Elo Life Systems Appoints Alan Berry as Chief Scientific Officer & Matt Roszell as Senior Vice President, Communications and Corporate Affairs

Strategic hires will accelerate Elo's development of a new generation of accessible and sustainable ingredients created through molecular farming

DURHAM, N.C., Aug. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Elo Life Systems, the next-generation ingredient company reimagining the future of food, today announced the appointment of Alan Berry as chief scientific officer and Matt Roszell as senior vice president of Communications and Corporate Affairs.

"With the addition of Alan and Matt to our leadership team, we're able to expand and accelerate the impact of Elo's molecular farming platform as we reimagine the future of food," said Elo CEO Todd Rands. "Consumers are demanding delicious, healthier, and more sustainable foods. Nature provides us with the solutions, and Elo's platform unlocks the power of plants to make those solutions broadly accessible for use in everyday foods and beverages."

Molecular farming produces sought-after ingredients that are difficult to harvest from natural sources and cannot be synthesized through artificial or other techniques, such as precision fermentation. Elo uses crops as biofactories, enabling commercial-scale production of highly desirable ingredients while reducing their environmental footprint. Elo's first product is a natural sweetener that is 300 times sweeter than sugar without calories. Launching in 2025, it can be used in thousands of food and beverage products to reduce sugar and artificial sweeteners while enhancing nutrition. The company is also pursuing production of other novel proteins and bioactives in plants that deliver more accessible nutrition via sustainable methods of production. And in partnership with major corporate partners and other organizations, Elo is protecting staple crops that are key to diets around the world from the effects of disease and climate change. 

As Chief Scientific Officer, Berry will lead Elo's R&D team in producing natural plant-based ingredients using its molecular farming platform. This includes Elo's existing products, as well as identifying pathways for additional novel ingredient targets. Berry will also help grow the team as Elo expands into new labs that will double the size of its R&D space. He brings more than 30 years of synthetic biology expertise and R&D leadership across startups and multinational companies.

"Elo is pushing the boundaries of what's possible, using plants to unlock new avenues that were previously unavailable through other synthetic biology platforms," said Berry. "It's an honor to work with the team to create more affordable, accessible, scalable and sustainable food."

As senior vice president of Communications and Corporate Affairs, Roszell will drive awareness of Elo's mission and vision with key external stakeholders, including consumer, industry, health, science and policy groups; build corporate brand reputation through engaging marketing and PR campaigns; and enhance workplace culture through engagement with Elo's diverse teams. Roszell is an award-winning storyteller who brings more than 25 years of experience across sectors, including technology, media, consumer goods, food- and biotech. Most recently, Roszell was vice president of Marketing and Communications with Motif FoodWorks.

"Approaches like Elo's are essential to solving some of the biggest issues facing our food system in this century and beyond," said Roszell. "And I'm personally invested in their natural sweetener product. As a father of a type-1 diabetic, I know first-hand how difficult it can be to find healthy, great tasting sugar alternatives."

Elo announced the close of a $24.5M Series A round in February of 2023, using the funding to develop new ingredients via molecular farming, including its plant-based sweetener, novel proteins, and high-value flavors and bio-actives. The company is also focused on efforts to protect and increase the productivity of staple crops, such as the creation of a fungal-resistant banana to save the fruit from extinction. To learn more, please visit www.elolife.com.

About Elo Life
Elo is reimagining the future of food – focusing on ingredients that empower consumers to feel good about the food they eat every day. From unique plant-based sweeteners to saving crops like the banana from extinction, Elo harnesses the untapped potential of nature to make food tastier, healthier, and resilient while requiring less from the planet.

Media Contact:
Sofia Spieler
[email protected] 

SOURCE Elo Life Systems