Have you Met
Lucas Lieber, PhD
CEO, BioHeuris
Describe your journey to 39 North.
Raised in a family growing roots in Argentine agriculture for three generations, I was fascinated by nature at a young age. Over time, I witnessed firsthand how innovation can contribute to more sustainable farming systems. This became a permanent inspiration that channels my curiosity towards creating new technologies to drive a positive impact.
I graduated as an Agronomic Engineer at Universidad Nacional de Rosario (UNR) where I also completed a PhD in Agronomic Sciences. I worked in different positions for biotech companies in Argentina before launching my first startup Nitris. This initiative led to an international consortium in which we collaborated with some world-top universities to engineer nitrogenases and nitrogen-fixing cereals. For this venture I traveled often and worked as a scientist in Spain, Germany, Michigan, and London.
In 2015, I returned to Rosario, my hometown, to start BioHeuris, a company that uses CRISPR and protein evolution to help farmers fight their number one enemy: weeds. While building this startup, a trade mission led by World Trade Center St Louis and St. Louis Economic Development Partnership visited Argentina at the end of 2017, resulting in the signing of a sister cities agreement between St. Louis and Rosario. Months later I ventured to 39 North with guidance from BioSTL, who played a central role in facilitating our soft-landing here.
Our first hire started working in our lab in the Helix Center, just before the COVID hit. However, the pandemic limited our growth here, so we focused on expanding in Argentina. Last October, I returned for the CultivarSTL Summit, an endeavor aimed at promoting agtech ties between St. Louis and Latin America. With consistent support from the Danforth Center and the Yield Lab, BioHeuris planned its comeback: this month, we recruited two scientists and restarted work at the Helix Center. Having worked in plant biotech across multiple countries has provided me with a deeper appreciation for what makes the 39 North such a unique and special place.
What are you excited to be working on right now?
We are relocating our trait discovery platform to St. Louis, and I'm very excited to be able to scale a combination of proprietary directed evolution and synthetic biology methods that we have been improving in Argentina since 2016.
I’m thrilled to be at the same time scaling our genome editing platform in Argentina, which continues to expand its capacity and efficiency in Rosario.
We are currently testing our first gene-edited crops in field trials and we already have regulatory approvals in six countries. I'm eager to introduce these new tools to growers.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I used to play drums in a rock band, but due to extensive travel and work commitments, I now practice the guitar and enjoy composing and producing music. I like running and I’m currently training for a marathon. I also love hiking and being in contact with nature.
