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While scientific research once centered on eradicating microbes, Cheri Ackerman Araromi ’11 harnesses their hidden powers. These invisible bacteria, fungi, and viruses are vital to the health and resilience of ecosystems everywhere—from human bodies to plants and animals. 

“Microbial ecosystems are like cities of people,” Ackerman Araromi says. “Much like a community is greater than the sum of its individual members, the microbiome works this way, too.” 

Entrepreneur Scientists

Ackerman Araromi, Jared Kehe, and Bernardo Cervantes, who first collaborated as trainees at MIT, co-founded Concerto Biosciences in 2020, a company dedicated to improving human and environmental health. Today, the startup is building a scientific future with the potential to transform everything from beauty products and nutrition to crop yields and cancer treatments. 

Kehe invented and patented the biotechnology enabling Concerto’s therapeutic and direct to-consumer products. After launching their company, the entrepreneurs applied kChip to develop a novel treatment for eczema, a skin condition affecting up to 20% of children and 10% of adults globally (National Eczema Association) and costing the U.S. economy $5 billion annually. Concerto’s microbe-based eczema treatment has performed consistently well in clinical trials and is moving through further testing toward FDA approval. 

Building a Healthier Future Through Research

KChip technology constructs and tests microbial communities, unprecedented scale and speed. The resulting data trains kAI, Concerto’s AI tool that predicts how new communities will behave. “This allows us to build the largest data sets in the world on how natural microbial ecosystems work,” Ackerman Araromi says. “And that makes us the best company in the world to design products that have the beneficial properties of those communities.” 

Concerto is now developing treatments for acne, body odor, dandruff, and chronic wounds. “What ties them all together is the microbes—the good bacteria and fungi—that grow on our bodies. They help protect us from other pathogenic microbes, train our immune systems, and aid digestion. We want to translate that into reliable products; it’s difficult and exciting.” 

Closed Doors Unlock New Opportunities 

Ackerman Araromi entered Calvin on a pre-med track but discovered a passion for research in her first-year biology class. Professor David Koetje helped her secure an internship at the Van Andel Institute the summer before her sophomore year. “I lost my mind from happiness,” Ackerman Araromi says of her first experience in a professional research lab. 

A Beckman Fellow, she spent the next three years conducting funded research at Calvin. “Going to Calvin was really beautiful. I felt at home in the intellectual rigor there.” 

Ackerman Araromi pursued her PhD in chemistry, an experience she describes as both formative and challenging. “Struggling through failed research projects and tough interpersonal dynamics prompted me to explore options beyond academia,” she says. “I was pretty upset with God. But God made it clear, ‘This period of failure happened so you would know I created your next opportunity.’” 

By the time she arrived at MIT, Ackerman Araromi felt a strong pull toward entrepreneurship. “Our team converged in 2019 at a time when kChip filled a clear technical gap in the market,” she says. 

In early 2020, while pursuing funding and lab space, the pandemic shut down Boston. Funding still fell into place, and the team secured lab space at Harvard. “In a time of chaos and uncertainty, God supplied everything we needed,” Ackerman Araromi says. 

Faith, Hope, and Science

These days, Ackerman Araromi spends less time in the lab and more time meeting with investors to secure resources needed to advance Concerto’s mission. The task is complex: navigating changes in the federal regulatory landscape requires resilience—and hope. Decreased staffing at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has further slowed an already slow approval process. 

“The longer the regulatory process takes, the more costs rise, so investors look at biotech and see that regulatory risk. It’s not good for the typical American patient. Patients don’t get the therapeutic treatments they need to be healthy.” 

Behind her determination lies Ackerman Araromi’s commitment to pursuing scientific progress for human flourishing. “I value holding faith and science as two revelations of God in the world. My brain was made by God to be curious about the world, and that is a gift. Using that gift is a way of drawing closer to God.”