Sustaining Innovation

Our mission at PhylloTech is to develop the next generation of natural product biofungicides for the control of fungal pathogens in a variety of markets.  The ability to sustain innovation is integrated into our company's culture, just as our academic origins form the foundation for our rigorous and creative R&D program.

Management

Ryan W. Shepherd, PhD (Founder, Chief Executive Officer)

Dr. Ryan Shepherd received a BA in Organismal Biology from Beloit College (Beloit, WI) and a PhD in Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY).  He has 4 years of post-doctoral research experience at the University of California-Berkeley, including 2 years as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Microbial Biology.  Ryan has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles in top plant journals on topics relating to plant surfaces and pathogen control.

George J. Wagner, PhD (Founder, Chief Scientific Officer)

Dr. George Wagner has been a professor at the University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY) for over 25 years, where he has intensively studied leaf surface biochemistry and the biosynthetic mechanisms of secreting glandular trichomes.  Dr. Wagner has authored almost 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. 

 

 

 

 

Colin Shepherd, PhD, MBA (Chief Operating Officer)

Dr. Colin Shepherd received a BS in Agricultural Biotechnology from the University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY), a PhD in Genetics from Iowa State University (Ames, IA), and an MBA from Iowa State University (Ames, IA).  Dr. Shepherd has published papers on the optimization of transgene expression in plants using novel synthetic promoters.