Yumin Tao

Yumin Tao is the current Vice President of Biotechnology at Living Carbon. Yumin has over twenty years of experience in the field of protein engineering and has held various leadership positions at DuPont Pioneer, Alpine Roads, and Antheia, Inc.

Yumin Tao's career in protein engineering began at DuPont Pioneer, where they spent thirteen years as a Project Leader. In this role, they were responsible for herbicide trait gene discovery, herbicide trait enzyme improvement via protein engineering, and trait gene expression optimization strategy. Yumin was also the technical lead for four external CRO collaborations and the leader for multiple internal cross-functional teams. During their time at DuPont Pioneer, Yumin jointly created two commercial level herbicide trait enzymes via protein engineering.

In 2006, Yumin left DuPont Pioneer to join Pioneer Hi-Bred International as a Principal Investigator. At Pioneer Hi-Bred International, they spent seven years conducting research with the goal of developing new plant varieties with superior traits.

In 2013, Yumin left Pioneer Hi-Bred International to join Alpine Roads as an Advisor. In this role, they provided strategic and technical consultation to the startup with the goal to produce plant meat.

In 2019, Yumin left Alpine Roads to join Antheia, Inc. as the Director of Protein Engineering. In this role, they directed protein engineering teams to produce high value pharmaceutical compounds in yeast.

Yumin Tao has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Fudan University and a PhD in Molecular Biology from Indiana University Bloomington.

Yumin Tao has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business and a Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Biology from Purdue University.

Their manager is Maddie Hall, CEO, Co-founder. Yumin Tao works with Patrick Mellor - CTO, Co-founder, Jennifer Everett - Director of Laboratory Operations, and Laurel Mills - Chief of Staff.