Burak Yilmaz MS

President & Cofounder

Burak Yilmaz is a synthetic biology entrepreneur and co-founder of Kernal Biologics, where he is developing mRNA 2.0—AI-designed, cell-selective mRNA combined with targeted lipid nanoparticles for precise in vivo cell programming. Kernal has secured $81.5M in total funding (including a $48M ARPA-H award) and is advancing in vivo CAR-T therapies designed to replace complex ex vivo manufacturing. Previously, at age 22, Burak founded Sentegen, Turkey’s first synthetic DNA company, scaling it to profitability within 2 years and achieving >50% annual growth. He has managed $6.5M+ in research funding, led 10+ R&D programs, and brings 15 years of experience in nucleic acid engineering. Burak is an inventor on 25+ patent applications in programmable mRNA and nucleic acid technologies.