top of page
AdobeStock_20290948.jpeg

Track 4 Session Details

AFCC Conference Breakout Sessions

Breakout Sessions are 90 minutes, each one has one moderator with a maximum of four to five speakers.

 

Breakout sessions will be focused on the following five subject areas:

 

​

 

Track 4 Breakout Session Details​

Synthetic Biology, Alternative Proteins, Regenerative Agriculture, Food & Fiber

​

 

This Track is Sponsored by:

iff.jpg

Thursday, November 21, 2024

All sessions for this Track will be held in Annapolis 4

 

Session 1: 8:00 AM TO 9:30 AM: Offsets, Insets, Carbon Intensity Labels, Water Conservation and Brand Promise.  Does confusion reign and why does it matter?

paul zorner 2.jpg

Moderator: Paul Zorner, President, Bleujaune Advisors

Speakers:

Julie Bushell.jpg

Julie Bushell

CEO

Ethos Connected

Greg Jaffe.png

Greg Jaffe

Senior Advisor, Office of the Secretary

USDA

Andrew_Knewston.jpg

Aaron Knewtson

VP, Food & Agribusiness

Compeer Financial

David Kolsrud.png

David Kolsrud

Founder

The Energy Farmers

Beth Robertson-Martin.jpg

Beth Robertson-Martin

CEO

Merge Impact

Consumers are frustrated and feeling unempowered and overwhelmed by the impact of climate change on their lives. They want their purchases from the brands they admire to incorporate a contribution to the sustainable use of scarce resources, and for the supply chains for those products/services to support a positive impact on the economic and environmental resilience to a rapidly changing world for their families and the communities in which they live. Banks, CPG companies, Producers, and Governments will outline what role Carbon Markets, Carbon Labels, Net Zero Commitments and Water Conservation initiatives serve (or don’t) in their business to support their corporate goals, and the people and communities they serve.

Session 2: 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM: Importance of Feedstocks for Production of SAF and other Alternative Fuels, Renewable Chemicals and Biobased Products

Mark-Elless.jpg

Moderator: Mark P. Elless, Technology Manager, Renewable Carbon Resources, Bioenergy Technologies Office – Department of Energy

Speakers:

Pete Christensen.jpg

Pete Christensen

COO

Loamist

Matthew Langholtz.jpg

Matthew Langholtz

Natural Resource & Environmental Economist

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Steven Slome.jpeg

Steven Slome

Primary

NexantECA

Kristi Snell.jpeg

Kristi Snell

Vice President Research and Breeding

Sustainable Oils, Inc.

wendy owens.png

Wendy Owens

CEO

Hexas Biomass Inc.

The decarbonization of America’s transportation and industrial sectors  is captured in DOE’s billion-ton report, https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/2023-billion-ton-report-assessment-us-renewable-carbon-resourcesdepends, providing significant increase in the production of renewable biomass for use in liquid fuel, renewable chemicals, and biobased products. There is ongoing policy work to determine the eligibility and definition of renewable biomass in several key tax incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which provides over $369 billion of spending on climate-related provisions.  This panel will illustrate the availability of biomass in United States, examples of work being undertaken to strengthen the use of renewable biomass in the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), renewable chemicals, biopolymers, and biobased products.

Session 3: 1:30 PM TO 3:00 PM: Companies offering Step Change Developments in Synthetic Biology Progress

Joel Stone.jpg

Moderator: Joel Stone, President ConVergInce Advisers and President & Executive Director of Climate Systems Solutions

Remi Peyraud.jpg

Rémi Peyraud

CEO

IMEAN

Speakers:

Shannon Hall.jpg

Shannon Hall

CEO

Pow.bio

Joël Sirois.jpg

Joël Sirois

CEO

BioIntelligence Technologies

Alexandre Zanghellini.jpg

Can Synthetic Biology be harnessed to produce valuable consumer, industrial, everyday materials, and chemicals? We will hear from companies that are developing technology, processes, and tools that are related to step change developments in synthetic biology deployment. The panel will be focused on companies making progress with innovative or revolutionary technologies to advance synthetic biology processes.   We will discuss how some of these companies are progressing.  Join this diverse panel of thought leaders in Synthetic Biology and delivering on ideas and innovations to supply solutions. We will discuss different perspectives about how their solutions have an influence in meeting commercialization of products. These technologies are taking advantage of the biotechnology productivity developments that can offer diverse solutions towards a common goal of low carbon intensity products.

Session 4: 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM : Engineered Microbes for Environmental Release (EMERs)

Richard Murray.jpg

Moderator: Richard Murray, Professor, California Institute of Technology

Speakers:

Rebecca EPA Speaker.jpg

Rebecca Edelstein

Supervisory Chemist

EPA/OPPT

David Glass.jpg

David J. Glass, Ph.D., President, D. Glass Associates, Inc.

Bruce Hay.jpg

Bruce Hay

Professor Biology & Biological Engineering

Caltech

Michael Mendelson.jpg

Michael Mendelsohn

Branch Chief, Chief Emerging Technology Branch

EPA/BPP

alan pearson.jpg

Alan Pearson

Assistant Deputy Administrator

USDA/APHIS

Michael Weeks.jpg

Michael Weeks

Senior Registration Manager

Pivot Bio

Engineered Microbes for Environmental Release (EMERs) are an emerging biotechnology sector that is poised to play a significant role in the global bioeconomy through their ability to address challenges related to climate change, environmental remediation and diagnostics, self-regenerating structural infrastructure, and more. In this panel session, we will bring together experts from academia, government, and industry who participated in a workshop sponsored by the Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy (LCSSP) at Caltech in February 2024. The panel will discuss emerging applications of EMERs, the status of our current scientific understanding on EMERS, and regulatory challenges in deploying EMERs, which do not fit always neatly within existing frameworks, causing potential jurisdictional overlaps and/or regulatory gaps that can increase complexity and costs. Finally, we will highlight some of the recent and upcoming activities that government and industry are taking to help address these challenges.

​​

Friday, November 22, 2024

All sessions for this Track will be held in Annapolis 4

Session 5: 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM : The Future of Alternative Proteins: Many Tools in the Toolbox

vincent-sewalt-headshot.png

Moderator: Vince Sewalt, VP Public Affairs, International Flavors & Fragrances

Speakers:

dietz jason.jpg

Jason Dietz

Biotechnology Coordinator

FDA

Bre Duffy.jpg

Bre Duffy

Director of Responsible Research & Innovation

New Harvest

manoj kumar.jpg

Manoj Kumar

President & CEO

Louis Dreyfus Company

wang eugene.jpg

Eugene Wang

CEO

Sophie's BioNutrients 

Debbie Yaver.jpg

Debbie Yaver

Chief Scientific Officer

Nature’s Fynd

Innovators are developing new protein sources to address agricultural, environmental, and consumer interests.  This has led to a wide range of new tools to provide alternative sources of protein such as cell-cultured animal cells, precision fermentation, molecular farming and new protein processing techniques.  These tools provide a diversified set of approaches to meeting growing protein demands while also addressing agricultural and environmental challenges and changing consumer tastes.  This session will explore the breadth of technologies being used to provide alternative protein solutions and their success and challenges to date.

Session 6: 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM: You Can’t Change—or Trade—What You Can’t Measure

Craig Bettenhausen.jpg

Moderator: Craig Bettenhausen, Senior Editor, Chemical & Engineering News

Speakers:

Emily Aurand.jpg

Emily Aurand

Director of Roadmapping

EBRC

Steve Evans.jpg

Steven Evans

Senior Technical Fellow

BioMADE

Joseph McAuliff.jpg

Joseph McAuliffe

Senior Principal Scientist

IFF Nutrition & Biosciences

Vijay Srinivasan.jpg

Vijay Srinivasan

Senior Advisor, Systems Integration Division

NIST

paul zorner 2.jpg

Paul Zorner

President

Bleujaune Advisors

The economic model for biobased fuels and chemicals falls apart without standards. Metrics, targets, and accounting methods everyone can agree on are the foundation of a robust market, especially as volumes go from lab- and pilot-scale to commercial-scale steel in the ground and as investors demand transparency on net COâ‚‚ impact, biobased content, and biodegradability. Panelists in this session will discuss recent publications and ongoing work in the UK, EU, and USA, including the Engineering Biology Metrics and Technical Standards For The Global Bioeconomy, published in May by the Engineering Biology Research Consortium, and the Standards to Advance the Bioeconomy program at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.

 

bottom of page