Conference Speakers

Aaron Hall, Ph.D.

Founder & CEO, Intropic Materials Corp.

BIOGRAPHY

Aaron Hall is the Founder and CEO of Intropic Materials. He was born in Berkeley and grew up in Oakland. He holds a BS in Chemistry from University of California, Santa Cruz and a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from University of California, Berkeley.

Aaron has had an eclectic journey, he worked as a chef and a green-chemistry researcher while in undergrad, which he spun into a full-time Food Scientist position at Del Monte Foods. Upon returning to grad school, when not doing bench-scale research science he was busy consulting companies and serving as VP of Finance for the Graduate Student government. He was even an actor and model as a child!

Aaron decided to found Intropic Materials after recognizing that the groundbreaking research his group was doing at the lab bench, if brought to market, could have massive impact from both sustainability and economic perspectives. Outside of business, Aaron still finds great joy in food, always searching for the perfect bite whether it be from his kitchen or another’s. To manage the rigors of entrepreneurship, he has picked up weightlifting, which helps maintain his physical and mental well-being. He also has immense love for cats and a deep appreciation for hip-hop and funk music.

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Protecting Enzymes to Protect our Future

Synthetic materials have made their way into almost all industries including packaging, medical devices and accessories, and textiles. Many of these materials are chosen for their properties of durability, light and heat resistance, and processability. However, they are usually intended for single-use and quickly end up in a landfill or in our environment where they take years to break down, sometimes into harmful byproducts or worrisome micro- and nano-plastics. Intropic Materials endeavors to address this growing plastic concern from the inside out. By donning Nanoprotected enzymes with the ability to break down common commercial resins, Intropic Materials’ technology embeds the solution to the plastic waste problem at the beginning of product life. As a low percent additive, these protected enzymes do not affect the properties or performance of the intended product and can undergo thermal processing without significant loss of degradation activity. At the end of product life, the protected enzyme will trigger complete degradation under normal compost conditions. Our team also considers tackling existing plastic waste using an external approach. Altogether, we aim to produce solutions that cost-effectively support and grow the market.