Robbie Barbero

Biography

  At Ceres Nanosciences, Robbie works with the CEO and the rest of the team to drive business growth by supporting key product development programs and identifying new technology commercialization and industry partnership opportunities.   Robbie has over 15 years of experience operating across a range of responsibilities in the biotechnology sector, including in public policy, product development, manufacturing, and customer-facing roles. Prior to joining Ceres, Robbie was the Assistant Director of Biological Innovation in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy where he spent more than four years developing and implementing policy on global and national life science issues, including the BRAIN Initiative, the Precision Medicine Initiative, biotechnology regulatory policy, genome editing, reducing the organ transplant waiting list, cancer diagnostics for the developing world, the federal government's response to the Zika virus, student innovation and entrepreneurship, and federal R&D agency budgets. Robbie has extensive experience building and maintaining strategic partnerships with leading foundations, universities, private research institutes, non-profit organizations, federal agencies, and companies across a variety of scientific and technical topics.   Robbie received his Ph.D. in biological engineering from MIT, where he was a member of Professor Angela Belcher's Biomolecular Materials Group and led or co-led projects on antimicrobial peptides, carbon capture, and industrial biocatalysts. Robbie received various awards at MIT, including being named an MIT Presidential Fellow and a Siebel Scholar. Before graduate school, Robbie spent five years working for three biotechnology startups -- GlycoFi (acquired by Merck), Quantum Dot Corporation (acquired by Invitrogen), and Nanostream. Robbie also holds A.B. and B.E. degrees in engineering sciences from Dartmouth College.  

Research Interest

R&D