Agrivida was founded in 2002 by researchers from MIT. Since our inception we have rapidly grown our team, which now comprises a rare blend of expertise in plant molecular biology, engineering, and agricultural and chemical business development.

Agrivida is backed by leading investors. See also Agrivida's advisory board as well as publications by Agrivida's team and advisors.

R. Michael Raab

Michael is a founder and acting CEO of Agrivida. He has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from MIT. Michael previously worked at the Merck Research Laboratories where he was involved in vaccine development, large scale fermentation and cell culture, and molecular biology research. Michael has a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is originally from the state of Minnesota, which, he is quick to note, is one of the largest ethanol producing states.

Mike Lanahan

Mike manages strategic planning and business development at Agrivida. After completing a Ph.D. in plant molecular biology at Washington University in St. Louis Mike spent several years as a scientist with the Monsanto Company before joining Syngenta (previously Ciba-Geigy and Novartis). Over his career, Mike has served as scientist, project leader, and research director, in areas of disease control, grain quality, and animal feed and industrial enzyme research. At Syngenta, Mike played a key role in business development, new business strategy, investment selection, and product development. With over 15 years of experience, his understanding of seed and agricultural processing businesses is a major asset to Agrivida.

Humberto de la Vega

Humberto has a Ph.D. in Plant Biotechnology and over 25 years of experience in academia and industry. His work has spanned all areas of molecular biology including gene discovery, cloning, and sequencing, protein expression and characterization, and plant transformation. Just prior to joining Agrivida, Humberto worked at Zymequest, where developed cell-based assays for studying red blood cell serotype conversion. In addition to his industrial work, Dr. De La Vega has held academic positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University Medical Center, and National University of Mexico. Dr. De La Vega received his M.Sc. in cellular biology and Ph.D. in plant biotechnology from the Research Center and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute in Irapuato, Gto., Mexico. Prior to that he received his B.S. in microbiological biochemistry from the National University of Mexico in Mexico City.

Jeremy Johnson

Jeremy is a co-founder of Agrivida and is an expert in strategic decision making in the design of chemical processes. His graduate work at MIT on this topic included the role of environmental objectives in plant design and the evaluation of biomass as feedstock for fuels and chemicals. Jeremy worked previously at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where his research focused on quantitative analysis of environmental problems, and developing sustainable energy solutions related to biomass. Jeremy was formerly a process engineer in Black and Veatch's Process Division where he specialized in process design and engineering of gas processing plants. Jeremy also has substantial experience in farming and livestock management from his youth in rural Kansas. Jeremy has a Ph.D. from MIT and a B.S. from the University of Kansas, both in Chemical Engineering.

Karl Ruping

Karl guides operations and business development at Agrivida. He is an intellectual property attorney and seasoned entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience in building global business strategies for technology companies. He was a Fellow at MIT's School of Engineering, a Lecturer at Temple University, and Visiting Researcher at the Research Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Tokyo. He has assisted technology startups in securing intellectual property rights, raising venture funding, attracting strategic partnerships, and developing market execution strategies.