Dr. Manny (Manu) Tamargo
I’m Manny Tamargo, a tissue engineer, startup operator, and strategic thinker. I earning a PhD in cardiac tissue engineering and co-founded a biotech startup that raised $580K. I’ve guided strategic pivots, supported investor diligence, and shaped platform direction, directly influencing over $50M in funding and acquisition decisions. I’m now focused on bringing this blend of technical depth and commercial strategy into roles in biotech consulting, equity research, or corporate strategy.
As the founder and CTO of Edge Bio (formerly Edge Foods), I led technical and business development efforts to create ethical, biology-driven alternatives to animal-derived products — gaining hands-on experience in market validation, fundraising, and financial modeling. At Helikon Consulting, I worked as a life sciences technology analyst, supporting clients with market landscaping, technical diligence, and strategic evaluations across the biotech landscape.
I’m passionate about translating deep scientific insight into actionable opportunities — whether in investment research, early-stage strategy, or ecosystem building. Through Make BioMIA, I’ve led public-facing workshops on consumer biotech and hands-on biohacking, helping to demystify science and make innovation more participatory.
I thrive on turning complexity into clarity. Whether I’m analyzing a clinical pipeline, optimizing a business model, or mentoring in the community, I care about solving real problems with precision and creativity.
On weekends, you’ll probably find me in the garden with my bees, volunteering at the Vizcaya Farmers Market, or building something from scratch.
Publications
- Millipillar: A Platform For The Generation And Real-time Assessment Of Human Engineered Cardiac Tissues For Patient-specific Disease Modeling* ACS Biomaterials 2021
- Pathological remodeling of distal lung matrix in end-stage cystic fibrosis patients* Cystic Fibrosis 2022
- Endomyocardial biopsies in the diagnosis of myocardial involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus* Lupus 2020
- The influence of hypoxia and IFN-gamma on the proteome and metabolome of therapeutic mesenchymal stem cells Biomaterials 2018
- Pparg promotes differentiation and regulates mitochondrial gene expression in bladder epithelial cells Nature Communications 2019
- A framework for developing sex-specific engineered heart models Nature Reviews Materials 2022
- STK25 inhibits PKA signaling by phosphorylating PRKAR1A Cell Reports 2022
- A multi-organ chip with matured tissue niches linked by vascular flow Nature Biomedical Engineering 2022
- Engineered cardiac tissue model of restrictive cardiomyopathy for drug discovery Cell Reports Medicine 2023
- An engineered human cardiac tissue model reveals contributions of systemic lupus erythematosus autoantibodies to myocardial injury Nature Cardiovascular Research 2024
- Modeling and countering the effects of cosmic radiation using bioengineered human tissues Biomaterials 2023
*First or co-first author publication
Patents
- Human engineered cardiac tissue platform
- Pathological remodeling of distal lung matrix in end-stage cystic fibrosis patients
- Processes and systems using for culturing cells using feeder cells in a hollow fiber cartridge
- Systems and processes for culturing cells using microcarriers