Ananta Technologies is a biotechnology startup resolving manufacturing bottlenecks for cell therapies. We are developing the CentriFLEX bioreactor that promotes optimal T cell growth for cancer immunotherapy treatments. Our journey began in 2020 with the vision of taking my doctoral research to market. While much of my previous efforts emphasized technology development, my current responsibilities as Co-Founder and CEO encompass fundraising, customer discovery/acquisition, team building, and outreach. Several high-impact programs and funding agencies have supported Ananta Technologies: NSF I-Corps, Life Science Washington Institute, Washington Research Foundation, WSU Commercialization Gap Fund, Palouse Club Cougar Cage, WSU Jones Milestone Accelerator, UW Jones + Foster Accelerator, UW Dempsey Startup Competition (3rd place), UW Biomed Bootcamp, and WSU & UW Site I-Corps.

This was a one-year appointment to continue customer discovery efforts and business development to commercialize the CentriFLEX bioreactor as part of the Postdoctoral Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) funded by the Washington Research Foundation (WRF) in collaboration with the University of Washington (UW). The overarching goal of PEP is to move a project down a commercial development path: publications and academic presentations are not the primary outcomes. I work closely with the Technology/Innovation Managers and Patent Portfolio Managers in the Office of Commercialization to advance the CentriFLEX technology toward commercialization.

I worked on two separate NSF-funded projects under the guidance of Prof. Bernard Van Wie: (1) bioreactor design for T cell manufacturing with applications in cancer immunotherapy (NSF EAGER award no. 1645249) and (2) national dissemination of a hands-on learning tool for undergraduate engineering students (NSF DUE award no. 1821578). For the biomanufacturing project, we developed a centrifugal bioreactor (CBR) to rapidly expand bovine T cells that are produced as an immune response to protozoan parasite Theileria parva—our goal was to expand the use of the CBR for cancer immunotherapy treatments. My primary focus on the project was optimization of the expansion process through kinetic growth models and miniaturization of the previous CBR machine to increase commercialization potential. On the engineering education project, we analyzed the effectiveness of hands-on learning tools on student comprehension and motivation, with major emphasis on dissemination and propagation to 48 other institutions across the nation. The dissemination was based on a hub-and-spoke model, and I communicated with a hub of 4 universities (Campbell, Anderson, Howard, East Carolina) on the east coast to ease implementation efforts.

I graded weekly homework assignments, quizzes, and exam questions and hosted office hours for 60 certified, junior-level students in Introduction to Transport Processes (CHE/BE 310).

I mentored a group of 7 freshmen who were part of the Future Cougars of Distinction (FCOD) program upon admission and have declared Chemical Engineering as their major. FCOD is an invitation-only program for the top scholars in the incoming freshman class. Our department has made a subset of the FCOD program called the Future Chemical Engineering Cougars of Distinction as an initiative to increase retention rates within our department. As the director, I organized monthly meetings/events for the students and act as a mentor for them as they pursue their education.

I assessed the effectiveness of hands-on learning methods on student comprehension and retention of undergraduate chemical engineering concepts with Prof. Bernard Van Wie. This opportunity was funded by the National Science Foundation’s Division of Undergraduate Education.

I tutored high school students through the Varsity Tutors online platform in chemistry, physics, and mathematics.

I analyzed potential co-products of the process of converting biorefinery lignin to biofuels under the supervision of associate professor Dr. Xiao Zhang and PhD student Mond Guo. This opportunity was funded by the National Science Foundation's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program.