready for adversity. We’re born from it. And we’re here to solve challenging problems in biodesign and bioanalysis.
Get in touch today and let us know how we can help.
Eli moved to Tokyo for PhD studies in the Department of Computational Biology and Medical Science at the University of Tokyo. His research included analyzing data from high-throughput mutagenic screens, wet-lab work in retinal development, and transcriptome analysis. While enrolled in his PhD he joined a Japanese startup and designed detailed protocols for applying Next-Generation Sequencing to phage display screens and performed business development.
While a PhD student he coauthored a paper with Paul on DNA barcoding. He left his PhD studies to apply himself to Tupac.Bio full-time.
Eli has an MSc in Computer Engineering and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
Paul has numerous peer-reviewed academic publications in the area of applied statistics, including multi-omics data analysis. Before joining Tupac.Bio full-time he was an Assistant Professor at Hirosaki University, and he was formerly a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Tokyo. He has over a decade of experience programming in R and designing and implementing statistical analysis pipelines.
His extensive experience has given him the ability to translate biology researcher goals into statistical problems.
Paul is conversational in French and Japanese. You can learn more about him here.
Justin has a BS in Physics with a minor in CS and originally moved to Japan in 2009 to work as an engineer in the semi-conductor laser industry. He has lead many projects to market both professionally and personally and has over a decade of experience in software and systems development.
He has worked on programs for optical design/simulation, multivariable optimization, and web backend/frontend using C++, Java, and C# languages. He has developed systems for data pipelines, web crawlers, and web backend/frontend using Python, Ruby, and JS/Node.js. Also he has launched apps for iOS using Objective-C and Swift.
Justin is fluent in Japanese.
Dr. Suga is the co-founder of Peptidream (2013 IPO) and professor at University of Tokyo. He is a voluntary advisor.
Dr. Kneller has advanced degrees in multiple areas. He is a professor at University of Tokyo and is involved in vaccine development as well as analysis of the Japanese startup landscape.
Yuki is an angel investor and corporate lawyer working in mergers and acquisitions.
