Smart Bioprocessing & Digital Manufacturing 2026

Govind Rao is a Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He earned a Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in 1984, and completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Drexel University in 1987. Rao joined the UMBC faculty that same year and later served as Department Chair from 2000 to 2006. In 2006 he founded the Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST) and has directed the center since its establishment. Dr. Rao’s research focuses on disruptive innovation aimed at shifting the limits of current technology. A central theme of his work is the development of sensor technologies that help reduce healthcare costs and address disparities by enabling reliable, low-cost diagnostic tools for low-resource environments. Another growing focus of his research is point-of-care biomanufacturing. Over the course of his career, he has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed journal publications. His research has been supported by a wide range of sponsors, including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, JDRF, DARPA, FDA, the Office of Naval Research, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and numerous industry partners. He has also delivered many invited keynote and plenary lectures at international conferences and corporate events and has contributed to multiple government and industry advisory panels. Rao has received numerous honors for his work. Among them are the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, UMBC’s Outstanding Teaching and Outstanding Research Awards, the Van Lanen Award from the American Chemical Society, and the Gaden Award from Biotechnology and Bioengineering. He also received the University System of Maryland Regents Award for Excellence in Research and was named a 2003 Innovator of the Year by the Maryland Daily Record. He holds over 30 patents, several licensed or used in startups.

Cameron Graham has a background in chemical engineering and has over a decade of industry experience. Cameron's current role of Manager, Manufacturing Science and Technology at Agilent Advanced Therapeutics, formerly known as BIOVECTRA, focuses on technology transfer and scale up of biological processes from the lab to commercial manufacturing. Cameron's specialty is fermentation scale up and he recently worked with a team that introduced single use microbial fermentation for Agilent at the 1,000L clinical scale. The 1,000L single use fermenter that was selected has comparable performance to traditional stainless steel fermenters and has been implemented for several processes that historically would have been a challenge for single use technology. Cameron continues to seek out opportunities to implement single use technology and drive process efficiency at Agilent.

Professor Brahim Benyahia has over 15 years of research experience and has played a key role in several major milestones in pharmaceutical manufacturing and digital transformation. Notably, he contributed to the development of the end-to-end continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing plant at MIT, which significantly advanced the adoption of continuous manufacturing and flow chemistry in the pharmaceutical industry. More recently, he has contributed to the development of the Quality by Digital Design (QbDD) paradigm and led the development of novel frameworks for self-optimization and self-driving laboratories. He participates in several flagship research consortia, including PHARMECO, Manufacturing Made Smarter (DM2), and SusPharma, with research focusing on digitally enabled, safe, and sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing. His work also investigates Green-by-Design synthetic routes, advanced purification technologies, and pharmaceutical formulation.

Tae Seok Moon is a YouTuber, director of an NSF global center, professor at JCVI, EBRC Council Member, SynBYSS Chair, Moonshot Bio founder, EFB Executive Board Member, and editor of 10 journals, including the New Biotechnology Editor-in-Chief. His 32 funded projects have secured $45.8M since 2012 and resulted in 112 publications, 262 invited talks, 219 contributed presentations, and 12 patents (as of 1/29/2026). His service to SynBYSS provides a weekly forum for >2,000 global audiences. The 540 speakers include a Nobel Laureate, 28 National Academy Members, 48 funders, 22 Editors-in-chief, 15 Nature/Cell journal editors, and 261 rising stars