Cullen Shaffer went to Southern Arkansas University for his undergraduate degree in Biology, where he became interested in studying viruses. To further pursue this goal, he went to the University of Arkansas and got a Master’s degree in Plant Pathology investigating the virome of peonies.

Previous professional experience includes working on the genotyping pipeline at Benson Hill and leading the design and validation of NGS assays for gene editing confirmation in soybean.

He joined RNAissance Ag in 2025.