Christina Agapakis is creative director of Ginkgo Bioworks, an organism design company bringing biology to technology. She is a biologist, writer, and artist interested in microbes, fermentation, and the future of biodesign. At Ginkgo Bioworks, Agapakis works with teams developing cultured ingredients for fashion, fragrance, and food, from fermented sweeteners to the scent of extinct flowers. Agapakis holds a PhD from Harvard University, where she worked on producing hydrogen fuel in bacteria, creating customizable plants, and making photosynthetic animals. She has taught designers at the Art Center College of Design and biomolecular engineers at UCLA and she once made cheese using bacteria from the human body.

Kathy High is an interdisciplinary artist working in the areas of technology, science, speculative fiction and art. She produces videos and installations posing queer and feminist inquiries into areas of medicine/bio-science, and animal/interspecies collaborations. She hosts bio/ecology+art workshops and is creating an urban nature center in North Troy (NATURE Lab) with media organization The Sanctuary for Independent Media. High is Professor of Video and New Media in the Department of Arts, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. She teaches documentary and experimental digital video production, history and theory, as well as biological arts.