THE PEOPLE BEHIND ZOLX

Deep science
A shared purpose

Connecting RNA biology, physical science, and device innovation to advance circRNA purification and molecular sensing.

Co-founder, Chairman & CEO

Hooman Parhizkar, PhD

Hooman invented Mechanically-Gated Adsorption (MGA) and leads ZOLX’s technology development. As principal investigator, he secured two competitive New Jersey CSIT awards that helped establish ZOLX’s fabrication and measurement capabilities at Princeton Materials Institute. His transport-modeling platform has served more than 100,000 users worldwide. A University of Oregon PhD with postdoctoral training at Oregon and Rutgers, he combines micro- and nanofabrication, device engineering, transport physics, and biological measurement to advance molecular separation and characterization.

Co-founder & Board Director

Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg, PhD

Kevin is dean of the College of Architecture at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and founded the University of Oregon’s Institute for Health in the Built Environment. His research has attracted more than $40 million in funding. He brings ZOLX experience building interdisciplinary teams and translating discoveries at the intersection of the built environment, microbiology, and human health.

Scientific Advisor

Joanna Sztuba-Solinska, PhD

Joanna brings more than 15 years of experience in RNA science and therapeutic development. At Merck, she led RNA synthesis and purification teams supporting mRNA and circRNA vaccines; at Pfizer, she advanced RNA biology for next-generation vaccines. Now Head of Molecular Biology at Miltenyi Biotec, she connects RNA structure, manufacturing, and analytical characterization to ZOLX’s purification strategy.

Scientific Collaborator

Howard A Stone, PhD

Howard is Princeton University’s Neil A. Omenn ’68 University Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and an internationally recognized authority on microfluidics and soft matter. A member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, he received the inaugural Batchelor Prize. His collaboration with ZOLX brings fundamental insight into fluid flow and molecular transport.

FROM THE LABORATORY