Dr. Dustin Heeney appointed Chief Technology Officer at PHAXTEC

Wake Forest, NC, March 5, 2024

PHAXTEC, an advanced material startup developing and commercializing natural materials called PolyHydroxyAlkanoates (PHA), today announced Dr. Dustin Heeney as its first Chief Technology Officer (CTO), effective immediately. With the C-Level Management expansion PHAXTEC strengthens its research and development activities in the development of novel PHA biopolymers.

Dr. Heeney joined PHAXTEC in late 2022 as a molecular microbiologist to carry out research on the company’s NSF/SBIR Phase 1 grant award which PHAXTEC has since successfully completed.

Dr. Heeney brings 10 years of expertise in molecular microbiology, industrial fermentation, genetics, and business management. He has authored 15 peer-reviewed publications and holds a patent on microbial metabolism and high value microbial production technologies. Within the NSF Phase 1 project Dr. Heeney successfully engineered complex microbial communities to produce PHA copolymers.

While obtaining a Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis in microbiology with a designated emphasis in biotechnology, he completed: the Powerhouse Science Communication Fellowship at the SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity, the Keller Pathways Fellowship at the UC Davis Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Dr. Dustin Heeney has a history of collaborative and diverse research and a passion for solving complex problems through the power of microbiology.

“Dustin is a unique scientist and leader with a successful track record of genetic engineering of microbial communities” said PHAXTEC Founder and CEO Anindya Mukherjee. “Given his experience and passion in biology and in problem solving, I am confident that Dr. Heeney will successfully lead our technology development programs.”

“I am incredibly honored and excited to assume this new role at PHAXTEC” Dr. Heeney said. “For me, the best part of working at PHAXTEC is leaning into a green future. Plastic contaminates every environment on earth while accumulating in the food, plants and animals including our own bodies. To be part of a team using applied engineering and microbiology to provide solutions to this grand societal problem is a dream come true.”

About PHAXTEC^®

PHAXTEC is an advanced materials start-up commercializing and marketing natural materials called PolyHydroxyAlkanoates (PHA) that are recyclable, marine biodegradable and home & industrially compostable. PHA Biopolymers are found in nature and can also be produced through industrial fermentation. PHAXTEC is developing PHA production routes through the use of waste gases that do not compete with food, making them cost comparable to fossil plastics coatings. Over 150 different monomers of PHA have been discovered, combining them gives unlimited property possibilities that can replace more than 50 % (210 million Tons) of the world’s fossil plastics in packaging, personal care and agriculture, and in durable uses such as textiles, sports equipment, automotive, and electrical and electronics.