The Team

Founder and CEO

Maciej serves as the CEO of EntoZyme and is an Associate Professor in Applied BioSciences at Macquarie University. He has spent over a decade pushing the boundaries of animal synthetic biology to solve global environmental challenges.

Maciej earned his PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from Oregon State University in 2011 with a focus on developing antiviral therapeutics. During his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Minnesota, he engineered novel methods for transgene biocontainment and the genetic biocontrol of insect pests. After launching his independent research group in Australia in 2019, Maciej co-founded EntoZyme, transitioning from Chief Scientific Officer to CEO to align its deep-tech foundations with an accelerated strategic evolution.

His research proves that animals can be equipped with a diverse array of capabilities to drive bioremediation, sustainable waste management, biomanufacturing, and conservation. Maciej’s work is widely published in leading journals and provides the foundation for multiple international patents.

Founder and Chairman 

Evan is an accomplished Executive and Non-Executive Director with over 20 years of leadership experience across public, private, ASX, and LSE boards. Currently the ANZ Managing Director of Factors Group, he has led senior strategic and R&D initiatives for major health organisations, including Blackmores, BioCeuticals, Beckman Coulter and Olympus Diagnostica.

Operating across Europe, the USA, and Australia, Evan provides deep operational insight and regulatory expertise within FDA and TGA frameworks. His background in Biotechnology, Biochemistry, and Six Sigma underpins a unique blend of technical capability and commercial acumen.

A respected scientist specialising in biotech medicines, Evan excels at building and scaling fast-moving organisations through robust strategy and risk management. He remains an active contributor to clinical research, with published studies in synthetic biology, probiotic functionality, and vitamin D insufficiency

Head of Strategy and Operations 

Jaime is dedicated to scaling the technologies that will define our climate future. By combining her strategic background at McKinsey & Company with venture-scaling experience and operational leadership at Loam Bio, she has become a specialist in navigating the complex journey from proof-of-concept to global scale. She bridges the gap between investment, strategy and execution, ensuring breakthrough science translates into scalable market impact.

Jaime’s approach to technology is informed by her background as a humanitarian engineer. Her perspective has been shaped by fieldwork with Engineers Without Borders in India and Samoa, and scaling regenerative agriculture practices with smallholder farmers in Ethiopia.

Founder and Head of R&D

Dr Chandran Pfitzner is a synthetic and molecular biologist with nearly a decade of hands‑on experience developing and applying cutting‑edge genetic engineering methods. Holding a PhD in Molecular Biology, Dr Pfitzner has extensive experience over the last 9 years in the genetic modification of a wide range of organisms, including mice, fish, insects, and a number of different cell lines.

An active contributor to the scientific community, Dr Pfitzner has published tools and technologies that streamline gene‑editing workflows and bridge the gap between bench innovation and real‑world application. Over the past several years he has concentrated on black soldier fly genetic engineering, systematically refining and improving the BSF engineering toolkit and thereby placing EntoZyme’s capabilities at the forefront of this rapidly evolving field.

Founder & Scientific Advisor

Dr Kate Tepper co-founded EntoZyme and is an advisor to the company. Her pioneering research demonstrated proof of concept that insects can be genetically engineered to process more types of organic waste and biomanufacture a larger variety of high-value products.

Dr Tepper is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the Maselko Lab in Applied BioSciences at Macquarie University. Her research role involves developing cutting edge academic research for black soldier fly waste management and biomanufacturing.

Senior Scientific Advisor

Dr. Owain Edwards is a global authority in insect genomics and synthetic biology, with a 26-year tenure at CSIRO directing senior scientific initiatives. Following his PhD at UC Berkeley, Owain established himself as a pioneer in population genetics, studying mass-reared insects before and after environmental release for both biological and genetic pest control. A global leader in his field, he co-led several landmark aphid genome projects and contributed to dozens of others internationally.

In 2016, Owain was appointed to lead the Environment and Biological Control Domain of CSIRO’s Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform. There, he directed world-leading research into coral heat tolerance and gene-drive pest control. A visionary in applied entomology, he also initiated the ‘Insects as Engineers’ group at CSIRO in 2022, focusing on innovative black soldier fly research to solve complex environmental challenges.

Senior Scientist

Dr. Binh Nguyen is a research scientist with expertise in insect synthetic biology and transgenesis. She earned her PhD from Macquarie University and has over 8 years of hands-on experience in wet lab and PC2 lab environments with excellent skills in molecular biology and microinjection techniques.

Currently a senior scientist at EntoZyme, Dr. Nguyen is dedicated to advancing synthetic biology methods for insect genome engineering, with a focus on promoting sustainable waste management through innovative insect biomanufacturing.

Senior Scientist

Sam is a researcher with 6 years of experience designing and building genetic circuits for insect transgenesis. Sam began his work in synthetic biology in 2019 with Macquarie University's iGEM team, earning a gold medal for developing a hydrogen gas biosensor

Sam recently completed his doctoral research in the Maselko Lab at Macquarie University, focusing on genetic technologies for controlling mosquito and other insect pest populations. His research into recombinant venom proteins in insect seminal fluid was published in Nature Communications and attracted global media attention from outlets such as The BBC and National Geographic. This work demonstrates how these proteins can be used to reduce insect lifespans as a method for pest management.

Research Scientist 

Lauren is an entomologist at heart with expertise in molecular biology and insect transgenesis. She completed a Master of BioSciences at The University of Melbourne where she heterologously expressed insect genes in fruit flies to study their function and evolution.

Lauren continued this research professionally before joining EntoZyme in 2024 where she now helps develop and validate transgenic Black Soldier fly strains.