About
Laura Katz, food scientist, is founder and CEO of Helaina, a New York City-based biotech company pushing the boundaries of what food can do for health. With its bioactive proteins, starting with Lactoferrin, Helaina is bringing the immunity properties of breast milk proteins to food for all stages of life, from enhanced infant formula to elderly care nutrition.
Disrupting the stagnant infant formula category and meeting booming consumer demand for food with immunity power, Helaina has raised more than $25 million from leading investors. Helaina’s new category of infant formula will support parents who, in the U.S., often have insufficient parental leave policies.
Laura became NYU’s youngest-ever adjunct professor in Food Science & Technologyin 2017 and was featured in Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in 2022. She has presented at Collision, Food Hack, Fortune Most Powerful Women NextGen, Future Food Tech, Harvard Business School and Web Summit.
Prior to Helaina, Laura developed food products for NUGGS, Plated and Dylan’s Candy Bar. Laura has reached viral success as a food scientist, generating $60M+ views via an 11-episode stint as the expert food scientist for Epicurious’ 4-Levels video series. She earned a master’s in Food Studies from NYU, and a Bachelor of Sciences in Food Science and Technology from Western University. In her free time, she can be found hanging out with her husband; son, Leo; and their Italian Water Dog, Fontina Prosciutto; and writing recipes in hopes of one day publishing a cookbook.
Career track
- — now
CEO and Founder of Helaina; Adjunct Professor of Food Science and Technology at New York University
Helaina Self-reported
Taco Scientist at Epicurious
Self-reported
Education
New York University, master’s degree, Food Studies; Western University, Bachelor of Science, Food Science and Technology.
Self-reported