In this edition of The Upside, Lou Basenese sits down with Michael Heltzen, CEO of eXoZymes – the company leading what could become the 5th Industrial Revolution. While traditional AI changed how we process data, eXoZymes is using AI-designed enzymes to reprogram matter itself. The company’s cell-free platform converts simple biomass into high-value molecules for the $5 trillion chemical and pharmaceutical industries – faster, cleaner, and more efficiently than today’s industrial chemistry. This breakthrough in cell-free biomanufacturing has the potential to transform how the world produces chemicals, fuels, and medicines. In this interview, Helzten breaks down how the company’s “exozyme” technology works and why programmable biology may be the most important manufacturing innovation since the microchip.