Kristin Ellis

Kristin brings a decade of experience in biotech, hardware, startups, and operations to Lowercarbon. Previously, she was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Carbon180 and a fellow at NREL LabStart, exploring commercial applications for carbon removal and synthetic biology.

At Opentrons, an open-source lab robotics startup, Kristin helped scale the team 40x, develop critical operational pipelines, and create automated lab workflows used globally. Earlier, she managed clinical trials at MD Anderson Cancer Center and conducted NSF-funded research on nanodiamond coatings for engine parts.

Kristin is active in climate and community biology initiatives, serving as interim Director of Grants at iGEM, collaborating on MIT Climate Grand Challenges, and contributing to open-source carbon capture projects. She speaks internationally on open tech and community biology, is a fellow with MIT Media Lab's Biosummit, and a founding member of NewBioCity.

In Brooklyn, Kristin enjoys running, sci-fi, and sharing boiled peanuts—a Southern specialty.

Website

Tuesday

May 06

From Fossil to Functional: The Rise of Zero-Carbon Materials

4:30 PM

5:15 PM

Innovative materials hold the key to accelerating the transition away from fossil fuel dependence and into a thriving low-carbon future. This session will explore how novel approaches to manufacturing—from cutting-edge biotechnologies to scalable production techniques—are transforming the way we create everyday products. Attendees will learn how these next-generation materials can be scaled effectively, the latest insights on cost-competitive climate technologies, and the milestones needed to ensure they rapidly penetrate global markets. By highlighting diverse strategies and tangible success stories, this discussion will illuminate a clear path toward a defossilized economy—one where carbon footprints shrink and circularity becomes the new standard.