Colby M. Adolph
Director of Sales — CDMO fermentation and biomanufacturing
San Francisco Bay Area, California
Summary
Bridges technical science and commercialization in biomanufacturing: as Evonik's Director of Sales for Health Solutions, Colby focuses on CDMO fermentation and helping biotech customers scale processes from strain development through commercial production. evonik+1
Experienced research chemist with a Ph.D. in catalysis: doctoral work under Prof. Christopher Uyeda investigated heterogeneous photocatalysis (TiO2) and trimetallic carbonyl cluster chemistry, resulting in peer-reviewed publications and a dissertation on hetero- and homogeneous catalysts. purdue+1
Progressed from R&D and project roles into commercial leadership: career includes process R&D chemist and senior project management at Evonik, an account manager role at Phenomenex, and current sales leadership — reflecting combined technical and project management experience. theorg+1
Public-facing industry engagement and thought leadership: participates as a speaker at industry events (example: SynBioBeta 2026) and contributes to company communications about fermentation and CDMO services. syntheticbiologysummit+1
Work
Education
Writing
Advances in Hetero- and Homogeneous Catalysts for Organic Transformations
January 1, 2018Doctoral dissertation presenting studies on heterogeneous photocatalyst TiO2 for synthetic applications and on trimetallic carbonyl clusters as carbonylation reagents, bridging heterogeneous materials and organic synthesis.
The Chemistry Diversity Initiative at Purdue University (chapter)
October 1, 2017Contributed to a chapter discussing diversity efforts in Purdue's Chemistry Department and perspectives on inclusiveness in graduate and faculty recruitment/programs.
Dehydrogenative Transformations of Imines Using a Heterogeneous Photocatalyst
May 1, 2017Journal article reporting use of metal/TiO2 particles as photoredox catalysts for light-induced dehydrogenative imine transformations, demonstrating selective binding and dehydrogenation of alcohols to generate aldehyde equivalents for multicomponent couplings.