People are not fully aware of the presence of microorganisms and their role in humans’ lives, but this complex system is basically shaping the world as we know it.

Nobody is ever really alone, and creepy as that might sound, acquainting ourselves to the universe at its tiniest might unlock a few grand secrets about our existence.

Doing just that, Dr. Jessica Green and her co-worker Dr. Harrison Dillon created their brainchild, Phylagen, to explore and research biotechnology and bioinformatic innovations in order to explain the existence of trillion-plus tiny organisms omnipresent in our everyday lives.

The role microbes play in human health, ecosystems, climate change, and evolution are the reason why both Dr. Jessica and Dr. Harrison took interest in these processes, and are now aiming to introduce, visualize and redefine the world yet unknown to humankind, all with the help of their greatest ally - Phylagen. Interested in their journey?

The Masterminds of the Company

Jessica was born in San Francisco and from a very early age, had shown a massive interest in biology and nature. Later, as her days of education rolled in, Jessica became even more infatuated with exploring the human body and learning what made animals, plants, and microorganisms tick, all the while conceptualizing the complex system of biological existence.

As a result of her curiosity, in 1992, Jessica obtained a Magna cum laude degree in civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In 1994, Jessica also earned the title Master of Science in civil and environmental engineering, whilst in 2001, she obtained a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Berkley, the University of California.

Jessica’s contributions to the microbiome and scientific technology have earned her international recognition, all due to her thorough methods and to-the-point approaches in the fields of ecology, microbiology, as well as data science, which helped her model and understand the complexity of the trillion existing microorganisms. Also a biology professor at the University of Oregon, it was here that Jessica founded the Biology and Build Environment Center (BioBE) in 2010, whilst also serving on the advisory board at the Santa Fe Institute.

Harrison Dillon, on the other hand, was a thought leader and a pioneer in industrial biotechnology. His career was based on conducting research in the field of the human genome, as well as experiencing biotechnology trends as both a patent attorney and an entrepreneur.

He began his journey as an individual entrepreneur and passed all phases of his education to ultimately become the scientist and inventor of over 50 patent applications. Prior to Phylagen, Harrison’s main platform was Solazyme, a biotechnology company he served from 2003 to 2013.

Harrison holds a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Utah, a B.S in biology from Emory University, and a J.D from Duke University School of Law.

Invisible Possibilities

After participating in a handful of seminars and conventions related to microbiology, Jessica and Harrison have had plenty of time to exchange professional ideas and perspectives, all the while taking into account the importance of yet unseen microorganisms.

They both agreed that the world of microbiomes still poses a mystery and that its role in human health is nothing short of enormous. They were aware that nobody could see the world beneath the surface in a manner it should have been seen in. Moreover, they understand that people were largely ignorant of how microorganisms impacted and affected human day-to-day life and activities.

Driven by the idea of changing the way everyone understood the world of microbiomes, the two scientists decided it would be highly beneficial to finally make this topic known. Once the two remarkable scientists realized they both shared the same passion and eagerness to make a change in our perception of the world, they began collaborating on a platform that would bring that information to the surface.

The platform they had envisioned would serve as a microbiome data analytics of a sort that would correct wrongful biological analysis and provide the learning tools that humans needed to understand the basic processes of life.
As soon as the idea was turned into a concept, Jessica and Harrison knew they had created something majestic.

The Revolutionary Concept

An extremely rare type of platform, Phylagen was first founded in 2014, with Jessica and Harrison steering its wheels. The concept of the platform covers as much microbiome data as possible in order to understand and map the genetics of all organisms we coexist with, thus benefiting the planet as well as humankind.

The platform offers a forensics-based and microbial product that can track the origin of various company products, all with the use of smart manufacturing, and unique and specialized microbial DNA. Phylagen is arming organizations with data and the power of environmental genomics, thus unveiling answers to safe-supply questions and slowly building reliability and trust among its clients.

This way, Phylagen’s customers can be sure of the surface cleanliness and the safety of each customer and worker. The platform also brands fidelity, by understanding the quality of indoor environments and observing microbiomes through supply chains and in facilities like edifices, homes, hospitals, offices, and more.

Phylagen is unique and different because it is trying to simplify and explain its mission, which is that every place and every person and thing has its microbiome that can be unlocked by special technology. With the simplest swab of the cheek, the findings can reveal impeccable data on the sample - from its history to its effects.

Quite impressive, isn’t it?

For example, let’s say that you have a company that sells shoes, and want to know the real origin of your chosen product, but have very little information on the supplier.

You don’t have to worry about making discoveries anymore because, with Phylagen’s contemporary technology, the microbiome is serving as a unique identifier. As a result, you can understand where the product was made, its level of quality as well as its manufacturers.

Profiling Phylagen - Today and Tomorrow

Phylagen aims to produce a more transparent world, by putting the role of the microbiome front and center and demonstrating the way it affects our individual lives and humanity as a whole.

The company is headquartered in San Francisco and has approximately 50 employees, all of whom work day after day to improve the modern biotechnological process and introduce the latest microbiomes innovations.

Over the years, Phylagen has raised $14 million in total funding with the help of 13 investors, out of which Duck Investors and Western Technology Investment are the most recent. Using machine learning and the DNA of every person, place, or living thing, Jessica and Harrison’s Phylagen is discovering the things unseen as well as the seemingly invisible world, all through the environmental microbiome’s glasses.

In 2020, the World Economic Forum named Phylagen as Technology Pioneer out of 100 other companies, mostly because of its impact in shaping a plethora of industries - from healthcare to agriculture, sustainability, and the environment.

Jessica and Harrison are downright state-of-the-art scientists who have reached countless professional heights and received many awards throughout their successful careers, with their revolutionary business child - Phylagen - leading the pack and leaving its imprint on modern-day evolution genomics!