Andrew Horwitz

Andrew Horwitz has a strong background in research and development, with a particular focus on synthetic biology and fermentation-based products. Andrew is currently serving as the Vice President of Research and Development at Inscripta, Inc. where they lead a team in developing sustainable fermentation routes for rare and powerful natural products. In this role, they oversee the full development process and coordinates with commercial and legal teams.

Prior to their current position, Horwitz was the Vice President of Research and Development at Sestina Bio, LLC., where they built and led a successful R&D effort in incorporating novel data assets for strain selection and scale-up of synbio/fermentation-based products. Sestina Bio was later acquired by Inscripta.

Andrew also has experience as an Advisory Board Member at Medicinal Genomics, where they served from 2019 to 2023.

Before joining Sestina Bio, Horwitz worked at Demetrix, first as the Vice President of Research and Development, managing the cannabinoid R&D program and developing the intellectual property portfolio, and later as the Senior Director of Biology, where they established a synthetic team and biology lab and led the cannabinoid strain engineering team.

Horwitz gained industry experience at Amyris, where they held various roles, including Senior Scientist, Scientist III, and Scientist II. In these positions, they led multiple projects in the pharmaceutical space, developed engineering strategies to increase strain engineering speed, and worked as a scientific lead for the emerging technologies team.

Andrew started their career as a Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, specializing in synthetic biology approaches and engineering circuits in yeast. During their time there, they also served as the UCSF iGEM Scientific Director, guiding a team of high school students in an international genetically engineered machines competition.

Horwitz completed their graduate studies at Harvard Medical School, where they obtained their Ph.D. as a Graduate Student.

Andrew Horwitz received their Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Pomona College from 1995 to 1999. Later, from 2001 to 2006, they pursued a PhD in Biochemistry at Harvard Medical School.