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
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 UC Santa Cruz and UC 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
Selena Larkin, Ph.D.
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, J.D.
Head of Legal
Tanya Wei brings over twenty years of law firm and in-house legal experience specifically supporting the biotechnology industry. She joined 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
Mark Welch, Ph.D.
VP, Research and Development
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 Myers Squibb , 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.