After graduating with a BS in chemical engineering, Laura worked for a few years in the oil and gas industry as a plant engineer.  She then went back to graduate school to earn a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley, where her research degree focused on optimization of recombinant E. Coli fermentation   This opened doors for her in the then, very new field of biopharmaceuticals where she has spent the last 32 years of her career.  Before retiring from Bayer last year, she had the opportunity to lead teams to design, build and startup a variety of manufacturing facilities to support their biotechnology products.  As the Sr. Director of Process Engineering for Upside Foods, she is now applying her experience to another new application of biotechnology, the large-scale cultivation of meat cells that are healthy, delicious and good for the planet.