Stefan Lutz, Ph.D., serves as Chief Scientific Officer at Codexis, Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in enzyme engineering for pharmaceutical manufacturing and therapeutics. He earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin in 1997, followed by postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology under Nobel laureate Frances Arnold. Lutz joined Emory University School of Medicine in 2001 as an assistant professor, rising to full professor of Biochemistry, where he established a renowned laboratory focused on directed evolution and protein engineering. Over his academic career, Dr. Lutz pioneered computational and experimental methods for enzyme optimization, publishing over 100 peer-reviewed papers and securing numerous patents. His work advanced biocatalysis for sustainable chemical synthesis and therapeutic enzyme design, earning awards such as the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the Emory University Scholar/Teacher Award. These achievements positioned him as a global leader in synthetic biology. At Codexis since 2021, Dr. Lutz leads the scientific strategy, overseeing the ECO Synthesis™ platform and R&D pipeline for enzymatic production of active pharmaceutical ingredients. His expertise drives innovations in precision medicine, including gene therapy manufacturing and CDMO services, accelerating the company's mission to enable scalable, eco-friendly biomanufacturing solutions.