Tom Williams

Chief Executive and Co-Founder, Number 8 Bio

Tom Graduated with a PhD in Synthetic Biology from the University of Queensland in 2015. As a Postdoctoral Fellow Tom played a leading role in establishing synthetic biology at Macquarie University through the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, the Australian Genome Foundry (AGF), and the Synthetic Yeast Genome Project. Tom has designed, funded, and led teams towards success on multiple large science and technology projects, resulting in 27 peer reviewed scientific publications and >1500 citations. In 2022 Tom became a Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University and the Chief Scientific Officer of the Australian Genome Foundry. Within this role, Tom led a team of 15 scientists, and won >$10M in grant funding as lead investigator, including two ARC Discovery Projects. Tom left his academic position in 2023 to be full time CEO of Number 8 Bio, one of Australia’s most ambitious and talented climate tech start-ups.