Responsible for establishing CH4 Global’s footprint in the US focusing on developing new RnD, regulatory and IP strategies.

After 25 years in agricultural biotechnology, James Pearce consulting is the realization of a desire to have a broader impact across the industry than at a single company or project. With this level of experience comes an ability to provide strategic guidance and rapidly guide a decision-making process. Underpinning my career is a belief in reducing the environmental impact of agriculture. Enabling farmers to produce more with less creates value both monetary and societal. Replacing petrochemical inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides with biological solutions has been my focus. My main area of expertise is the deployment of native or engineered microbes as biopesticides or biostimulants, bringing products to market in both a startup and big multinational context. I am a PhD scientist who has successfully transitioned to leadership and business development roles. I am equally comfortable zooming into microbial discovery strategies as I am pitching investors or negotiating with the EPA. As a result, I am uniquely positioned to advise on a broad array of topics from both an internal perspective as well as those pertinent to an outsider looking in. Since starting out I have advised numerous companies and venture funds including Temasek and Praesidium. I currently sit on the advisory board at Switch Bioworks and Flourish Biosciences. If you are an investor looking to get into biologicals or a startup looking to navigate a path to market or map out a research strategy, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Lead R&D efforts with primary responsibility for strategic direction. Bringing together food, fermentation and microbiome sciences to create better and more sustainable food products with a positive impact on the future through transformative science.

Responsible for the RnD Strategy at a young company in the discovery of unique microbes with high value traits for Agriculture and Health, encompassing technology development, product registration, production and intellectual property. Identifies key focus areas to prioritize limited resource, providing leadership to the RnD team in it’s enabling of partnered research and platform development. Plays a lead business development role through establishing strategic and commercial partners. Enjoying the challenges of building an early stage Biotech Company.

Venture Capital Technology Scout - Consultant, San Diego, CA Contracted to VC firms, leveraging knowledge in the Ag Biotech space. Technical due diligence reporting.• Provide qualitative assessment on scientific rigor, team, and practices. • Assess technical and commercial value of existing products and pipeline, discovery process and platform• Review intellectual property portfolio, providing perspective on strength and scope.• Review development process for productizing leads.

Accountability for both scientific direction-setting as well as logistical & operational aspects of the research facility • Demonstrate experience and leadership in microbiology, molecular biology, plant physiology, genomics, and gene discovery to product stewardship • Member of the extended Biologics Leadership Team and part of the broad Technical Leadership Team for the BioAg Alliance between BAYER and Novozymes • Provide sufficient scientific and people leadership to ensure continued technical contribution from the site • Provide direction, establish collaborations, innovate, and deliver key results • Responsible for contributing to the personal development of others

• Accountability for both scientific direction-setting as well as logistical & operational aspects of the research facility • Demonstrate experience and leadership in microbiology, molecular biology, plant physiology, genomics, and gene discovery to product stewardship • Member of the extended Biotechnology Leadership Team and part of the broad Technical Leadership Team for the BioAg Alliance between Monsanto and Novozymes • Provide sufficient scientific and people leadership to ensure continued technical contribution from the site • Provide direction, establish collaborations, innovate, and deliver key results • Responsible for contributing to the personal development of others

•Directs all genetic and fermentation research and development group activities. •Directs all Nucelis IP activity including patent filings and maintenance, discovery process management and assessments of patent landscape.•Provides technical input at executive management level in formulating corporate strategic objectives and oversees their implementation within the appropriate technical areas.•Provides technical recommendations for developing annual and longer term budgets for the growth and development of the appropriate corporate R&D programs, as well as client-subscribed projects.•Directs the development and organization of the genetic and fermentation science team resources for the achievement of company’s technical objectives. •Responsible for technical reporting and support to executive management, CEO and Board of Directors.•Presents company technical capabilities to potential clients and investors.•Responsible for the development and application of state of the art metabolic engineering and bioinformatics approaches to identify editable targets at the level of metabolic pathways, regulatory networks, and specific gene targets to meet program objectives. •Responsible for oversight of microbial strain construction using a combination of classical genetics, adaptive evolution, synthetic biology, and gene editing methods.•Responsible for the development of “Omic” analysis of strain performance in small and pilot scale fermenters to guide iterative refinement of production strains and processes.•Responsible for the development of commercially-viable fermentation processes that leverage the genetic resources developed by the company.•Responsible for the expansion of Nucelis’ RTDS™ gene editing technology to a range of microbial hosts, for proof- of-concept and application toward commercial production systems. •Works closely with the Director of ProcessTechnology to provide coordinated management of all of Nucelis’ R&D function.

Direct all molecular biology at Cibus. Focus on developing Cibus’ gene editing technology to create commercial crops and microbial production strains.with valuable traits through genome engineering. Oversee high throughput genotyping function. Oversee research programs to improve core technologies, including gene discovery, mutation discovery, bioinformatics and assay design. Produce research proposals through identification of novel applications of technology to broaden product portfolio. Work closely with business analysts to assess potential value. Establish numerous collaborations with partners by communicating potential of Cibus’ technology through connections, meetings and presentations. Build teams to meet company goals and lead company-wide training program to build more effective teams.Lead molecular biology support for regulatory submission process. Participate in the writing of research grant applications.

Managed a functional group of 14 providing molecular biology support across all scientific programs. Lead project to alter oil-seed profile of crop for biofuels application through metabolic engineering. Designed and implemented automation of high throughput genotyping platform. Invented PCR-based assay for detecting rare mutations. Lead efforts to further enhance platform technology at Cibus.

Worked on metabolic engineering of yeast strain for production of a valuable nutraceutical through combination of genome editing and transgenics. Strain currently in pilot scale trails. Created new molecular tools designed to improve gene editing technology at Cibus. Demonstrated effective application of Cibus Technology in prokaryotic hosts enabling optimization of fermentation strains. Developed novel genotyping platform adapted company-wide.

Oversaw enzyme discovery and evolution programs as part of collaboration between Verenium and Syngenta.

Studying Mode of action of Bacillus thuringiensis in lepidopteran crop pests.Research into potential cystic fibrosis treatments as part of a Biopharma Program