Nikolas Balanis, Ph.D., is Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Syntax Bio, a synthetic biology company programming the next generation of stem cell-derived therapies using its proprietary CRISPR-based Cellgorithm platform.

Nikolas holds a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University and a B.A.Sc. from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed a postdoctoral research stint at UCLA Health before joining Sana Biotechnology as a Senior Computational Biologist.

With deep expertise in molecular biology and data science, Nikolas bridges the worlds of computational biology and synthetic biology to drive innovation in cell therapy manufacturing.

Prior to co-founding Syntax Bio, Nikolas applied his computational biology skills at Sana Biotechnology, a company focused on engineered cells as medicines, advancing therapeutic development pipelines.

Syntax Bio has raised over $25 million in total funding, recently expanded its Series A to $14.4 million, and is advancing a pancreatic beta cell therapy for type 1 diabetes through preclinical proof-of-concept.