SynBioBeta 2026 Speaker

Michelle Chen

Form Bio

Pres, CEO & Board Mem.

Michelle Chen, Ph.D. is a biotech executive and industry leader with extensive experience in strategy, business and corporate development, M&A, investor relations, ventures, fundraising, and R&D. She currently serves as President, CEO and Board Member of Form Bio, the first spin-off from Colossal Biosciences, where she leads companyโ€™s efforts to harness AI for genetic medicine design and genome engineering applications.Prior to Form Bio, Michelle served as Chief Business Officer at Insilico Medicine, where she drove the companyโ€™s growth by translating cutting-edge AI technologies into high-value drug discovery and platform partnershipsโ€”unlocking billions in potential revenue.Throughout her career, Michelle has built a strong cross-functional track record spanning R&D, product management, operations, and commercial leadership. She has held key positions at Roche, Merck, BioMarin, and Agilent Technologies, and has also served as an advisor to venture capital firms and startups. Michelle has led new company formations, executed numerous M&A transactions across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and helped deliver a five-fold increase in the market capitalization of a public company within three years.Michelle earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Washington, conducted postdoctoral research at UC San Francisco, and completed Bioinformatics training at Stanford University.

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Blue watercolor illustration of a folded protein structure
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Reagan

Jarvis

Anocca AB

CEO, Co-founder

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Alex

Rives

CZI Biohub

Head of Science

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Karenโ€ฏ

Akinsanya

Schrodinger

President, R&D โ€“ Therapeutics

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Christopher

Arendt

Takeda

CSO, Head of Research

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Stef

van Grieken

Cradle

CEO

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Michael

Koeris

DARPA

Director, BTO

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Jennifer

Dionne

Pumpkinseed

CEO

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Daniyal

Hussain

GSK

Exec. Dir., Tech BD

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Cynthia

Hong

Novartis

Dir., Search & Evaluation

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Sarah Lynn

Tao

CSL Behring

Sr. Dir., S&E; Ig TA & Tech Lead

Blue watercolor illustration of a folded protein structure
Blue watercolor illustration of a folded protein structure
Blue watercolor illustration of a folded protein structure
Blue watercolor illustration of a folded protein structure
Blue watercolor illustration of a folded protein structure

SynBioBeta 2027 May 3-6, San Jose, California