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Kennedy McDaniel Bae, Ph.D.

Biologist and product leader driven by the transformative potential of biology and technology. Committed to bridging scientific innovation with real-world impact.

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Public Speaking
 

Publications & Patents
 

Patents

  • F. Kennedy McDaniel, Marius Guerard, Oshiorenoya E Agabi. Methods of predicting emotional response to sensory stimuli based on individual traits. WO2019183612A1, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Published 26 September, 2019.

  • Renaud Renault, F. Kennedy McDaniel, Oshiorenoya Agabi. System and Method for Detecting Signals from a Cell. US Application 62/858162, United States Patent and Trademark Office, 06 June, 2019.

  • Kennedy McDaniel, Marius Guerard, and Oshiorenoya Agabi. Universal Odor Code Systems and Odor Encoding Devices. US Application US 62/655,682, United States Patent and Trademark Office, 10 April, 2018.

  • Kennedy McDaniel, Marius Guerard, and Oshiorenoya Agabi. Methods For evaluating Physiological Response to Stimulus. US Application 62/647,395, United States Patent and Trademark Office, 23 March 2018.

Publications

  • Melanie C. MacNicol, Chad E. Cragle, F. Kennedy McDaniel, Linda L. Hardy, Yan Wang, Karthik Arumugam, Yasir Rahmatallah, Galina V. Glazko, Ania Wilczynska, Gwen V. Childs, Daohong Zhou & Angus M. MacNicol. (2017). “Evasion of regulatory phosphorylation by an alternatively spliced isoform of Musashi2” Nature Scientific Reports.

  • Smeds MR, Thrush CR, McDaniel F, et al. (2017) “Relationships Between Burnout and Study Habits on General Surgery Resident Performance on the ABSITE.” 12th Annual Academic Surgical Congress.

  • Cragle, F.K. and Baldini, G. (2014). “Mild lipid stress induces profound loss of MC4R protein abundance and function.” Molecular Endocrinology.

  • McDaniel, F.K. and Molden, B.M., et al. (2012). “Constitutive, cholesterol-dependent Endocytosis of MC4R is essential to maintain receptor responsiveness to α-MSH.” The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Professional Experience

Glassfloor LLC
President

October 2024 - PresentGlassfloor provides strategy consulting for projects at the intersection of biology, automation, and education.

  • Curriculum strategy for training pipelines.

  • Workforce and education training for large multi-center collaborations.

Opentrons Labworks, Brooklyn, NY 
Associate Director of Product, Education
May 2022 - October 2024
Opentrons makes robots for biologists, automating experiments to allow scientists to spend more time answering the 21st century’s toughest questions. 

  • Launched Opentrons for Education, bringing laboratory automation to over 2000 students in less than seven months. 

  • Developed a portfolio of educational resources, including hands-on workshops for educators, lesson plans and curricula, mentorship, and implementation support. 

  • Built and mentored a specialized product team, establishing performance metrics for continual improvement, and aligning innovation with broader organizational objectives.

Canid, New York, NY 
Head of Product
February 2021 - April 2022
Canid provides a comprehensive vaccine procurement, management, and documentation service to pediatric practices. 

  • Launched 4 products supporting vaccine procurement and management to pediatric practices, including the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine for children. 

  • Full product lifecycle management from initial research and design, through development and launch, and strategically managed end-of-life.  

  • Established employee professional development and performance review system. 

Banting PBC, San Francisco, CA 
CEO & Co-Founder

September 2019 - February 2021 

Public benefit corporation increasing affordability and accessibility of insulin. 

  • Demonstrated lower cost proof-of-concept insulin production, then pivoted for accelerated impact by connecting US patients with Canadian pharmacies for 70-90% savings on insulin.

  • Successfully fundraised in unprecedented market (April-May 2020)

  • Built a top-tier advisory team including the former CTO of GoodRx and a physician/Director at One Medical.

  • Specific areas of oversight: Product Management & Development, Marketing, A/B testing, User Research, Partnership Development, Internal Operations, Growth Marketing

Koniku, Berkeley, CA 
Chief of Staff

November 2017 - September 2019 

Koniku leverages biology as a fundamental technology, operating with a blue ocean strategy. The Konikore is an IoT "smelling" device with living biosensors that merges living biology with hardware and software.

  • Lead co-development and negotiated $12M in contracts with Fortune 500 companies including Airbus.

  • Scaled team from 5 to 24 employees while decreasing onboarding time to productivity.

  • Improved employee alignment by 57% by redefining project initiation and reporting.

  • Created a reporting pipeline that decreased employee time by 30% and increased client satisfaction.

Adivo Associates, San Francisco, CA 
Associate Consultant

February 2017 - November 2017 

Adivo Associates is a boutique, international consulting firm specializing in rare diseases and deep biotech.

  • Managed teams across 3 continents delivering on-time or ahead of schedule for client strategy. 

  • Consulted for healthcare and biotech companies at all stages of commercial deployment in the US, EU, and Asia.

  • Opportunity exploration, market research, modeling, and forecasting to deliver strategic insights and guidance.

Education
 

Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Neuroscience

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR
October 2023 - May 2014

Developed a neural organoid screening assay to investigate the role of Musashi isoforms and therapeutics on tumor development.

Ph.D. Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR
August 2009 - August 2013

  • Multidisciplinary project (neuroscience, genetics, molecular and cell biology, nutrition) that revealed a novel mechanism by which diet alters satiation signaling, lead to >$1.7M USD RO1 grant from NIH. 

  • Published 2 peer-reviewed, first-author papers. 

  • Bhuvan Excellence in Research Award, the highest student honor at UAMS.

Bachelor of Science, Biology

University of Miami

August 2006 - August 2009 

Research project in the lab of Leonel Sternberg Ph.D. explored the relationship between mannitol levels and salt stress in white mangroves.

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