Hannah Wastyk — Mountain Concept

About

I work at the intersection of biology and AI. I also write books.

Currently, I lead data strategy at Axiom Biosciences, building frontier experimental data sets and training AI to predict drug toxicity in humans. My background is in bioengineering and I have a PhD from Stanford. Previously, I was co-founder and CEO of Interface Biosciences for five years, a drug discovery company in the microbiome space.

I also write upmarket and speculative fiction. My agent is Arley Sorg at KT Literary and I am a 2025 Clarion West Novel Writing Workshop Alum. My substack can be found here

In my free time I also lift, play flag football and tennis, spend time outdoors, travel, and cook.

Science

Systems biologist x AI Research scientist

Broadly, I’m very interested in better understanding how complex biological systems work, how we can characterize their states, and ultimately how we can manipulate them to improve human health. I particularly enjoy identifying concepts from one field that can be applied to another. An example of this is using mathematical frameworks from ecology to understand microbiome dynamics or concepts from dynamical systems and many-body physics (i.e. bifurcation theory) to understand stem cell differentiation.

Publications & press →

Writing

Upmarket and Speculative Fiction

I really love to write. My stories always come out as character-driven coming of age novels (adult and YA) that explore people doing their best to navigate complex relationships and imperfect value systems. I always write about something I don’t understand yet. Some questions I am exploring in my writing now include - What does it mean to be successful? To be special? Can you be happy and unsatisfied? What is love? What are the different kinds of love? What does it mean to love someone else?

Timeline

Life timeline

2025

Started at Axiom Bio. Graduated from Clarion West Novel Writing Workshop and finished my second book, an adult coming of age exploring what we lose in the pursuit of success and how we find our way back.

2022

Finished writing my first book, a YA fantasy novel about an adoptee wrestling with intersectional identities and what it means to belong.

2021

Graduated from Stanford with PhD in Bioengineering. Worked in Justin Sonnenburg's lab and published a Cell paper on fermented foods + the microbiome — cited 1,700+× and featured by the NYT.

2020

Co-founded Interface Biosciences during my last year of grad school. Raised $5M+ and ran it as CEO for 5.5 years, grew to 14 FTEs.

2017

B.S. Biochemistry, University of Delaware, summa cum laude. Worked in Catherine Grimes Lab. Moved to the Bay Area and started my PhD at Stanford.

2013

Intel ISEF, First Place and Best in Category in Cellular & Molecular Biology. Invited to the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm.

2011

First research experience as a high school intern at Penn State Medical Center. Brewed a lot of coffee and washed a lot of dishes before they allowed me to run western blots.

1995

Born in Jiangxi, China. Adopted and raised in small-town in Pennsylvania.

Now

What I'm doing now

Updated August 2026 · what's a now page?

work

AI is taking over and I live in San Francisco, so it’s hard not to want to be in the room where it happens. I joined Axiom to better understand the AI space as it evolves and also make the world a better place by improving human health. Happy to report we’ve been making meaningful strides on both fronts.

Some questions I’ve been thinking about:

What kinds of biological data will be best suited for AI? How do you collect these data sets at scale? Is more data or better data more important? Are existing biological assays sufficient for AI modeling, or do we need assay development that’s tailored to AI models?
What should an “AI skill tree” look like for an agent to parse the ever-changing landscape of biology? Right now, I think the most foundational and abstract skills it needs to master are:
- Going from correlation to causation
- Identifying real signal from biological noise
- Knowing what you don’t know—when does the agent need more information, and what information does it need?
How do we set up tasks for an agent to learn? Usually these tasks are binary or 4×4 matching, but when biology exists on a spectrum of gray, how do we define different states such that we can set up appropriate evals?
What does it mean to have a lab-in-the-loop? What type of hardware and infrastructure is needed to make the fast iterations possible? What are the main constraints? Compound synthesis? Assay selection? Experimental noise?

writing

After finishing up the Clarion West Novel Writing Workshop and signing with my agent, Arley Sorg, I’ve been hard at work finishing up final edits for my adult upmarket novel. Edits have focused on adding texture to each line so they hold more weight and layering in tiny additional dimensions to the characters and plot.
I have been kicking around ideas for my next book a lot and think I have enough to start an exploratory draft. My goal is to have the first three chapters of the new book done by the end of 2026. I think this book will strive to answer questions like: What does it mean to be “special?” Satisfied? Happy?
Blogging more on Substack is a constant goal that I’m hoping to work on more this year.

life

Really happy currently with the balance of things in my personal life.

I’ve been cooking a lot and have improved my skills significantly over the past few years. An expanded set of cookbooks has really increased the range of spices I’m comfortable using and different techniques for enhancing flavor.
My partner and I recently started playing flag football. Ever since I was a kid, football has been my favorite sport, so learning how to play as an adult has been unexpected and incredibly fun. The community is also a highlight.
Parties. I love to throw parties, big and small. I stopped for a year or so, but we’re so back.
I’ve been lifting decently consistently since junior year of college, which I realize now has been about 10 years. A very steady baseline in my life.
Traveling! I take about one big trip a year with some smaller weekend getaways sprinkled in. Some notable places I’ve been recently include Croatia, Japan, Italy, Singapore, and Hawaii.

Science

Academic publications

Updated August 2026 from Google Scholar. Behind a paywall? Contact me and I'll send a free PDF.

Journal articles & preprints

Caffrey EB, Olm MR, Kothe CI, Wastyk HC, Evans JD, Sonnenburg JL. “MiFoDB, a workflow for microbial food metagenomic characterization, enables high-resolution analysis of fermented food microbial dynamics.” mSystems, 2025. doi:10.1128/msystems.00141-25

Wastyk HC, Perelman D, Topf M, et al. “Randomized controlled trial demonstrates response to a probiotic intervention for metabolic syndrome that may correspond to diet.” Gut Microbes, 2023. doi:10.1080/19490976.2023.2178794

Olm MR, Dahan D, Carter MM, … Wastyk HC … et al. “Robust variation in infant gut microbiome assembly across a spectrum of lifestyles.” Science, 2022. doi:10.1126/science.abj2972

Spencer SP, Silva EGL, Caffrey EB, … Wastyk HC … et al. “Fermented foods restructure gut microbiota and promote immune regulation via microbial metabolites.” bioRxiv, 2022. doi:10.1101/2022.05.11.490523

Wastyk HC*, Fragiadakis GK*, Perelman D, et al. “Gut Microbiota-Targeted Diets Modulate Human Immune Status.” Cell, 2021. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2021.06.019

Hunter SA, McIntosh BJ, Shi Y, … Wastyk HC … et al. “An engineered ligand trap inhibits leukemia inhibitory factor as pancreatic cancer treatment strategy.” Communications Biology, 2021. doi:10.1038/s42003-021-01928-2

Crimarco A, Springfield S, Petlura C, … Wastyk HC … et al. “A randomized crossover trial on the effect of plant-based compared with animal-based meat on trimethylamine-N-oxide and cardiovascular disease risk factors in generally healthy adults.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2020. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqaa203

Gonzalez CG, Wastyk HC, Topf M, et al. “High-Throughput Stool Metaproteomics: Method and Application to Human Specimens.” mSystems, 2020. doi:10.1128/msystems.00200-20

Fragiadakis GK, Wastyk HC, Robinson JL, et al. “Long-term dietary intervention reveals resilience of the gut microbiota despite changes in diet and weight.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2020. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqaa046

Schaefer AK, Wastyk HC, Mohanan V, et al. “Crohn’s Disease Variants of Nod2 Are Stabilized by the Critical Contact Region of Hsp70.” Biochemistry, 2017. doi:10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00470

Kardos GR, Wastyk HC, Robertson GP. “Disruption of Proline Synthesis in Melanoma Inhibits Protein Production Mediated by the GCN2 Pathway.” Molecular Cancer Research, 2015. doi:10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-15-0048