Bella Neufeld

VP, Operations at Teknova

Speaker

Bella Neufeld is the Vice President of Operations and is responsible for the manufacturing of all catalog and custom reagents across Teknova’s vast portfolio of research- and GMP-grade products. Most recently, Bella was Teknova’s Director of Research and Development, where she built and managed a gene therapy bioprocessing research program utilizing viral delivery systems for the development of novel products and solutions to help customers accelerate their breakthroughs. Through her leadership, Teknova introduced their first proprietary product line for AAV gene therapy development — AAV-TekTM Solutions — based on the findings from her research program, and successfully launched a suite of innovative products designed to streamline and accelerate development across the entire gene therapy workflow. Bella had previously assembled Teknova's first internal R&D team during her role as Teknova's Scientific Director, when she led the rapid development of a novel transport media for Covid-19 testing. She also oversaw the building of Teknova’s new, state-of-the-art research laboratory. Originally joining the company's Quality organization in 2018, Bella expanded their scientific capacity by increasing their testing capabilities through instrumentation and new techniques. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Sonoma State University, she earned her PhD in Chemistry from Colorado State University (CSU) where she set up and maintained two bacterial and tissue culture laboratories for studying drug delivery systems, including solid substrate and nanoparticle platforms. Bella actively presents her latest findings at industry events and her research is regularly featured in industry journals and publications.