A Harvard PhD (Chemistry) venture capitalist and a Harvard Post-Doc (Bioengineering) walk into a bar. He asked for millions, and she said, “No, but…,” and the rest is history-in-the-making and the real story behind Tender Food, a spin-out from tissue and bioengineering labs at SEAS/Wyss. Join us this week as we sit down with Christina Chang, PhD, Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, and Christophe Chantre, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tender Food.
Lowercarbon Capital “backs kickass companies that make real money slashing CO2 emissions, sucking carbon out of the sky, and buying us time to unf**k the planet.” Tender Food is on a “mission to make alternative meats so delicious, nutritious, and affordable that eating animals won't make sense anymore.”
The Lab-to-Launch Lounge (LLL) series brings Harvard graduate students in CxO roles back to campus to hear how they launched their research out from Harvard labs:
* how did they get here
* what would they do differently--and what they would not do at all--if a student again
* anything else on your mind
Join the discussion, meet fun people, grab a bite, and leave with new ideas. Open to the Harvard community.
Images above are all original creations by DALL·E 2, representing the intersection of science, engineering, and organic conversations in a casual lounge environment.
Connect with us:
Lemann Program on Creativity and Entrepreneurship
Center for Technology Entrepreneurship
2 hours: 4-6pm.
Co-founder and CEO, Tender Food
Co-founder and CEO of Tender Food - a company creating alternative meats with the right taste and texture. Previously a program lead (post-doc) at the Wyss Institute to develop and validate functionality of regenerative heart valve bioprosthetics in preclinical studies. Chris has also supported various efforts to commercialize technologies developed at the Parker Lab, ranging from sustainable foods, textiles and regenerative medicine.
Received a PhD in Integrative Human Physiology with a focus in biomaterials for regenerative medicine applications. Research was carried out between the University of Zurich (Wyss Translational Center Zurich) and Harvard University (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering). Received Bachelor and Masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering from EPFL and ETH Zurich, respectively.
Partner at Lowercarbon Capital
Dr. Christina Chang is a Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, where she incubates and invests in new technology startups with outsized climate impact. Christina has broad and deep experience in techno-economics, R&D, invention and patenting of clean energy technologies.
Most recently, Christina was a Fellow at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) within the U.S. Department of Energy, where she developed new research directions for sustainable manufacturing of commodities. In her two-year tenure as a federal employee, Christina initiated and co-led the Agency’s green steel thrust, including co-leading a 200-person workshop with senior stakeholders. She also performed quantitative technology impact studies spanning industrial decarbonization technology areas including process heat and chemical manufacturing, to inform and help create DOE initiatives under Secretary Granholm and President Biden, including the DOE Earthshots, Advanced Manufacturing Office funding opportunities, and U.S. involvement in COP26 in Glasgow.