Meat production is a massive contributor to climate change
And our meat demand is projected to double by 2050
That's why we are re-inventing animal agriculture
Cultured meat can help us save the natural world, but only if we can produce it at a price point competitive with factory farming.
In 1908, cars were considered a luxury item that few could afford.
The same year, Ford invented the automotive assembly line, dramatically reducing the cost of car production.
By 1940, cars had become accessible to the mass market
Before long, they were integrated into the fabric of society.
We're building a biological assembly line—we want to do for biology what Ford did for cars.
We are inventing a process that will enable the lowest cost of cell production in the world. Due to our climate crisis, the first application of our assembly line will be cultured meat.
Our Mission
We’re on a mission to accelerate the transition to sustainable agriculture. Long-term pressures around climate, land and water usage, animal rights, public health, and food security support the shift of protein production systems to resilient, sustainable, and, potentially, animal-free manifestations. One vision for our future leverages cultured meat as the primary source of animal protein.
The importance and market share of cultured meat will depend upon being competitive in nutrition, flavor, consumer acceptance, sustainability, supply-chain resilience, and—most critically—cost. There is no likely world in which a meaningful cost premium above functionally-equivalent alternatives achieves massive scale and consequential impact. At Prolific Machines, we believe we have a solution to make cultured meat at a price point that can compete with factory farming.
Want to try our delicious cultured Wagyu?
We are bringing the same meat you know, without the guilt. If you would like to be among the first to try our delicious cultivated Wagyu beef, join our waitlist now:
Director of Laboratory Operations/Senior Scientist
Nessa Morantte
Director of Laboratory Operations/Senior Scientist
Vidar van der Meijden
Head of Product
Vidar van der Meijden
Head of Product
Will Paton
Bio-Process Engineer
Will Paton
Bio-Process Engineer
Samie Patel, PhD
Head of Exploratory Biology
Samie Patel, PhD
Head of Exploratory Biology
Franklin Lu
Head of Bioprocess Engineering
Franklin Lu
Head of Bioprocess Engineering
John Haliburton, PhD
Head of Synthetic Biology
John Haliburton, PhD
Head of Synthetic Biology
George Hosegood
Head of Operations
George Hosegood
Head of Operations
Basanta Dahal
Senior Scientist
Basanta Dahal
Senior Scientist
Zahra Mahdieh
Materials Scientist
Zahra Mahdieh
Materials Scientist
Terra Garcia
Senior Executive Assistant & HR Business Partner
Terra Garcia
Senior Executive Assistant & HR Business Partner
Baxter Eldridge
Mechatronics Engineer
Baxter Eldridge
Mechatronics Engineer
Pieter Both, PhD
Senior Stem Cell Biologist
Pieter Both, PhD
Senior Stem Cell Biologist
Brandon Nguyen
Bioprocess Engineering Research Associate
Brandon Nguyen
Bioprocess Engineering Research Associate
Iman Mohammed
Research Associate
Iman Mohammed
Research Associate
Roshan Patel
Bioprocess Engineer Research Associate
Roshan Patel
Bioprocess Engineer Research Associate
Nora Hany
Research Associate
Nora Hany
Research Associate
Mary Aquiningoc
Media and Assay Development Research Associate
Mary Aquiningoc
Media and Assay Development Research Associate
Emma McCoy
Prototyping and Manufacturing Technician
Emma McCoy
Prototyping and Manufacturing Technician
Neil Singh
Data Engineer
Neil Singh
Data Engineer
Mahum Kudia
Bioprocess Engineering Research Associate
Mahum Kudia
Bioprocess Engineering Research Associate
Sputnik
Chief Dog Officer
Sputnik
Chief Dog Officer
Riley
Chief Cuteness Officer
Riley
Chief Cuteness Officer
Deniz Kent, PhD
(he/him)
Co-founder & CEO
Deniz started his career working with adenosine blockers in a cancer immunotherapy lab at the University of Bristol, receiving a number of awards including most innovative research project and best student to continue in research. Next, Deniz went to GlaxoSmithKline to work on a single-dose cure for Asthma, receiving the Glaxo award for “outstanding contribution to research”. Next, Deniz conducted a PhD in the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at King's College London, where he co-discovered a new human liver stem cell population and conducted the world’s first high throughput small molecule screen using IPS-derived hepatocytes. During his PhD, Deniz conceived of the idea for Prolific Machines, and he spent three years searching for the right co-founders. He eventually found and convinced Declan and Max to quit their jobs, and together they developed the idea into the company you are looking at today.
Max Huisman, PhD
(he/him)
Co-founder & CTO
Studied Applied Physics at the Delft University of Technology, during which he was also working as a Freelance web developer. Next, he conducted a masters in Applied Physics, working part-time at a sensor manufacturing company to finance his education. Next, Max conducted a PhD in Applied Physics at the RNA Therapeutics Institute at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he conceived, designed and built the world’s first super-resolution cryogenic microscope, among many other groundbreaking inventions such as 4D-point-spread-function engineering. He continued as a PostDoc until Deniz convinced him to quit his job! He speaks 5 languages, has co-authored 10+ academic publications, and is the holder of 4 patents. He has deep expertise in rapid prototyping, CAD/CAM design, numerical simulation, electrical/mechanical engineering and graphic design. Max is not only academically brilliant, but combines this with a level of creativity which is extremely rare in engineers.
Declan Jones
(he/him)
Co-founder & CDO
Studied History and Computer Science at UC Berkeley, graduating with High Honors. Declan specialized in Machine Learning, AI, and image processing, wrote his History honors thesis on Late Antiquity, and studied Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, and Akkadian. While at UC Berkeley, Declan was very involved in the Berkeley Student Cooperative and was elected House Manager of a 124 person co-op, Casa Zimbabwe, for 2 consecutive terms, gaining invaluable management experience. After graduating, Declan joined Zillow Group as a DS/ML Engineer. Here, Declan spent 4.5 years conceiving, building, and improving RentalBrain - the centralized rental fraud prediction model used across all Zillow Group brands. Declan handled everything necessary to keep RentalBrain running smoothly (data pipeline, DevOps, monitoring), gaining hands-on experience with all aspects of developing and maintaining ML services at production scale. Declan is a full-stack data / ML engineer and the perfect person to lead our Data Team.
Victor Jones, PhD
(he/him)
CSO
Victor started his career conducting a PhD in Plant Genetics at the University of Oxford, where he worked on the characterization of genes that control the development of rhizoid rooting cells. He continued as a PostDoc characterizing the role of transcription factors in the development of epidermal cells. Next Victor conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Heidelberg, studying the molecular basis of coral-algae endosymbiosis. Victor was awarded two prestigious fellowships, the Alexander van Humboldt and the EMBO long-term post-doctoral fellowships. Victor continued post-doctoral research at the University of Wageningen, working on proteomic identification of the plant cell polarity machinery. Through his myriad experiences at top-tier research facilities, Victor has become world-class at designing and executing complex genetic strategies. Victor's knowledge spans a vast number of fields, and the voracity and speed at which he tackles new challenges is astonishing.
Monique Hooley, PhD
(she/her)
Head of Cell Biology
Studied Pharmacology at the University of Bristol, where she graduated with First Class Honours, won a number of awards including best dissertation research project, and received the highest grade in a class of 150 people. During her undergraduate degree, Monique spent a year full time at Pfizer where she conducted site-directed mutagenesis of the μ-opiod receptor, in order to aid the development of new drugs to treat pain without the unwanted side effects. During her time at Pfizer she developed deep technical expertise in cloning, FRET, and radioligand binding assays. Next Monique embarked on a Wellcome Trust funded PhD at the University of Edinburgh, where she studied astrocyte dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease, building deep expertise in mammalian cell culture, RNA-seq, array tomography, and molecular biology. Alongside her PhD, Monique consulted for 3 startups and conducted an internship at M Ventures.
Emily Gale, PhD
(she/her)
Head of Material Science
Studied Chemistry at Swarthmore College, where she received the ACS Scholastic Achievement Award, which is awarded to the major with the highest GPA. As an undergrad, she studied materials for brain sensors, plasmid design, and quorum sensing in bacteria. Next, Emily attended Stanford University for her PhD in Biochemistry. During her PhD, she worked on interdisciplinary projects using novel polymer-based materials to improve delivery of subunit vaccines and cancer immunotherapies. She developed deep expertise in immunological assays, mammalian cell culture, protein engineering, and material synthesis/characterization. Emily designed and led several research projects, including the development of two different nanoparticle platforms to improve potency of various adjuvant molecules, the development of a hydrogel delivery system for COVID-19 subunit vaccines, and a hydrogel system to overcome delivery limitations of the promising small molecule adjuvant, cGAMP.
Madeleine Allen
(she/her)
Head of Prototyping
Studied Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, graduated with High Honors (Top 5% of Graduating Class), and received several distinctions such as the department award for Excellence in Research, an Edison-McNair scholarship, and multiple high honors within the Condensed Matter subdepartment. Madeleine was well known in the Physics Department for her work mentoring underrepresented minority students in STEM. She has worked as a materials scientist at Leibniz Institute of Technology, as a programmer for the Ichiba Group, and as a systems integration engineer at Lockheed Martin. Most recently, Madeleine was the Co-founder and CTO of Khepra, a chemical technologies company that develops ultrasonic reactors to process and valorize waste streams. There, she designed, built, operated, maintained, and optimized all of the infrastructure for three novel sonochemical reactors, all completed tens of thousands of dollars under budget.
Nessa Morantte
(she/her)
Director of Laboratory Operations/Senior Scientist
Studied Cell and Developmental Biology with an emphasis in Neurobiology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has extensive academia and industry experience including establishing the research and development operations of a startup biotech company as a founding member and launching multiple successful academic labs from the ground up. She worked for over a decade at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Harvard University investigating the molecular and genetic basis of aging to develop novel therapeutic interventions to extend healthspan and lifespan. Most recently, Nessa worked at Rockefeller University employing a cross-species comparative approach to investigate how evolution acts on the brain to generate novel behaviors. She has expertise in molecular biology, CRISPR genome engineering, mammalian cell culture, model and non-model organisms, proof of concept research, project management, capital equipment acquisition and financial management of multimillion-dollar organizations.
Vidar van der Meijden
(he/him)
Head of Product
After graduating his Master's in Applied Physics in 2014, Vidar joined Rocket Internet in Yangon, Myanmar, shortly after it opened up for foreign business. At Rocket, he was part of the team starting the shop.com.mm online marketplace, currently the largest in the country. Returning to the Netherlands in 2015, he was selected for a 2 year technical management traineeship at talent development specialist ORMIT, through which he was placed at ASML - the world leader in lithography equipment for semiconductor chip manufacturing. At ASML, Vidar worked as a project manager for joint process & application development in DRAM and NAND with Samsung Electronics, one of ASML's largest customers. In this role, he excelled at managing complex projects with large, highly multidisciplinary project teams while building strong customer and internal stakeholder relationships. After being selected for ASML's ECAP leadership development program, he moved to Product Management, where he focused on development of new market segments and hardware & software product development for machine-learning supported optical metrology. With his diverse experience and technical aptitude, Vidar brings a wide range of people, project and product management skills to Prolific Machines.
Will Paton
(he/him)
Bio-Process Engineer
Attended Santa Clara University, majoring in Bioengineering with an emphasis in Biomolecular Engineering. Will was awarded the prestigious Global Social Benefit Fellowship by the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, and after working with pediatric burn surgeons, led a team that developed a skin grafting device for low-resource settings. Will also conducted research on the metastatic potential of cancer cells based on their focal adhesion strength. He became passionate about cultivated meat in 2018 and joined Mission Barns as employee #3, spending 3.5 years building their cell culture platform, including cell isolation, cell line development, and the fabrication of a novel bioreactor system. At Mission Barns Will developed deep expertise in automated liquid handling and built out an automated platform for optimizing serum-free media.
Samie Patel, PhD
(he/him)
Head of Exploratory Biology
Samie is a well-traveled cell biologist, having worked in stem cell laboratories in his hometown of Toronto (Canada), followed by extended stints in Heidelberg (Germany), Basel (Switzerland), Leuven (Belgium), Los Angeles and now San Francisco. During this time, Samie’s research has also taken leaps and bounds, covering topics ranging from the generation of transgenic GFP/RFP mice to the regulation of genes that determine contractility and maturation of cardiac cells, to neuron-glial crosstalk in human neurodegenerative diseases. During his PhD at Katholike University of Leuven, he worked on deciphering astrocyte dysfunction in Dystrophin deficiency disorders using iPSC technology.
Next, Samie continued as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of California at Los Angeles, on a Hillblom foundation sponsored postdoctoral grant. Here, Samie developed deep expertise in organoid models of neurodegeneration involving astrocyte and microglial co-cultures in in vitro setting, and corresponding, extensive RNA sequencing studies.
At prolific machines, Samie has been tasked with broadening application of our proprietary technologies by developing advanced cell systems to tackle outstanding issues in the wider realm of industrial biotechnology.
Franklin Lu
(he/him)
Head of Bioprocess Engineering
John Haliburton, PhD
(he/him)
Head of Synthetic Biology
John began his career as a synthetic biologist at UC Berkeley, where he focused on genome and protein engineering of microbes. After spending a short time in industry as a research scientist he pursued and completed a PhD in Biophysics at the University of California San Francisco, where he helped develop the emerging field of single cell sequencing through the use of droplet microfluidics. During his time in graduate school he founded two precision medicine companies from ideation through seed investment and developed foundational IP in the single cell genomics field. Since concluding his PhD he has built single-cell sequencing and spatial sequencing technologies for two early stage startups, consulted for a number of other genomics companies, and led a single cell genomics team at a privately funded research organization. He is a maker and engineer in addition to a scientist and loves creating new things. He is excited about the impact that synthetic biology will bring at the intersection of the three most massive population scale human behaviors of storytelling, building, and food.
George Hosegood
(he/him)
Head of Operations
George studied Economics at the University of Bristol, where he graduated with First Class Honors. Prior to joining Prolific he worked in Strategy Consulting for both OC&C Strategy Consultants and Eden McCallum where he worked with many of the worlds largest food service brands, consumer goods companies and private equity investors across the US and Europe. George joined Prolific seeing it as the perfect place to pair both his love of great food and his desire to help catalyze the fundamental change required to stem the worst impacts of climate change.
Basanta Dahal
(he/him)
Senior Scientist
Basanta received his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine where he demonstrated data-based evidence that DNA mismatch repair is required for DNA stability in different chromatin environments. Owing to his interest in solving real-world challenges, he joined Finless Foods in 2018 to pursue his interest in the field of cellular agriculture. As one of their earliest employees, he learned the art and science of cellular agriculture, as well as the start-up culture in the bay area. As a scientist, he conducted research projects in fish cell line development and their growth in 2D/3D environments as well as in the suspension in bench-top bioreactors. Additionally, he led research projects to optimize growth media using high throughput screening and DOE methods to achieve an optimal serum-free media for fish cell growth. His experience in various cell types ranging from microbes to fish and mammalian cell lines and a well-rounded skill set encompassing cell line development, media development, high throughput screening, assay development and automation makes him a valuable addition to our team.
Zahra Mahdieh
(she/her)
Materials Scientist
Zahra started her journey in the field of materials by earning her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Materials Science and Engineering. In her M.Sc. research at the Sharif University of Technology, Zahra created a bone scaffold made of thermoplastic starch that is biodegradable and doesn't require a second surgery for scaffold removal. In 2015, Zahra moved to the U.S. to continue her studies in the field of materials science. She conducted her Ph.D. at the University of Montana (UM), where she was ranked first among materials science Ph.D. candidates in Montana State (UM, MSU, and MTech universities). As her Ph.D. project, Zahra developed smart electrospun fiber mats that detect the fever induced by infection to deliver antibacterial agent(s) to the infected tissue. The fiber structure she developed was featured as the cover image of the Journal of Applied Polymer Science. Zahra continued her journey as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Biofilm Engineering in Bozeman, where she developed granular Matrigel scaffold to improve the permeability of Matrigel (a commonly used ECM). The granular Matrigel is currently used at several research centers for disease modeling and drug development studies. Zahra's scientific publications are cited more than 300 times. She speaks three languages. Zahra is passionate about solving big problems.
Terra Garcia
(she/her)
Senior Executive Assistant & HR Business Partner
Baxter Eldridge
(he/him)
Mechatronics Engineer
Baxter studied Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins before completing his Master’s with a focus in Mechatronics at Stanford. He has worked as a Mechatronics Engineer at Modular Bionics where he designed and tested implant and worn-units for neural stimulation and monitoring, and as an R&D Engineer at Scale Biosciences where he led the hardware division and brought custom cell-handling equipment from proof-of-concept to beta user testing. He has extensive experience with solid modeling on multiple platforms, rapid prototyping, CNC and manual machining, micro-fabrication, PCB and analog circuit design, thermal management, sensor integration, and device qualification. He has created cell and tissue models for biology interfacing devices and designed for long and short-term biocompatibility. He is an inventor on 2 patents and filed his first provisional patent in high school. Baxter combines broad technical expertise with artistic creativity, and a love of simple, elegant design aesthetics.
Pieter Both, PhD
(he/him)
Senior Stem Cell Biologist
Pieter is a biologist with research and educational background in muscle stem cells, metabolism, and aging. He is also proficient in Python-based image analysis. His hobbies include reading, exercising, and barbecuing. Pieter is a retired rugby player and a big Springboks fan. He loves moral philosophy and animals, particularly dogs, and especially Rotties.
Brandon Nguyen
(he/him)
Bioprocess Engineering Research Associate
Raised in a family of restaurateurs and foodies, Brandon has been
surrounded by food his entire life. While pursuing his degree in
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at New York University, Brandon
realized his desire to apply the scientific method to food. Brandon
got his first taste of this relationship when he interned at
Analytical Flavor Systems as part of the R&D team. There, he worked
with other engineers and scientists to try to predict flavors and
market perception of food products using AI. Brandon’s fascination
with cultured meat grew the more he learned about the relationship
between food and science. This led him to pursuing his Master’s in
Bioengineering at UC Berkeley where he got the opportunity to work
with Prolific Machines as a research associate intern. Brandon is
excited to continue being part of the Prolific Machines team and to
saving the world!
Iman Mohammed
(she/her)
Research Associate
Roshan Patel
(he/him)
Bioprocess Engineer Research Associate
Nora Hany
(she/her)
Research Associate
Mary Aquiningoc
(they/them)
Media and Assay Development Research Associate
Emma McCoy
(she/her)
Prototyping and Manufacturing Technician
Neil Singh
(he/him)
Data Engineer
Mahum Kudia
(she/her)
Bioprocess Engineering Research Associate
Sputnik
(he/him)
Chief Dog Officer
Riley
(she/her)
Chief Cuteness Officer
Join Our Team
We are looking for mission-driven, skilled, and kind people to help us build the alternative we need to transition to a sustainable future.
We value diverse people, perspectives, and knowledge. To this end, we aim to foster a sense of belonging that enables everyone to bring their whole, authentic self to work every day. We are committed to growing a diverse and inclusive team that encompasses all types of people. We believe this can only be achieved by acknowledging the ancestral, historic, and current systemic and communal inequities. Each of the job descriptions at the link below contains a list of skills, some which you may already have and some that you’d learn in the role. These skills are not requirements, so if you think you’d do a great job at this role, please apply!
Working at Prolific Machines comes with great perks such as free lunch every day, unlimited PTO, flexible working hours, 401k plans with employer contributions, outstanding health insurance for you and your spouse, employee stock options, and more!
Why do we need an assembly line for biology? Aren't assembly lines what got us into this climate mess in the first place?
Cultured meat can dramatically reduce the land use, water use, and ghg emissions associated with animal agriculture, but only if we can produce it at a price point competitive with factory farming. Current methods are far too expensive, so we must invent the assembly line for biology.
Are you planning on making your technology available to other cultured meat companies?
We want to do everything we can to avert a climate catastrophe. If other cultured meat companies are interested in using our technology, we are open to licensing in order to accelerate the entire industry. For enquiries you can reach us at info@prolific-machines.com.
How can I help Prolific with its mission?
There are many ways that you can help. If you are interested in buying our future cultured meat products you can join our waitlist here. If you are a talented scientist or engineer you can apply for our jobs here. If you are an investor, you can register your interest in our Series B here. If you think you can help the mission but do not fit into any of these categories, you can email us at info@prolific-machines.com.
When can we learn more about the technology?
Later this year we will be making further announcements. Follow us on LinkedIn to stay up to date.
We are bringing the same meat you know, without the guilt. If you would like to be among the first to try our delicious cultivated Wagyu beef, join our waitlist now:
