Priera Panescu, Ph.D.
LEAD SCIENTIST, PLANT-BASED
Priera Panescu is focused on analyzing plant-based meat and proteins and how to best expedite their progress.
Areas of Expertise: food and agriculture systems, materials science, polymer chemistry, plant-based ingredients
Priera uses she/her pronouns.
Priera’s role at GFI focuses on accelerating the plant-based meat industry through analyzing their plant-based protein landscape, identifying emerging technological solutions and bottlenecks, and communicating with other scientists about advancing alternative protein research. Priera has bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and math from the University of California, Santa Cruz as well as a master’s and a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to joining GFI, Priera spent almost a decade focusing on polymer, formulation, and materials chemistry research. Particularly, she honed these skills for food security applications by creating novel sustainable agriculture materials and compounds.
Articles and op-eds
Is your favorite plant-based milk good for the planet? Here’s how they compare.
GFI’s Pri Panescu on the environmental benefits of plant-based milks.
The AI platform behind a Bezos-backed startup’s vegan burgers
GFI’s Dr. Priera Panescu talks to Bloomberg about supply chain challenges and potential solutions in the plant-based food space.
Publications
Resource
Plant-based meat manufacturing capacity and pathways for expansion
The analysis quantifies the existing global plant-based meat manufacturing landscape and evaluates pathways for expanding capacity to meet future demand.
