Spore.Bio has appointed Michael Miller as vp of scientific and regulatory affairs, as the company seeks to expand the adoption of rapid microbiology methods in pharmaceutical manufacturing and other regulated industries.

The Paris-based company develops microbiology testing technology combining AI and biophotonics to enable real-time contamination detection. Miller joins ahead of a planned announcement at the PDA conference in Denver and the European Microbiology Jubilee Conference in Wiesbaden.

Miller brings nearly four decades of experience in pharmaceutical microbiology, contamination control and validation of rapid microbiological methods. He has previously held senior microbiology roles at Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and Company, and Bausch & Lomb, and has acted as an expert witness in pharmaceutical and medical device litigation.

He has advised the USP Microbiology Expert Committee, published more than 100 technical papers and presentations, and serves on editorial and scientific review boards including American Pharmaceutical Review, European Pharmaceutical Review and the PDA Journal of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology. He currently advises multinational companies on microbiology, quality and regulatory strategy through a consultancy.

Miller also chairs the revision of PDA Technical Report No. 33, which defines industry criteria for alternative and rapid microbiology testing, and runs an educational platform focused on rapid microbiological methods. Spore.Bio said his regulatory expertise would support the company’s strategy as it scales its platform.

Amine Raji, ceo of Spore.Bio, said: “Bringing the biggest Key Opinion Leader of our field into Spore.Bio is a strong signal of where we’re headed as a company. His decades of experience in rapid methods, contamination control, and regulatory strategy give us exactly the kind of scientific and regulatory backbone we need as we scale and with Michael on board, we’re not just advancing our technology – we’re raising the bar for how it is validated, implemented and communicated to regulators, partners and customers.”

Miller said he was joining the company to help advance faster microbiology testing for manufacturers. “Spore.Bio is tackling a problem I’ve spent my entire career thinking about: how to make microbiology faster, more reliable, and more actionable for manufacturers,” he said. “The combination of AI, biophotonics, and microbiology Spore.Bio is building has the potential to redefine what ‘rapid methods’ mean.”

Founded in 2023 by Raji, Maxime Mistretta and Mohamed Tazi, Spore.Bio is developing an on-site hardware platform designed to deliver high-precision contamination detection in real time. The company targets pharmaceutical manufacturing and other regulated sectors where microbiology testing timelines can affect product release and quality assurance processes.

The company did not disclose further details about its planned March announcement but said it would share additional information at the upcoming conferences.