About me
I am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow Working Jay Keasling at the Joint Bioengineering Institute at University of California Berkeley where I am combining my expertise in microbiology, chemistry, and cooking, to harness filamentous fungi for production of sustainable, delicious, and nutritious foods. From Sept 2020- Oct 2023, I was a Miller Fellow (main faculty host was Jay Keasling at the Joint Bioengineering Institute. I was also affiliated with Michi Taga in Plant and Microbial Biology and Britt Koskella in Integrative Biology). Find a brief video describing my research here. As part of my research to efforts to improve the food system, I work closely with researchers at the Center for Biosustainability at DTU and the R&D team at the 2-Michelin star restaurants Alchemist in Copenhagen (#5 on World’s 50 Best Restaurant List) and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York. I also spent time as a visiting researcher at University of Tsukuba in Japan to learn about fermentation using the koji mold Aspergillus oryzae – from traditional foods to modern meat alternatives.
My first experiments were done in the kitchen, mixing solutions, testing cooking temperatures, and tending microbial communities in sourdough starters. Cooking catalyzed my interest in science and so I first started my journey in research with the goal of modifying food in the kitchen. I then branched out to understand how molecules from food and other sources are modified by natural systems. I completed my PhD in Biochemistry at Harvard University in 2020, earning the international Birnstiel award for my doctoral thesis as one of only 6 recipients worldwide. I was part of the MCO program at Harvard and was funded by the HHMI Gilliam Fellowship and the NSF GRFP. I pursued my thesis research on gut microbes in the Balskus lab in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
In parallel to my traditional scientific training, I have had significant experience in the world of gastronomic research, applying my scientific skills and knowledge to the world of food. Most recently, I was a visiting scholar at interdisciplinary food and agriculture center Stone Barns working in partnership with 2-Michelin-star restaurant Blue Hill. I have also worked in the R&D kitchen of 2-star Michelin restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen where I developed new fungal foods; as a gastronomy researcher at Fundacion Alicia (founded by three-star Michelin Chef Ferran Adria), where I studied texturizing agents in the kitchen and contributed to a book on the subject; and as gastronomy researcher at the world leading gastronomic institute Basque Culinary Center, where I studied fermentations of food waste and wild plants.
Publications (my name highlighted in bold; last name was formerly Maini Rekdal)
Vayu Maini Rekdal, José Manuel Villalobos-Escobedo, Nabila Rodriguez-Valeron, Mikel Olaizola Garcia, Diego Prado Vásquez, Isty Damayanti, Pia M. Sörensen, Edward E. K. Baidoo, Ana Calheiros de Carvalho, Robert Riley, Anna Lipzen, Guifen He, Mi Yan, Sajeet Haridas, Christopher Daum, Yuko Yoshinaga, Vivian Ng, Igor Grigoriev, Rasmus Munk, Lilis Nuraida, Christofora Hanny Wijaya, Pablo-Cruz Morales, Jay. D. Keasling. Multi-omics analysis of a traditional fermented food reveals byproduct-associated fungal strains for waste-to-food upcycling. Under Revision.
Vayu Maini Rekdal, Casper R.B. van der Luijt, Yan Chen, Ramu Kakumanu, Edward E. K. Baidoo, Christopher J. Petzold, Pablo Cruz-Morales, Jay D. Keasling. Edible mycelium bioengineered for enhanced nutritional value and sensory appeal using a modular synthetic biology toolkit. Nat Commun 15, 2099 (2024).
Fungi have the power to transform our food system. Most fungi used in food were domesticated by humans over thousands of years through selection, cultivation, and breeding. What does the next wave domestication look like? What if we could program the culinary and nutritional properties of fungi to meet the demands of the future? Here we develop a genetic engineering toolkit for the edible fungus Aspergillus oryzae and engineer its sensory appeal and nutritional value for alternative meat applications.
Featured in Lawrence Berkeley National Lab News Site, Newsweek, New York Post, Daily Mail, CBS radio (San Fransisco)
Vayu Maini Rekdal, Nabila Rodriguez-Valeron, Mikel Olaizola Garcia, Diego Prado Vásquez, Pia M. Sörensen, Rasmus Munk, Jay D. Keasling. From lab to table: expanding gastronomic possibilities with fermentation using the edible fungus Neurospora intermedia. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science 34 (2023).
In this paper, we explore what happens when we bring basic discoveries from the lab to the some of the world’s most innovative chefs. Working with the research team at 2-Michelin star restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen, we develop new foods using the safe, fast-growing edible fungus Neurospora intermedia, which we had studied in detail in a previous paper. We found many exciting and surprising uses of this mold, including center-of-the plate meat substitutes and a new grain-based beverage naturally sweetened by the fungal enzymes. The new foods were well-liked by >60 consumers and laid the foundation for a new dish on the menu, testifying to the power of bridging gastronomy and microbiology to drive new food innovation.
Jahn LJ, V. Maini Rekdal, Sommer MOA. Microbial foods for improving human and planetary health. Cell. 2023 Jan 13:S0092-8674(22)01515-X. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.12.002. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36657442.
Together with my collaborators at DTU Biosustain, we lay out a vision for how microorganisms can transform the food system to make it more sustainable, equitable, and beneficial to human health.
V. Maini Rekdal, P.N Bernadino, M.U Luescher, S. Kiamehr, P.J Turnbaugh, E.N Bess, E.P Balskus. A widely distributed enzyme class enables gut microbial metabolism of plant-and host-derived catechols. eLife 9, e50845 (2020).
This paper discloses the discovery of a new class of enzymes that is allows human gut bacteria to break down neurotransmitters (dopamine and noradrenaline) and dietary molecules from plants. These enzymes not only allow human gut microbes to perform important functions inside the human body, but are also present in microbes living in other environments, including other mammals, the ocean, and the soil. Our discovery of these enzymes provides new insight into how gut microbes interact with the human nervous system and how they break down components of our diet. It also uncovers processes that could be important for the function of other ecosystems on the planet.
V. Maini Rekdal, E.N Bess, J.E Bisanz, P.J Turnbaugh, E.P Balskus. Discovery and inhibition of an interspecies pathway for gut microbial Levodopa metabolism. Science 364, eaau6323 (2019).
In this paper, we discover the gut microorganisms and enzymes that metabolize L-dopa, the main drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease. We use this information to 1) predict how samples from patients metabolize L-dopa and 2) develop a small molecule that inhibits gut bacterial metabolism and increases drug bioavailability in mice.
Selected features of this work:
How microbes shape our response to drugs. Scientific American. 2020.
Reese Hitchings and Libusha Kelly. Drug Metabolism as a Community Effort. Cell Metabolism. 2019.
Cora O’Neil. Gut microbes metabolize Parkinson’s drug. Science. 2019.
Parkinson’s-lakemedel paverkas av tarmbakterier. Sveriges Radio. 2019.
Gut-Dwelling bacterium consumes Parkinson’s drug. NIH Director’s Blog. 2019.
Gut microbes eat our medication. Science Daily. 2019
Gut microbes eat our medication. Harvard University Gazette. 2019
Gut bacteria can EAT medication. Daily Mail. 2019
Rachel Carmody, Jordan Bisanz, Benjamin Bown, Corinne Maurice, Svetlana Lyalina, Katherine Louie, Daniel Treen, Katia Chadaideh, Vayu Maini Rekdal, Elizabeth Bess, Peter Spanogiannopoulos, Qi Yan Ang, Kylynda Bauer, Thomas Balon, Katherine Pollard, Trent Northen, Peter Turnbaugh. Cooking shapes the structure and function of the gut microbiome. Nature Microbiology. 2019
This paper explores the impact of food processing on the gut microbiota. This paper demonstrates that not just the the kind of food ingredients, but the nature of how food is prepared, impacts the structure and function of the gut microbial community in lab animals and in humans. I designed the menu and cooked the food for the human intervention study. A wonderful way to combine my expertise in cooking and microbiology!
Selected features of this work (mentioning specifically my contribution to the cooking):
When the menu turns raw, your microbes know what to do. New York Times. 2019.
J.E. Bisanz, P. Soto-Perez, C. Noecker, A. A. Aksenov, K.N. Lam, G. E. Kenney, E.N. Bess, H.J. Haiser, T.S. Kyaw, F.B. Yu, V. Maini Rekdal, C. W. Y. Ha, S. Devotka, E.P. Balskus, P.C. Dorrenstein, E. Allen-Vercoe, P.J. Turnbaugh. A Genomic Toolkit for the Mechanistic Dissection of Intractable Human Gut Bacteria. Cell Host Microbe (2020).
In this paper we isolate and sequence the genomes of a particular group of gut microbes that are prevalent in humans (named Actinobacteria). We describe fascinating aspects of these relatively neglected but important bacteria.
Eric Battaglioli, Vanessa Hale, Jun Chen, Patricio Jeraldo, Coral Ruiz-Mojica, Bradley Schmidt, Vayu Maini Rekdal, Lisa Till, Lutfi Huq, Samuel Smits, William Moor, Yava Jones-Hall, Thomas Smyrk, Sahil Khanna, Darrell Pardi, Madhusudan Grover, Robin Patel, Nicholas Chia, Heidi Nelson, Justin Sonnenburg, Gianrico Farrugia, Purna Kashyap. C. difficile exploits a complex metabolic niche associated with microbial dysbiosis in patients with diarrhea. Science Translational Medicine. 2018.
In this paper we describe factors that render people susceptible to a deathly bacterial infection by the pathogen Clostridium difficile. We find that this pathogenic microorganism thrives in the gut when amino acids are available. These findings are validated in humans.
Vayu Maini Rekdal, Emily Balskus. Gut Microbiota: Rational Manipulation of Bacterial Metalloenzymes Provides Insights into Dysbiosis and Inflammation. Biochemistry. 2018.
This paper summarizes the major findings of a paper that describes how to manipulate gut microbial metabolism using the transition metal tungsten
Nitzan Koppel, Vayu Maini Rekdal, Emily Balskus. Chemical transformation of xenobiotics by the human gut microbiota. Science. 2017.
This paper is a review article that describes what is known about gut microbial metabolism of drugs, pollutants, and dietary components. We also reflect on where the field should move in the future.
Vayu Maini Rekdal, Mhd Firas Alnahhas, John F. Rainey, Christopher S. Reigstad, Sahil Khanna, Madhusudan Grover, M Donna Felmlee Devine, Nicholas Chia, Edward V. Loftus, Lisa A. Boardman, David A. Ahlquist, Darrell S. Pardi, Gianrico Farrugia, Purna C. Kashyap. Chronic Diarrhea in Subset of Patients With IBD and IBS is Associated With Altered Microbiota. Gastroenterology. 2014.
We describe microbial community patterns that are related to diarrhea in humans.
Books
Alicia Foundation. A Chef’s Guide to Gelling, Thickening, and Emulsifying Agents. CRC Press. 2014
This book describes the scientific principles and culinary uses of texturizers in the kitchen. I contributed original research and writing to this book, along with other members of the Foundation Alicia team
Vayu Hill-Maini 