Dr Aletta Schnitzler - CSO - TurtleTree Labs - Cell-Based Dairy Bio-Products For Health & Nutrition

Dr. Aletta Schnitzler, PhD. is the Chief Scientific Officer at TurtleTree Labs (https://turtletree.com/) where she leads the R&D teams and spearheads an innovation roadmap to bring nutritious cell-based dairy and meat alternatives to market.

TurtleTree is a biotech company dedicated to producing a new generation of nutrition—one that’s better for the planet, better for the animals, and better for people everywhere. Utilizing its proprietary, cell-based technology, the company is creating "better-for-you" milk ingredients sustainably and affordably, with benefits that extend beyond the dining table and into the heart of humanity.

Previous to joining TurtleTree, Dr. Schnitzler co-founded Merck KGaA’s Cultured Meat Innovation program and directed technology development to advance platforms enabling rapid development, validation and manufacture of cell-based meat products. Focus areas included formulating cost-effective cell culture media, understanding cell line requirements, and envisioning new process templates for biomass generation and structured products.

Additionally, Dr. Schnitzler was Head of Cell Therapy Bioprocess R&D at MilliporeSigma, honing expertise in media optimization and single-use bioreactor systems for use in a complex regulatory environment. She also held technical and marketing roles supporting small-scale chromatography devices and cell culture products for monoclonal antibody production.

Dr. Schnitzler has her B.S. in Biology from University of Massachusetts Amherst, received her Ph.D. from Boston University School of Medicine in the fields of immunology and neuroscience, and is an editorial board member of Stem Cells Translational Medicine.