Nicholas Raffa earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the mentorship of Dr. Nancy Keller. His research combined molecular biology, bioinformatics, and analytical chemistry to characterize a novel biosynthetic gene cluster in Aspergillus fumigatus. Following his doctoral studies, Nicholas joined LifeMine Therapeutics, where he genetically engineered dozens of non-model filamentous fungal strains to uncover bioactive natural products. As a Senior Scientist at Solugen, he focused on engineering Trichoderma strains for protein expression and participated in scale-up campaigns for industrial production.

With over eight years of experience in fungal strain engineering, molecular biology, and process optimization, Nicholas has established himself as a leader in fungal biotechnology. He has driven transformative initiatives, including the development of CRISPR-Cas9 systems for fungal engineering, high-throughput enzyme screening, fermentation process scaling, and the integration of advanced automation platforms to streamline workflows and boost efficiency.

Nicholas is dedicated to helping organizations maximize the potential of filamentous fungi and pioneer innovative breakthroughs in fungal biotechnology.