Shiru’s mission is to feed people sustainably by leveraging machine learning and precision biology to identify and create ideal food proteins.
Ron’s hands-on experience in high-throughput bioengineering and training in computing for molecular science, position him well to help drive Shiru towards achieving its ambitious goals.
Ron was introduced to synthetic biology while an undergraduate in Molecular Cell Biology at UC Berkeley. He received a fascinating introduction into many facets of the field through his work, assistant teaching the summer high school research program at the Joint BioEnergy Institute. Ron learned the basics of metabolic engineering, experimental design, and computational data analysis through independent research. After graduating, he honed these skills, first through an internship at the Joint Genome Institute, followed shortly by his first industry role at Amyris. He spent nearly three years as an automated strain engineer working to develop bleeding-edge molecular biology automation further. Ron comes to us most recently from the bioengineering team at Sestina Bio. He is currently completing his master’s in Molecular Science and Software Engineering through UC Berkeley’s College of Chemistry.
“Getting to witness our little corner of biotech apply the tools of engineering biology and high-performance computing towards finding sustainable solutions for some of our most significant societal problems has been truly awe-inspiring. I’m so grateful to be given this opportunity at Shiru to continue applying myself towards these efforts in the broadest market class I’ve yet had the chance to address. As a lifelong home-cook and food lover, bringing people delicious, sustainable, ethical, and healthy new ingredients is a mission I care deeply about! ”
Outside of the lab, you can find Ron practicing one of the many instruments from his collection, recording music with his friends, and scheming up ideas for the soon-to-be Shiru band!