About ATUM

ATUM has been providing tools and solutions to Life Science researchers for over twenty years. Our products, services and most importantly our people enable scientists worldwide to achieve their goals.

ATUM founders from left to right:
Claes Gustafsson, Jeremy Minshull, Sridhar Govindarajan, and Jon Ness.

The Leadership Team

Jeremy Minshull, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Jeremy Minshull has served as President/CEO of ATUM since co-founding the company in 2003. Previously, he was Vice President of Core Technology at Maxygen Inc. Jeremy received his BA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, England, and his Ph.D. from Tim Hunt’s lab, also in Cambridge. His post-doctoral work with Andrew Murray at UC San Francisco is what first brought him to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Claes Gustafsson, Ph.D.

Co-Founder

As ATUM’s Co-Founder, Dr. Claes Gustafsson oversees most of the company’s external communications. Prior to co-founding ATUM, Claes led, managed and collaborated with key strategic teams at Maxygen Inc. Before Maxygen, Claes worked as a scientist at Kosan Biosciences, a number of research, teaching, and post-doctoral positions at UCs Santa Cruz and San Francisco, and at University of Umeå. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology/Biochemistry from the University of Umeå, Sweden.

Sridhar Govindarajan, Ph.D.

Chief Technology Officer

ATUM’s Co-founder and CTO, Dr. Sridhar Govindarajan leads Computational Biology, Protein Engineering and AI at ATUM. Prior to co-founding ATUM, Sridhar held positions at Maxygen and Eragen Biosciences. Sridhar received his PhD in Computational Chemistry/Biophysics from the University of Michigan and holds an undergraduate degree from Indian Institute of technology, Bombay.

Jon Ness, Ph.D.

Co-Founder

Dr. Jon Ness is a co-founder of ATUM and has coordinated ATUM’s technology development since its inception. Prior to his tenure at ATUM, Jon was one of the first employees at Maxygen Inc., where he led Maxygen’s DNA Shuffling Technology Development Group. Jon received a Ph.D. in Bacterial Genetics and Physiology from UC Davis, and a BS in Microbiology from the University of Minnesota. He conducted his post-doctoral research at Affymax, Inc.

Elaina ten Bosch

Chief Operating Officer

Elaina ten Bosch joined ATUM in 2004. As Chief Operating Officer, Elaina is responsible for optimizing production workflows to increase manufacturing efficiency. Elaina collaborates with the laboratory production and software development teams to create and improve automation opportunities and ensure the highest quality product produced. Before her time at ATUM, Elaina worked for Operon Technologies, first as the Oligo Synthesis Manager and later as Gene Synthesis Manager. Elaina has a BS in Biology from St. Mary’s College and a Certificate in Business Administration from the UC Berkeley Extension.

Selena Larkin, PhD

Chief Commercial Officer

Dr. Selena Larkin has more than twenty years of experience establishing and executing successful commercial and corporate strategies for life science tools and services organizations. She has served multinationals including Agilent, Danaher, and Waters, and held executive positions at several early-stage growth companies, helping build corporate value. With a passion for science and a strong network in the biopharmaceutical industry, Selena is keen to help drive the continued profitable growth of ATUM through superior customer acquisition and support.

Tanya Wei, JD

Head of Legal

Tanya Wei brings over twenty years of law firm and in-house legal experience specifically supporting the biotechnology industry. She joins ATUM from Exelixis, Inc., where she oversaw and managed its R&D Legal department. She held similar roles at Genentech, Inc. and the University of California, San Francisco, where she focused on transactional matters involving biotechnology. Prior to moving in-house, she worked as a law firm attorney for many years, providing guidance and assistance to various technology companies in the U.S. and worldwide. Her extensive legal experience, which includes intellectual property, business, transactional, litigation, compliance, privacy, and regulatory matters, gives her an extensive background and perspective on the key business and legal issues affecting customer-focused companies in the bioengineering space. Tanya graduated from The Johns Hopkins University where she studied English and Biology. She holds master’s degrees in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Nutrition from Tufts University and a J.D. from Santa Clara University.

Pedram Sattari

Vice President of Sales

As the Vice President of Sales, Pedram Sattari collaborates closely with internal teams to ensure the success of our clients. He firmly believes that ATUM’s value lies in fostering a culture of collaborative problem-solving and innovation, benefiting the broader scientific community. With a receptive ear and a focus on collective goals, he consistently advocates for our commitment to nurturing long-term relationships. Prior to joining ATUM in 2018, Pedram accumulated 12 years of experience in various commercial, technical, and leadership positions at GE Lifesciences (now Cytiva) and SpectrumLabs (now part of Repligen). In his most recent role at SpectrumLabs as Western Regional Manager, he oversaw both technical and commercial aspects of their bioprocess offerings. Pedram earned his BS in Biology from the University of California, Davis.

Frances Steingrimsson

Director, Finance and Culture

Frances Steingrimsson joined ATUM in early 2016. As the leader of ATUM’s financial department, she is responsible for maintaining the fiscal integrity of the company as well as supporting the executive, accounting and operations teams. As curator of the company culture, she supports and grows ATUM’s culture through thoughtful hiring and continuous improvements to the employee experience. Frances received a BS in Accounting from San Jose State University. She has been dedicated to the improvement of corporate financial discipline and culture for nearly 15 years across multiple industries, including Biotech, SaaS, Consulting, and Industrial Manufacturing.

Mark Welch, Ph.D.

VP, Research and Development

Dr. Mark Welch has been with ATUM since 2006. At ATUM, Dr. Welch developed the GeneGPS machine-learning technology for experiment-driven gene expression optimization. He currently oversees gene, protein, vector and strain engineering contracts for customers as well as new technology development. Prior to work at ATUM, Dr. Welch held positions at Applied Biosystems and at Maxygen, Inc. Dr. Welch received his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Jeff Johnson

Senior Scientific Director of Biologics

With more than 30 years of multidisciplinary biotherapeutics research and development experience, Johnson has established himself as a leader in protein expression, CHO cell line development, and protein sciences. Johnson’s previous tenures include three years at Bristol Squibb Myers, where he led the San Diego Department of Biotherapeutics (DBTx-SD) protein sciences team. Previously, he transformed Celgene’s protein expression platform and implemented a best-in-class platform for transposase-mediated stable cell line development. Committed to continuous improvement, Johnson has a proven track record of deploying disruptive technologies and spearheading initiatives that enhance data systems for biotherapeutics. His visionary approach and emphasis on integrating advanced platforms make him a key contributor to ATUM’s evolution of the biotherapeutics landscape.

Ferenc Boldog, Ph.D.

Director Emeritus, Cell Line Development

Dr. Ferenc Boldog joined ATUM in 2016 and has brought his expertise and creativity to the company’s molecular biology, cell biology and protein therapeutics development processes. Prior to ATUM, he was the Head of Cell Line Development at Shire. Throughout his 35-year academic and industrial career, Ferenc’s passion has been science and innovation.

Our History

Founded in 2003 as DNA2.0, ATUM has built on its DNA design and synthesis expertise to develop an integrated pipeline of solutions for the research community.

With a reverence for the interplay between science, technology and nature, ATUM’s unique and proprietary engineering platform is based on Design of Experiment (DoE), empirical testing and machine learning. The result is the precise engineering of commercially relevant properties in genes, vectors, proteins and cell lines.

ATUM emphasizes customer service as a critical measure of success. We aim to be a resource and research partner for scientists, to enable accurate and innovative delivery of specific, immediately useful solutions. Customers value the individual scientist-to-scientist support they receive from ATUM’s technical sales and support staff, as well as the speed, accuracy, and flexibility with which products and services are delivered. ATUM’s freely downloadable software tool Gene Designer and the online DNA ATLAS, give you the DNA sequence manipulation and management tools that we use in-house.

ATUM is based in the US, with a global customer base encompassing academia, government and the pharmaceutical, chemical, agricultural and biotechnology industries. ATUM is by far the most published synthetic biology vendor, providing expert support to and collaboration with scientists. The company is privately held and is headquartered in Newark, California.

Patents

11,566,262 Tetracycline-inducible expression systems. Minshull

11,401,521 Integration of nucleic acid constructs into eukaryotic cells with a transposase from oryzias. Minshull, Govindarajan and Lee

11,396,662 Transposition of nucleic acid constructs into eukaryotic genomes with a transposase from amyelois. Minshull, Govindarajan and Lee

11,162,102 Modifications of mammalian cells using artificial micro-RNA to alter their properties and the compositions of their products. Minshull, Lee, Sitaraman and Boldog

11,060,109 Transposition of nucleic acid constructs into eukaryotic genomes with a transposase from amyelois. Minshull, Govindarajan and Lee

11,060,098 Integration of nucleic acid constructs into eukaryotic cells with a transposase from oryzias. Minshull, Govindarajan and Lee

11,060,086 Transposition of nucleic acids into eukaryotic genomes with a transposase from heliothis. Minshull, Govindarajan and Lee

11,041,159 Nucleic acids and vectors for regulated target gene expression in methanotrophic bacteria. Saville, Silverman, Minshull, Ness, Leonard, Stumpe, and Welch

10,927,384 DNA vectors, transposons and transposases for eukaryotic genome modification. Minshull, Welch, Govindarajan, Lee, Caves and Ness

10,815,461 Recombinant uricase enzyme. Deshpande, Grujic, Govindarajan, and Welch

10,480,018 Genus of epimerase enzymes for conversion of fructose to allulose at high temperature and low pH. Venkitasubramanian, Schroeder, Welch, and Govindarajan