Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Kevin Lerner joined IBRL in October 2025 as a Bioprocessing Pilot Plant Specialist on the Fermentation Team. He holds a B.S. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from Gettysburg College and an M.S. in Biotechnology from Northwestern University. Before IBRL, he worked in pharmaceutical R&D at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and later at […]
Phillip Manning joined IBRL in January 2019 as a pilot plant specialist. Phillip has a bachelors degree in Biological Sciences from Eastern Illinois University. Previously, Phillip worked at the Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Tate and Lyle pilot plants. His focus included process improvements and new fermentation opportunities. Phillip also has experience with separations and […]
Adam Davis joined IBRL in June 2023 as a member of the Downstream Processing Team. In the summer of 2024, Adam joined the Fermentation Team and was promoted to Pilot Plant Specialist. He has a Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Previously, he worked in the oilseed industry as a process […]
Hana Ostrander joined IBRL in October 2023 as a Junior Pilot Plant Specialist on the fermentation team. She has a Bachelor’s in Integrative Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to joining IBRL, she was an analytical chemist at an agronomy lab in Champaign, and she worked as a lab technician at ADM’s […]
Alex Polidore is a microbiologist with over a decade of combined academic and industry laboratory experience, specializing in biochemistry, microbial natural products, and biomanufacturing. He earned his bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Purdue University and completed his doctorate at the University of Illinois, where his research focused on the discovery and scalable production of microbial […]