On Sept. 12, Leslie eLab hosted Laura Katz (Steinhardt ’16), founder and CEO of Helaina, for the Female Founders Lunch series. Katz recounted her journey building a biotech company that uses yeast fermentation to replicate proteins found in human breast milk — and the lessons she has learned along the way.
From Food Science to Biotechnology
Katz began her career developing alternative dairy and meat products before teaching food science at NYU. The idea for Helaina came unexpectedly during a subway ride, when she heard a podcast about the black-market trade in breast milk. Parents, cancer patients, bodybuilders and immunocompromised individuals were all seeking its health benefits — what Katz calls “the elixir of life” — through unsafe and unregulated channels.
Shaping the Vision
Early on, Katz and her team considered developing a smart bottle to detect pathogens in shared milk. Mentors helped her recognize that such a tool would be only a temporary fix rather than a long-term solution. She instead chose to focus squarely on protein production — using biotechnology to replicate human milk proteins safely and at scale, extending their immune, gut and brain health benefits beyond infancy.
To advance that vision, she interviewed hundreds of parents to understand the drivers behind milk sharing and reached out to biotech founders at companies such as Ginkgo Bioworks.
Building the Team
Helaina’s team members were chosen with intention: yeast engineers and molecular biologists first, followed by process engineers, chemists, immunologists and regulatory experts.
Katz added that founders must also play an active role in every stage of growth, especially when resources are limited early on:
“The founder should be the best salesperson. We didn’t bring in our first salesperson until last fall.”
Tools for Scale
Today, Helaina runs hundreds of experiments each week, generating data that flows into structured systems where algorithms help optimize yeast strains. Tools such as Benchling, Snowflake and Gemini are central to improving efficiency — with the goal of making production five times more productive while cutting costs by the same factor.
Advice for Founders
Katz closed the conversation with practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs:
- Stay accountable. No one else is responsible for your company’s survival.
- Talk to customers. Early interviews are critical for validation.
- Refine your pitch. Make it second nature — and keep it under five minutes.
- Listen first. Let investors explain their thesis before tailoring your response.
- Find mentors. Surround yourself with people two or three stages ahead to anticipate challenges.
Above all, Katz underscored the importance of a growth mindset:
“Where I am today isn’t good enough for six months from now.”
