Athanasios Kritharis, ph.d.

•Invented innovative bio-process utilizing marine microbes and organic waste to generate value added products with zero waste generated •Developed novel promoter system capable of achieving over 50% by total biomass protein product yield •Created worlds first 100% bio-derived spandex-like protein polymer •Managed a technical team of two to build and develop entire process and product pipeline as well as write full techno-economic analysis showing economics are equivalent to those of fossil fuel derived synthetic fibres •Raised over $50,000 in funding through non-dilutive grants and investments

-Delivered direct technical insights and process recommendations that drove a 10x increase in product yield, identifying critical bottlenecks in the production workflow and implementing targeted improvements. -Developed rigorous scale-up models for production systems, enabling a 5x increase in manufacturing capacity while maintaining product quality and process reliability. -Led a full techno-economic analysis of the production pipeline, pinpointing key inefficiencies and driving a 4x reduction in production cost through process optimization and resource allocation improvements.

PhD Researcher: Cell-Free Protein Synthesis & Bioprocess Engineering -Led Sanofi Pasteur-funded R&D program developing a novel cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) platform for vaccine biomanufacturing; 10x cost reduction vs. industry standard; scaled to 2L across Sanofi & National Research Council of Canada; patent-pending (co-inventor, PCT/CA2023/051409) -Vanier & Friedman Scholar: $200K+ in competitive research funding for leadership and scholarly excellence -Molecular/synthetic biology: DNA construct design, promoter & mRNA optimization, CRISPR-Cas9, recombinant antigen expression (E. coli, V. natriegens) for pertussis vaccine -Techno-economic analysis (TEA): identified key production inefficiencies, driving a 4x reduction in cost and informing scale-up/process design decisions -Analytical: ELISA, Western Blot, UV-Vis, fluorescent assays -Led team building rapid COVID-19 antibody screening platform -Published, peer-reviewed author: 2 papers (Can. J. Chem. Eng.; ACS Synthetic Biology) Entrepreneurship -Co-founder, Innovation OnBoard: grew UBC's premier student entrepreneurship competition from 50 to 500+ participants over a 2-year tenure; expanded operations to University of Toronto, now running at both institutions -Co-founder, Tydra Labs: foundational research building a biomaterials platform (waste-to-chitin/chitosan)

Project Team Lead — Undergraduate Curriculum Innovation, UBC Chemical & Biological Engineering -Raised $40,000 from external agencies and philanthropic donors to revamp undergraduate reactor design teaching labs -Established a student prototyping and fabrication facility, creating hands-on infrastructure for undergraduate engineering design and testing -Built a demonstration reactor integrating two core courses — reactor design and process control — into a single systems-level learning experience -Developed new experiential coursework around the reactor, translating an open-ended engineering problem into a structured curriculum module -Open-sourced the course and reactor design; now a permanent, accredited part of the undergraduate curriculum with lasting impact on student learning -Led cross-functional team through full project lifecycle: fundraising, hardware design/fabrication, curriculum development, and faculty adoption

-Teaching assistant for CHBE 381, Introduction to Bio Process Engineering and CHBE 464 Problem based Labs -Prepared quizzes and test material for bi-weekly tutorials -Marked assignments/quizzes and evaluated multiple choice questions for difficulty -Helped students with understanding course material by explaining underlying theory behind concepts -Ran experiments and guided students through experimental process

-Led technology transfer and scale-up of a novel CFPS platform from bench-scale research into a robust 2L production process, bridging the gap between academic proof-of-concept and industrially relevant manufacturing scale -Implemented Microfluidizer-based cell extract processing, enabling high-throughput, consistent, and scalable lysis and extract preparation that replaced variable, low-throughput methods with a reproducible industrial-grade process -Discovered and established key quality-control metrics that decoupled product consistency from cell-extract density, solving a critical bottleneck in CFPS manufacturing where batch-to-batch variability had limited reproducibility and scalability -Delivered a scale-up framework that ensured consistent, high-quality output across production batches regardless of starting biomass density, a foundational advance for de-risking CFPS as a viable industrial biomanufacturing platform

-Researched and developed foundational CFPS technology for vaccine manufacturing within GMP-approved research facilities, working in direct coordination with on-site industry professionals to meet pharmaceutical-grade research standards from day one -Designed and executed high-throughput screening campaigns testing hundreds of combinations of cell-extract and reaction-mixture formulations, systematically mapping the formulation space to identify optimal, minimal-component CFPS systems -Established the foundational minimal CFPS formulation that would later become the basis for the 10x cost reduction and 2L scale-up achieved in subsequent phases of the program, working at the earliest, highest-risk stage of the technology's development -Operated at the interface of academic research rigor and industrial GMP standards, translating exploratory bench science into a formulation platform robust enough for pharmaceutical development

-Built UBC's startup competition from the ground up, creating a new engine for student entrepreneurship that turned interdisciplinary teams into real ventures tackling health, energy, and environmental challenges -Raised $70,000 in funding over two years, proving the concept had enough traction and credibility to attract sustained financial backing from day one -Delivered 16 industry-led workshops to 300+ students, turning a student club into a real training ground where participants learned directly from working professionals, not just textbooks -Launched 20+ startup teams from scratch, with 2 ventures still active today through the e@UBC entrepreneurship pipeline, proof that the program didn't just teach entrepreneurship, it produced it -Scaled the program beyond UBC entirely, growing it into the university's premier entrepreneurship competition and later expanding operations to the University of Toronto, where it now runs at both institutions today

-Developed custom instrumentation to simulate traumatic brain injury using a stem-cell-derived organoid model, engineering a physical platform capable of applying controlled mechanical trauma to living 3D neural tissue, bridging mechanical engineering and neuroscience to create a reproducible injury model for research use -Designed and built a custom device for formulation and non-contact application of medical salve, engineered specifically for patients with skin disease where direct physical contact during treatment application posed a risk of harm or infection -Worked at the intersection of instrumentation design, biomedical research, and patient-centered device engineering, translating clinical and research needs into functional, purpose-built hardware from concept to working prototype -Gained hands-on experience with organoid culture systems and biomedical device design under the mentorship of Dr. Vikramaditya Yadav, contributing to early-stage research tools later used in ongoing lab studies

-Led and grew a 40+ member student engineering organization, directly overseeing marketing, recruitment, budgeting, project development, and fundraising for one of UBC's flagship engineering design teams -Raised $80,000+ in funding over a three-year period, securing the capital needed to sustain multi-year R&D projects, competition travel, and equipment/material costs -Founded new sub-organizations within the team that grew into independent departments, expanding the group's structure and long-term capacity beyond the original scope -Trained and mentored students in programming, leadership, and electronics, building technical capability across the team and ensuring continuity of expertise year over year -Directed innovation across the full breadth of chemical engineering, including biofuels, energy storage, and controlled chemical reaction systems, pushing the team's projects beyond conventional competition designs -Consistently placed as finalists at the North American level, competing against top engineering programs across the USA, and advanced to represent UBC at the World Chem-E-Car Competition, the highest level of international collegiate competition in the discipline

-Designed circuitry for automated testing systems using CAD, engineering the electronic backbone that enabled hands-off, repeatable device validation at scale -Fabricated custom microfluidic devices, translating design specifications into functional hardware used in both R&D testing and product development -Programmed imaging algorithms and designed experimental protocols to characterize and validate microfluidic device performance, bridging software and hardware to generate reliable, quantitative test results -Authored Standard Operating Protocols (SOPs), formalizing testing and fabrication processes to ensure consistency and quality across the engineering team -Assembled and tested the company's core microfluidic products, directly contributing to the quality assurance pipeline before customer shipment -Built a custom data management system to automatically collect, sort, and analyze testing and product data, replacing manual data handling with a streamlined pipeline that improved traceability and decision-making speed

-Conducted PTFE paste extrusion experiments under varied processing conditions to characterize specific gravity and elastic properties of polymer samples, generating data to inform material behavior models -Built custom Excel spreadsheets and MATLAB programs to automate and standardize data analysis workflows, improving accuracy and turnaround time for processing experimental test data -Transformed raw experimental data into statistically significant visualizations, producing graphs used in technical presentations to communicate findings to faculty and research collaborators -Authored and updated Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the Capillary Rheometer and other analytical lab equipment, improving reproducibility and safety for future users of the equipment

Currently moving onto third year of my Chemical and Biological Engineering Degree. Working until December as a coop student through the UBC coop program.