About Us

We are creating a circular plastics economy for the life sciences.

When most people think about the life sciences, they think about mRNA vaccines, CAR-T Cell Therapy, or possibly CRISPR.

When we think about science, we think about plastic.

In fact, even when we think about vaccines, we think about hundreds of millions of syringes; when we think about cancer; we think about 96 well plates and immuno-blotting, and when we think about CRISPR, we think about DNA extraction kits. All plastic. All single-use. All burned or buried underground.

We left medical school halfway through our training because the scientific plastic problem kept us up at night.

In 2019, we founded Polycarbin.

We believe that given the opportunity, the same community of scientists that created a vaccine for COVID19 months after sequencing its genome would choose a more sustainable solution to their laboratory waste if given the opportunity.

We knew that if we built the infrastructure, conscientious consumers would come. Today we are proud to introduce the first opportunity to recycle scientific plastic waste into circular economy laboratory consumables. With your help, we can close the loop and make science more sustainable.

Noah Pyles

Co-founder, COO

Prior to co-founding Polycarbin, Noah was a physician-scientist in training at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Prior to enrolling in medical school, Noah spent time as a research technician at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where he studied antisense oligonucleotide therapeutics for numerous rare neurological conditions.

An avid fly fisherman and aspiring conservationist, Polycarbin is a chance for Noah to use his training to treat the emperor of all maladies — climate change.

James O'Brien

Co-founder, CEO

Prior to co-founding Polycarbin, James was a physician-scientist in training at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Prior to enrolling in medical school, James worked as a research fellow at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research studying cancer metabolism as well as in the National Cancer Institute studying anti-cancer immunity.

Driven by a desire to expand the scope of his work beyond the benchtop and the bedside, Polycarbin is a chance for James to transform the life-science plastic ecosystem.