Eric Moellering has spent the last twenty years on a mission to improve the metabolism of algae and plants for renewable fuels and other bio-products. Over the last decade at Viridos, he and the Strain Development team have established a world-class, genomics-driven platform for engineering diverse algal species for biofuels production.

Prior to Viridos, his academic research focused on algal and plant lipid metabolism in response to environmental stress—making significant advancements in our understanding of how plants survive freezing tolerance, and the fundamental mechanisms of oil accumulation in algae. Eric had the good fortune of starting his research and development career in a DNA sequencing facility just prior to the next-generation sequencing revolution, which led to a passion for leveraging cutting-edge genomics for solving global sustainability challenges.

Eric holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Michigan State University where he was a graduate fellow of the Plant Research Laboratory, and a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.