Our Story

C. elegans is an established model organism for biological research, disease modeling and drug discovery. We at NemaLife know how laborious it can be to conduct whole-life assays and screening with C. elegans. Addressing this problem, our core technology has been in development for more than five years with funding from NIH, NSF and NASA.

We are now thrilled that our Infinity Screening System is available for the community to crack the healthspan code and identify molecules that promote healthy human life.

Siva Vanapalli

Siva is a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer. He has over 15 years of experience in engineering microfluidic technologies which has led to high-content phenotyping of C. elegans to probe its locomotion, muscle physiology and aging. These efforts from his laboratory at Texas Tech University have led to co-founding of NemaLife Inc. He and his team of collaborators are working with NASA Space Biology to fly NemaLife’s core technology to the International Space Station to identify mechanisms that cause muscle wasting in microgravity - an accelerated aging environment.

Siva obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and a B. Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He has published over 65 journal articles and has received many awards most notably the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation and the Rising Star Award from the BMES Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Group.

Mizanur Rahman

Mizan is a co-founder and obtained his PhD from Texas Tech University and a BS from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. His efforts have led to the development of NemaLife’s core microfluidic technology for aging and healthspan investigations in C. elegans. He has successfully led research collaborations on C. elegans with Rutgers University, University of Cambridge and University of Nottingham.

He previously worked in Unilever and rolled out innovation projects in their personal care products sector. Most recently, he was the Entrepreneurial Lead in the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps program, which led to commercialization of the Infinity Desktop Screening System. He received the TechConnect World Innovation Award for this technology.

Nicki Vanapalli

Nicki is a co-founder and the Chief Financial Officer. She received her BS in Biochemistry from Purdue University and MS in Food Science at Penn State University. She worked for the Kellogg’s Company in Battle Creek, MI. She took some time off her career to raise her family. She heads accounting, payroll, and business strategy for NemaLife.

Marton Toth

Marton is responsible for Business Development, Investor Relations, and Sales Development. He received his MSc and Ph.D. from Eotvos Lorand University. During his postdoctoral training at Rutgers University and Texas Tech University, he published high impact original research publications in Nature, Lab on Chip and Journal of Neuroscience.

In graduate school, he developed a lab management system, and with Semmelweis Innovations, he worked on a clinical social network. He polished his business skills with multiple startups before he joined the NemaLife team. 

Amy Wood

Amy leads marketing and content development for NemaLife through her company Flint Avenue Marketing. She has over 15 years of international experience in product and service marketing, and strategic planning. She also serves as a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador, Advisory Council for Frenship Independent School District, and on the 1 MillionCups Leadership Team.

Anthony Presley

Anthony is an entrepreneurial leader with decades of experience in software development, product management, sales, and marketing with both BSB and B2C product lines. He is currently the Chief Products Officer at Truno, leading a team that develops software and hardware solutions for customers in grocery or retail stores.

He loves leading entrepreneurial efforts and helping innovators get ideas out the door and a business built around the idea. He is an active mentor to startups coming out of Texas Tech University and is a Board Member of the Lubbock Angel Network.

Nick Bergfeld

Nick managed the development of the healthcare practice for LeapFrog investments, the largest specialized impact investing firm globally, evaluating market dynamics across sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Prior to LeapFrog, he completed his Masters Practicum with Morgan Stanley's Institute for Sustainable Investing. He has held research positions at esteemed research institutions such as Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the University of California San Francisco.

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Nick holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he served as the inaugural Jerome H. Grossman Health Policy Fellow focused on finance and social infrastructure. He obtained his Medical Doctorate from the Yale School of Medicine, and has a bachelors degree from Texas Tech.