News & Insights

Trace Genomics, a Leading BioTech Startup Focused on Soil Health, Announces New President

Board of Trace Genomics announces the promotion of co-founder and VP Science, Technology and Innovation, Poornima Parameswaran, Ph.D to President. Since co-founding the firm in 2015 Parameswaran has been a driving force behind the science, development and lab-to-field application of the most comprehensive soil microbial database to advance production agriculture.

“Poornima is an extremely talented, passionate and hard-working leader driven to advance agriculture by understanding the soil environment,” said CEO and board member, Dan Vradenburg.

Parameswaran earned a Ph.D in Microbiology and Immunology from Stanford University with Nobel laureate Dr. Andrew Fire, and a B.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at Austin as a Dean’s Scholar. She did a postdoctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, and is an author on twelve highly referenced publications, where she pioneered the use of genomics technologies to address fundamental questions in microbial diseases. Parameswaran was awarded the Career Development Award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Sidney Raffel award for Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies, and the Gabilan Stanford Graduate Fellowship.

“Trace Genomics’ platform digitizes and decodes the living soil using genomics, advanced science, and machine learning. Our recent advancements interpreting the soil environment reveals the importance of soil health, advances new product discovery, and informs optimal product placement.” said Parameswaran.

Trace Genomics is an alive science company that sequences DNA in the soil creating the most comprehensive microbiome database to advance food and energy production. Trace Genomics has won several awards including being selected as a 2020 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, Winner of FoodShot Global’s Innovating Soil 3.0 Challenge, Forbes Top 25 Most Innovative AgTech, THRIVE Top 50 AgTech, 2022 Global Cleantech top 100 start-ups and many more.