Joel Cherry BA, PhD

Dr. Joel Cherry leads Amyris research and development, including various ongoing collaborations. Prior to joining Amyris in 2008, Dr. Cherry was Senior Director of bioenergy biotechnology at Novozymes. During his tenure at Novozymes, he was a member of the R&D management team specializing in protein engineering and directed evolution technologies. He was also principal investigator and director of the BioEnergy Project, an effort funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to reduce the cost of enzymes used in converting biomass to sugar. This work was awarded an R&D 100 Award, Scientific American Top 50 Award, and a Frost and Sullivan Emerging Technology Award. Dr. Cherry is an inventor on more than 20 issued patents, author of three book chapters and more than 30 scientific publications, and an invited speaker at numerous international conferences on biofuels. He received his B.A. from Carleton College in chemistry, a Ph. D. in biochemistry from the University of New Hampshire.