Samir Chitnavis

Samir Chitnavis is a British-Indian scientist and entrepreneur who studied for his Master of Biology (MBiol) at Jesus College, University of Oxford, where he specialised in plant sciences. It was during his undergraduate studies that he teamed up with fellow Oxford student David Kim to develop the idea that would become CyanoCapture.

In January 2021, Samir co-founded CyanoCapture, a synthetic biology company developing genetically modified cyanobacteria to capture carbon dioxide on an industrial scale. The pair won one of 23 student prizes in the Elon Musk XPRIZE carbon removal competition in 2021, beating over 100 teams to win 'Best Idea' at the Oxford Foundry All-Innovate competition, and went on to raise seed funding to advance their R&D platform.

As Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer, Samir leads CyanoCapture's molecular biology and strain engineering work, overseeing the development of proprietary cyanobacteria strains capable of fixing carbon at rates dramatically higher than those found in nature. The company's platform converts captured CO₂ into valuable commercial products including graphite and recombinant proteins, making carbon capture financially viable for emitting industries worldwide.