Vayu Hill-Maini (he/him/his)
Assistant Professor of Bioengineering
Vayu fell in love with cooking at a young age in his multicultural home in Stockholm, Sweden. He first moved to the U.S to work in restaurants, but the flavors, textures, and sensations of the kitchen eventually led him to scientific research. He received his B.A in Chemistry and Biology at Carleton College in 2015. He completed his PhD in Biochemistry from Harvard University in 2020, where he worked in the lab of Emily Balskus to characterize strains and enzymes from human gut microbiota responsible for the metabolism of drugs and dietary compounds. As a Miller Fellow at UC Berkeley, Vayu discovered and engineered filamentous fungi for sustainable foods in the lab of Jay Keasling. In addition, Vayu has trained at diverse gastronomic institutions, including Basque Culinary Center, Fundación Alicia, The Cultured Pickled Shop, and Michelin-star restaurants Alchemist, Blue Hill at Stone Barns. He is excited about building synthetic biology tools for fungi to unlock new discoveries within mycology, address sustainability challenges, and enable gastronomic creativity. His favorite fungi are Neurospora intermedia and chantarelles (both orange!).
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Franklin Lurie (he/him/his)
M.S. Candidate, Bioengineering
Franklin is a graduate student pursuing co-terminal B.S. & M.S. degrees in Climate Resilience Engineering and Bioengineering, respectively. When his family moved to Switzerland for an expat assignment at the beginning of his high school years, Franklin worked as a farmhand at a local dairy farm and cheese factory, gaining firsthand experience in both agriculture and fermentation. Witnessing glaciers disappear on his favorite hiking routes drove him to design his own major (B.S.) in Climate Resilience Engineering at Stanford University. As a M.S. student in Bioengineering, he is excited to work on developing new synthetic biology tools for fungi towards scalable nutritional protein and industrial biomanufacturing ends. His favorite fungi are Penicillium roqueforti, Fusarium domesticum, and Mucor lanceolatus (they help make cheese so tasty!).
George Tilton-Low (he/him/his)
M.S. Canditate, Bioengineering
George is originally from San Francisco, California, and is completing his B.S. in Bioengineering, B.A. in Art History and M.S. in Biomedical Data Science at Stanford. At Stanford, George works on a joint project between the labs of Carolyn Bertozzi and Tony Wyss-Coray seeking to understand the impact of age and cellular stress on the brain’s N-glycome. In the Hill-Maini Lab, George is interested in developing genetic engineering tools for fungi and exploring the possibilities of synthetic fungal genomics. When not in the lab, George can be found in the art studio where he enjoys practicing ceramics.
POSTDOCS/ RESEARCH STAFF
Shahar Schwartz (he/him/his)
Life Science Research Professional
Shahar earned his B.S. in Microbial Biology from Berkeley in 2024, during which time he researched novel gene editing technologies and transcriptional regulation via promoter screens in plants as a technician in the Savage lab. He is interested in exploring the intersection between high throughput genetics and synthetic biology in a wide variety of organisms, and is extremely excited to innovate in both those fields within novel fungal systems as a part of the Hill-Maini lab. Outside of the lab, he also enjoys quizbowl, board games, writing stories, and, of course, cooking and eating delicious food. His current favorite fungi are Trichoderma reesei and Enoki mushrooms.
We are searching for postdocs that want to grow with us.
