Meet the founders

Patrick and Leila met in Spring 2025 after attending the 3rd Annual Symposium of the Human Milk Institute, an illustrious event that brings together an incredible collective of researchers, clinicians, and community members to share knowledge and experiences in all aspects of human milk science.

Both were attending the conference to present distinct biotechnological approaches to a similar problem. Leila was considering her next steps after winding down her first company, BIOMILQ, which developed a biomanufacturing process for human milk components using mammary cells. She was riveted by Patrick’s talk on the final day of the conference, and a few weeks later, she decided to reach out to see if she could help. Patrick shared that he had attended the conference hoping to find someone who would be able to help him spin out his breakthrough for the production of HMOs in plants, and the rest is history!

The pair got to work mapping out technical and commercial strategy and started building Totality Biosciences. The partnership leverages Leila’s background in early-stage fundraising, commercial strategy for innovative human milk products, and startup operation and Patrick’s deep scientific expertise in plant metabolic engineering and synthetic biology.

As scientists, Patrick and Leila share a conviction that matching the method of production to the intended product is the key to scaling synbio; as entrepreneurs they’ve found catalytic compatibility in each other’s unique strengths; and as parents, they share a commitment to bringing forward universally accessible solutions for early life nutrition and beyond.