Kathy N. Lam

About Kathy N. Lam

I am drawn to high-energy environments and ambitious people, leading me to settle in San Francisco, a city of spectacular beauty and innovation. By some cosmic alignment, I co-founded a startup that provides B2B plasmid construction services based on Golden Gate cloning. When I am not managing the company, I can usually be found with my amazing husband and toddler in Golden Gate Park.

Experience

1. Co-founder & President

   Clutch Biotechnologies

   Oct 2023 — Present

   I co-founded a company specializing in modular DNA assembly, based on (1) software originally developed at UC Berkeley and (2) modular cloning workflows developed over nearly a decade at a synthetic biology start-up. We took a very efficient system (cloning approach, software, process, team) that was built to serve high internal needs, and we reworked it for external B2B partnerships—to address what we believed to be an unmet need in the market. We started with seed funding, reached profitability within 6 months, and are now focused on scaling. My day-to-day involves managing our team of 6 full-time employees, 2 part-time employees, and several contract employees, and is an enjoyable mix of handling client matters, dabbling in software development, and handling various aspects of our team and workflows.

Education

• Seneca Polytechnic

  Graduate Certificate, Bioinformatics

• University of Waterloo

  Ph.D., Biology (Microbiology)

• University of Toronto

  M.Sc., Molecular Genetics

Skills

• Genetics
• Inkscape
• Python
• Latex
• Presentations
• Perl
• Data Analysis
• Pcr
• Molecular Biology
• Metagenomics
• Molecular Cloning
• Scientific Writing
• Microbiome
• Microbiology