Biotech Entrepreneur Michael Heltzen Tells Tomorrow, Today How Enzymes Can Work Outside Living Cells

Michael Heltzen explains how his company runs enzymes outside living cells to make rare natural molecules that are otherwise inaccessible.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, November 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Tomorrow, Today, the long-form interview series created and hosted by Shekhar Natarajan, has released a new episode featuring Michael Heltzen, chief executive of eXoZymes, a biotechnology company that engineers enzymes to make natural molecules outside living cells. The episode covers Heltzen’s path from day trading to bioinformatics and his views on enzyme engineering, artificial intelligence and the skills that matter in an AI economy.

In the conversation, Heltzen recalls a brief early period as a young day trader, where his strength with numbers and logic first showed, before his interest in computing and nature drew him toward bioinformatics. He first heard the word bioinformatics in 2004 and joined the startup CLC bio, whose software for interpreting sequencing data, he says, is still used by geneticists two decades later.

He later joined the team behind eXoZymes, which rebuilds the enzymes cells use to assemble molecules so they can run outside the cell. Living cells change constantly, he argues, and push back when engineered to produce compounds they do not need.

“Cells frankly don’t want to be a chemical factory for humans,” Heltzen said during the episode. “The cell basically is ending up in a position where if you genetically try to force it to do something for you, then it fights back.”

Topics covered in the episode include:

– How a shared interest in computing and nature led from an accounting career track into bioinformatics
– Why new sequencing methods cut the cost of mapping a genome from billions of dollars to hundreds
– The biosensor work with researcher Kiana Aran that put molecular biology onto a graphene chip
– How protein language models, rather than large language models, guide the redesign of enzymes
– Why laboratory results that contradict an algorithm’s prediction make the best training data
– Why his answer to requests for career advice is to become good at being human

“Science actually goes through this invention, innovation, operationalization and then it becomes invisible,” said Shekhar Natarajan, host of Tomorrow, Today. “It’s just baked into your life and you don’t even figure out that it really happened to you.”

Asked what people should study now, Heltzen points to human skills, describing talent as technical ability multiplied by the ability to listen, show empathy and work through a team. Those skills, he argues, stay uniquely human.

The full episode is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR2sG78lHGI

About Tomorrow, Today
Tomorrow, Today is a long-form interview series created and hosted by Shekhar Natarajan. The show features conversations with entrepreneurs, innovators, policymakers, scientists, educators and thought leaders on the technologies, ideas and decisions shaping the future, from artificial intelligence and business to leadership and education. Episodes are available on YouTube and major podcast platforms.

About Michael Heltzen
Michael Heltzen is chief executive of eXoZymes Inc., a Nasdaq-listed company developing cell-free enzyme systems for making natural molecules. He previously held leadership roles in bioinformatics, including at CLC bio, and co-founded the biosensor venture, built with researcher Kiana Aran, that became part of Cardea Bio. He describes himself as an entrepreneur who commercializes technology breakthroughs with the scientists behind them.

About Shekhar Natarajan
Shekhar Natarajan is the founder and host of Tomorrow, Today and a former senior executive at American Eagle, Walmart, Target and Disney, where he led global initiatives in technology and supply chain strategy.

Shekhar Natarajan
Tomorrow Today Media
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Michael Heltzen x Shekhar Natarajan | Tomorrow, Today

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