As Chief Science Officer at Impossible Foods, Dr. John York, PhD, leads a fast-growing R&D team expected to double in size in 2021. Before joining the company in January, York served as the Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and a Professor of Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University from 2012 to 2020, where his laboratory paved the way for discoveries in protein structure and function, cell signaling and molecular genetics. He joined Impossible Foods because, as he says, “the opportunity to use biochemistry to save the planet is a spectacular motivation.” Now, Dr. York is finding a new lab and headquarters for the company's R&D operations in the Bay Area, and he’s leading the company's world-class scientists as they develop the next generation of sustainable ingredients to solve our ecological crisis. Join this talk to learn about his research and how he is approaching his new role.
The event was rescheduled for July 15 due to a conflict on Dr. York’s calendar.
Where & When
Zoom Webinar
1:00 to 2:00 PM, Thursday, July 15, 2021
About the Speaker
Dr. John D. York joined Impossible Foods in January 2021 as Chief Science Officer. John oversees the company’s research and development and product innovation functions. His work focuses on building Impossible’s technology platform, expanding basic research capabilities, accelerating next-generation products, and recruiting the world’s best scientists to join the Impossible Foods team.
From 2012 to 2020, John was the Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Professor of Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University. There, John’s laboratory paved the way for discoveries in protein structure and function, cell signaling, and molecular genetics, and furthered our understanding of the pathophysiology of disease. Under his leadership as Department Head, the Department of Biochemistry became 2019’s top NIH-funded department in the nation and nearly doubled the number of trainees.
Before joining Vanderbilt, John was an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor in Pharmacology and Biochemistry at Duke University,
Throughout his career, John trained over 50 scientists in his laboratory and over 200 graduate students, post doctoral fellows, undergraduates and high-school students through thesis, departmental and community activities.
A Midwest native, John received his BS in Biochemistry from the University of Iowa and his Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology and Biochemistry from Washington University in Saint Louis. Outside of the lab, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two incredibly wonderful daughters, off-piste skiing, tennis, woodworking, building outdoor pizza ovens, cooking (more importantly, eating!), traveling and reading the news from a variety of intellectually rigorous sources.v