Anne A. Madden

Anne A. Madden, Ph.D. is a USA microbiologist, TED speaker, and science communicator. Anne grew up in Falmouth, Maine where she attended Falmouth High School. She received her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College in 2006 and her Ph.D. from Tufts University in 2014. She discovered and the named the fungal species, Mucor nidicola, when at Tufts University and the antibiotics Neocitrreamicin I and II while working at Novobiotic Pharmaceuticals. Along with Rob Dunn and John Sheppard at North Carolina State University, she found a new yeast in Paper wasps that allows for scalable sour beer production. This technology lead to the spin-off company Lachancea LLC, where she is CSO. As a science communicator Anne has given international talks, including talks at TED and TEDx venues. This included the viral 2017 TED talk "Meet the microscopic life in your home... and on your body," and her 2016 TEDx talk "Your next favorite flavor will come from insects." She was featured as herself in the 2018 award-winning science documentary "The Kingdom: How fungi made our world." She resides in the greater Boston area