Romel Menacho

Dr. Romel Menacho-Melgar earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University under the mentorship of Dr. Michael D. Lynch. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Roke Biotechnologies, a Duke spinout focused on low-cost, scalable protein manufacturing. At Roke, he leads R&D, manufacturing, and commercialization efforts, and has secured over $1M in non-dilutive funding. His work focuses on developing standardized, growth-decoupled protein expression systems and engineering E. coli strains with enhanced expression and built-in downstream simplification.

Laura Shelton

Laura Shelton is a biotech strategist and scientific communicator at bitBiome, where she helps bring next-generation enzyme discovery technologies to the forefront of industrial and academic innovation. With a Ph.D. in biochemistry and metabolomics, Laura has spent her career exploring how small molecule pathways shape biology—and how we can harness them for real-world applications. At bitBiome, she plays a key role in translating advanced microbial genomics and enzyme engineering into stories and strategies that resonate with scientists, partners, and industry leaders.

EBRC 2025 Council Retreat

The EBRC 2025 Council Retreat will be hosted at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC December 2-3, 2025. Location to be announced.
Register here

Travel Support and Meeting Hotel:
We anticipate covering airfare and hotel expenses for EBRC Academic Council Members. To book your flights, please contact us at travel@ebrc.org. Please review EBRC’s revised travel policy.

Hotel information will be provided soon.

Health and Safety:
We are committed to hosting a safe event. We will be closely watching CDC recommendations in addition to all relevant local and state guidelines leading up to the Retreat and make any changes necessary for health and safety.

Asia Centre for Health Security Fellowship

Rosetta Commons Biosecurity Fellowship

NRC Research Associateship Program

National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program Intramural Research Training Award

Mid-Career Biodefense Bootcamp Fellowship

Joint Graduate School in Biodiverstiy and Biosecurity, Masters/PhD

Horizon Fellowship

Greenwall Fellowship in Bioethics

Generation National Security Leaders Fellowship

Fellowship for Ending Bioweapons Program

Environmental Health, Health Security Track, PhD

Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Fellowship

Biotechnology Innovation & International Security Fellowship

Emergency Management and Homeland Security (Biosecurity and Threat Management), Masters

Biological Defense and Health Security, MS/PhD

Biohazardous Threat Agents & Emerging Infectious Diseases, Masters

Biodefense, MS/PhD