On a mission to revolutionize microbiome discovery

Kevin Honaker is the co-founder and CEO of BiomeSense, a microbiome data infrastructure company building tools to accelerate development of novel microbiome-based precision medicine. An experienced STEM commercialization leader with over a decade in healthcare & life sciences, Kevin combines operational expertise with a deep passion for advancing personalized medicine. Before founding BiomeSense, Kevin served as Director of Operations at PrescriptIQ, a seed-stage pharmacogenomics spinoff from the University of Chicago, where he led strategic and operational initiatives. At BiomeSense, he drives commercial strategy, investor engagement, and partnerships that translate the company’s scientific capabilities into clinical and AI-enabled breakthroughs. Kevin holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Jack is a global leader in microbiome research,co-founding both the Earth Microbiome Project and American Gut Project. He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters on ecosystem ecology and is the founding editor-in-chief of mSystems, a journal of the American Society of Microbiology.

Dylan Nichols, Technical Operations Lead of BiomeSense, is a veteran biomedical engineer with more than a decade of experience driving innovation in diagnostics, medical devices, and microbiome technologies. Before joining BiomeSense, he contributed to the development and support of Augmenix’s flagship product, a success that led to the company’s acquisition by Boston Scientific. He has also collaborated with surgeons at the University of Chicago to pioneer microbiome-mediated techniques for preventing surgical site intestinal infections. Dylan holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University, and an MS in Biomedical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology.

Yoshiki Vázquez-Baeza leads the computational biology and data engineering work at BiomeSense. In his prior role he acted as the Associate Director of Bioinformatics with the Center for Microbiome Innovation at UC San Diego. Yoshiki has a breadth of experience developing open-source statistical analysis and visualization tools for microbiome research. Throughout his career he has authored a number of high impact papers on the human microbiome spanning inflammatory bowel diseases, time-series analysis, fecal transplants, cystic fibrosis, population-scale profiling, and microbiome analysis.

‍

Yoshiki has over 10 years of experience in biomedical engineering, computer science, and microbiome research, holds a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana, an MS in Computer Science (Human Computer Interaction), and a PhD in Computer Science from UC San Diego.

Carolyn is Chief of Staff at BiomeSense. bringing a unique blend of operational leadership, strategic execution, and financial acumen. Before joining BiomeSense, she advised companies through M&A transactions as an investment banker at R.W. Baird. Prior to that, she served six years as a United States Coast Guard officer, leading cross-functional teams at sea and collaborating with congressional and executive stakeholders on national policy. Carolyn holds a BS from the United States Coast Guard Academy and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

‍

Hudson is the Principal Scientist at BiomeSense, leading the laboratory team and the company's bioanalytical research initiatives. He holds a doctorate in Chemistry from Northwestern University, where he used integrative omics to discover and study biosynthetic pathways across environmental microbial populations. Before BiomeSense, he was at LanzaTech, where he built omics-level biomarker discovery programs to monitor and optimize large-scale continuous fermentation processes.

‍

Omar is a Senior Research Associate at BiomeSense, where he develops experimental protocols and engineers the product workflow to accelerate the development of cutting-edge microbiome technology. Previously, he worked on expressing and assaying computationally generated protein libraries to ascertain functionality. Omar holds Bachelor's degrees in Chemistry and Biology from Indiana University.

Ania is a Senior Research Associate at BiomeSense, where she applies her knowledge of Next-Generation Sequencing to help optimize and further develop deeper understanding of microbial communities. Previously, she worked at the University of Chicago Genomics Core and Tempus to provide quality control of high-throughput clinical and research samples. Ania holds a Bachelorof Science in Biochemistry from Purdue University.

‍

Sasha is a Research Associate I at BiomeSense, where she designs and executes experimental workflows to support product performance optimization. Previously, she conducted research in a USDA lab, applying molecular biology techniques to study fungicide resistance mechanisms in plant pathogens. Sasha holds a Master’s degree in Plant Pathology from Washington State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Plant Biotechnology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

‍

Harini is a Research Associate I at BiomeSense, where she designs and executes experiments to test, refine, and validate the performance of the GutLab, focusing on improving component biocompatibility and microbiome data quality. Previously, she did biosensor research at the University of Chicago as a graduate student, evaluating commercial & clinical gaps in non-invasive inflammation monitoring technologies. Harini holds a Master's degree in Precision Health from the University of Chicago and a BS in Biomedical Sciences from SRMC, India.

Renny is a Senior Mechanical Engineer at BiomeSense, developing quality systems to deliver the best possible experience to GutLab users. She is currently developing the next generation of GutLab hardware tomeet even more rigorous standards of sample collection and preservation. Her background includes a diverse array of product development engineering across consumer, automotive and industrial fields.

‍

Nikhil is a Mechatronics Engineer II at BiomeSense, providing expertise in electrical control system engineering. At BiomeSense, Nikhil uses his skills to provide support for the mechanical design and help develop required automation needs for the system. He has been with the BiomeSense team since holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

Daniel is a Mechanical Engineer I at BiomeSense, providing expertise in mechanical design. Previously, Daniel worked as a systems engineer of automated lab equipment for academic microfluidic research. Daniel holds Bachelor's degrees in Molecular Biology and Biomedical Engineering with a Master's of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Missouri.

‍

Rob Knight, Ph.D., is a recognized global leader in microbiome research and a dynamic force behind several significant research initiatives. The Knight lab has produced many of the software tools and laboratory techniques that enabled high-throughput microbiome science. This includes the QIIME pipeline, an open-source bioinformatics and data analysis program that has been used by thousands of microbiome studies.

‍

Rob, along with BiomeSense co-founder Jack Gilbert, also helped co-found the American Gut Project, one of the world’s largest crowdfunded and crowdsourced scientific research projects exploring links between the human gut and diet, health, lifestyle, exercise, and more.

‍

Beyond these projects, Rob has authored or co-authored numerous articles, given a TED Talk viewed by almost 2 million people, and published multiple books to translate the science of the microbiome to a broad audience. Last fall, he received the NIH’s prestigious Pioneer Award to support his research into developing new approaches to enhance healthy microbiomes.

Charles Chiu, MD, Ph.D., is a pioneer in using metagenomic analysis for diagnostic and clinical research. An infectious disease physician and microbiologist, he leads a translational research laboratory that has successfully identified and characterized emerging viral pathogens. Charles and his lab have also led the way in discovering new approaches to applying bioinformatics and genomic technologies for clinical and public health applications.

‍

Charles currently leads the Precision Diagnosis of Acute Infectious Diseases study. Its goal is to make metagenomic next-generation sequencing for pathogen detection clinically available for the first time. Charles has been interviewed by several media outlets regarding the coronavirus, including a recent article for Time magazine.

Savas Tay is a bioengineer and systems biologist. He has been a pioneer in developing single cell analysis methods and using them to study inflammatory signaling pathways. Dr. Tay has developed several microfluidic and optical technologies for high throughput analysis of biological systems, and authored over 65 peer-reviewed publications.