Daniel Couto is the Chief Operating Officer of Vedanta Biosciences, a leading Microbiome company. Mr. Couto is an Operations Management Executive with over 25 years of experience starting and advancing Biopharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing organizations to higher levels of capability, growth and productivity. Mr. Couto has a comprehensive knowledge and hands-on experience leading organizations through improvement initiatives and developing new therapeutic modalities. Mr. Couto is the former SVP of Manufacturing and Operations of ContraFect Corporation, a public company developing new Lysin enzymes for MRSA infections. His previous employment was with Merck Sharp Dohme Biologics UK Ltd. (former Avecia Biologics) where he served as Vice President of Commercial Manufacturing Operations responsible for all late stage and commercial product. Prior to this he was responsible for 7 World Wide Contract Manufacturing sites including API/BDS and Final Fill Finish as he served as Director of Manufacturing for Nuvelo Inc. (San Francisco Bay area). He has been instrumental in 2 BLA submissions for drug approvals, 2 major Pre-Approval Inspection (PAI), and several IND submissions. Mr. Couto holds patents for several novel separation technologies such as Bulk Protein Crystallization, HPTFF, SMB, and Bacterial formulation and Lyophilization. Prior to this he served in a number of Sr. Management positions for companies including Genzyme Transgenics Corp. (GTC Biotherapeutics), Advanced Biosystems Corp., ImmuCell Corp., and Sepracor Corp. Mr. Couto received his B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Economics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.