Founder & CEO

Katherine completed her BA at Boston University in 2011, a PhD in Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford in 2016, and two postdocs at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab between 2018-2021. She has published over a dozen scientific papers and received grants from governmental, charitable, and industrial sources to support her research.

Her areas of expertise include environmental engineering, bioremediation, ecology and sustainable development. She founded BluumBio in 2021 as a platform to develop the next generation of bioremediation technologies that will clean up historic and emerging pollutants from the environment.

Head of Organism Discovery and Assay Development

Drew is a Filipino-American gay scientist working in Microbial Ecology. He received his Bachelor’s degrees from UC Berkeley in Chemical Biology and Microbial Biology with Honors. During this time, Drew researched the bioremediation potential for plant-growth-promoting soil-bacteria to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons, for which he received his department's grant for student-initiated projects.

Drew then joined the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab from 2019-2021 to develop a framework for mechanistic-microbial ecology in a subsurface watershed contaminated with nuclear-waste from the Manhattan Project. His expertise is in analytical chemistry, microbial characterization, and next-generation DNA-sequencing.

Biochemist & Synthetic Biologist

Azion White is a 2021 graduate from the University of Minnesota, where he received a BS in biochemistry and worked as a research associate for the University’s BioTechnology Institute.

Azion has experience in molecular biology and enzymology from various projects, including the characterization and assembly of a biocatalyst toolbox for lignin degradation to the design of recombinant proteins to make biodegradable nano-surface coatings for materials. He’s passionate about the vast applications of microbial biotechnology and the benefits it brings to society.

Senior Scientist

Jordan grew up on a farm outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and received a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. While at Johns Hopkins, his work focused on utilizing algae for biofuels and high value chemical production.

After graduation, Jordan worked at Genentech in South San Francisco for three years before starting a PhD program in Bioengineering at UC Berkeley & UCSF where his research is focused on microbial metabolism for environmental and sustainability applications.

Plant Scientist & Partnerships Manager

Nate is currently a PhD candidate in plant biology in the Lewis Lab at UC Berkeley. He’s interested in research that utilizes plant diversity to improve human and environmental health. Nate has conducted research focused on plant pollinator networks, novel approaches to improving pathogen resistance in crops, and is currently leading BluumBio’s phytremediation R&D vertical. Outside of the lab, Nate loves spending time looking for wildflowers and interesting rocks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and sampling restaurants and bakeries in the Bay Area.

Business Development & Product Support

Jake Keller is a lab operations and start-up generalist with a rich background in biotech, alternative proteins, and food CPG products. Jake uses his passion for sustainability to grow BluumBio’s client portfolio and provide technical support to customers.