Bernat Olle, Ph.D.

Dr. Olle is a founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vedanta Biosciences, where he has led the development of a new category of oral therapies consisting of defined bacterial consortia. He has co-authored research on these investigational therapies that identified beneficial bacteria that live symbiotically within the healthy human gut, fight pathogens, and induce a range of protective immune responses, published in peer-reviewed journals including Nature, JAMA, Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, and Cell Host Microbe.

He previously worked for a decade in biotech venture creation in several roles from senior analyst to venture partner at PureTech Health (NASDAQ: PRTC). He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Vedanta Biosciences and Follica Biosciences and as a scientific advisor to Gelesis, Inc. and the Lupus Research Alliance.

In 2013, Dr. Olle was named “Innovator of the Year” in MIT Technology Review Spain’s “Innovators under 35” awards. In 2019, he received the Barry M. Portnoy Immigrant Entrepreneur Award from The Immigrant Learning Center. He has also been recognized as a leader and innovator by Ernst & Young, The Boston Business Journal, and the New England Venture Capital Association. He completed his doctoral work at the Chemical Engineering Department at MIT, where he developed a novel method for large-scale bacterial culture. During his graduate work, Dr. Olle was awarded the “la Caixa” fellowship. Dr. Olle received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Universitat Rovira i Virgili, in Catalonia, his M.S. and PhD. in Chemical Engineering Practice from MIT, and his M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Ending the War on Microbes
Bernat Olle | TEDxCambridge