Experience. Insight. Innovation.
Our Founding Partners have a combined seven decades of industry R&D and commercialization experience on enzymes that function in all aspects of molecular biology – from DNA to RNA to proteins and their modifications.
We have unique insights into industry trends and the know-how to integrate enzyme technologies into state-of-the-art instruments and innovative workflows.
Partners
Andrew Gardner, Ph.D.
Founding Partner
Before co-founding Active Site Partners, Andy was a Scientific Director at New England Biolabs, Â a leading life sciences company. He led Research and Development teams with a focus on molecular diagnostics, next-generation sequencing, and synthetic biology.
His expertise extends to identifying new markets and developing innovative enzyme-based molecular workflows and technologies, resulting in numerous publications, patents, and successful commercial products. With nearly three decades of research industry experience, Andy has collaborated with early-stage and mature biotechnology companies, fostering scientific and commercial success through innovation.
Andy earned a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Boston University, an A.L.M. in Biology from Harvard University, and a B.A. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Middlebury College.
Christopher Taron, Ph.D.
Founding Partner
Dr. Christopher H. Taron is a seasoned scientific leader with over 33 years of research experience and nearly two decades as an R&D director in the life sciences industry. A visionary strategist, he excels in designing and executing innovative R&D programs, fostering strategic collaborations, and advising scientists, executives, and boards on cutting-edge biotechnology initiatives.
As a founding partner of Active Site Partners, LLC, Dr. Taron provides expert consulting on enzyme discovery, development, and deployment for academic and corporate clients. Previously, he served as Scientific Director of Protein Expression & Modification Research at New England Biolabs (NEB), where he built and led multiple research teams, spearheaded advancements in glycobiology and protein expression, and played a key role in product innovation and intellectual property strategy.
Dr. Taron has an extensive track record of scientific contributions, including 60+ publications and 25+ patents. His pioneering work spans enzyme discovery, functional metagenomics, and glycoengineering. Passionate about mentorship, he has guided over 30 early-career scientists. He holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
A sought-after advisor, Dr. Taron has served on multiple boards, contributing to the success of biotech startups and industry collaborations.
G. Brett Robb, Ph.D.
Founding Partner
G. Brett Robb is a highly accomplished senior research and development (R&D) director. With over 16 years of life science industry experience, Brett's innovative and strategic approach has led to numerous contributions to basic science and resulted in the development, implementation, and commercialization of novel and enabling enzyme-based tools.
Brett's technical expertise spans mRNA synthesis, CRISPR-Cas, RNA biology, molecular biology, enzymes, genome editing, small RNA, post-transcriptional gene regulation, and mRNA stability.
Brett has built world-class teams focused on enzyme discovery, characterization, and technology development. He excels at fostering industry and academic partnerships and collaborations to advance R&D programs with a drive toward commercialization.
Subject Matter Experts
Active Site Partners takes a team-based approach that includes Founding Partners and Subject Matter Experts as needed to maximize client success.
Our team represents a broad range of subject matter expertise in:
- Recombinant protein expression
- Scaled protein purification
- Host cell engineering
- Protein engineering
- Nucleic acid purification
- High-throughput technologies
- Bioinformatics.
Collaborate with Active Site Partners
With a strong track record in science and business, a clear strategic vision, and a talent for building teams and fostering collaboration, Active Site Partners is uniquely positioned to accelerate the research, development, and deployment of your technologies. We look forward to helping you achieve success.