Morus appoints Fujii, former Beyond Meat Scientist, as Food Scientist 

We are pleased to announce that Ms. Fujii, a former scientist at Beyond Meat (Headquarters: El Segundo, California, USA), has joined our company as Food Scientist.

■ Ayu Fujii
Graduated from California State University, Long Beach (B.S. in Chemistry, Minor in Mathematics). While there, she conducted independent research on chemical transport through cell membranes using synthetic transporters. After returning to Japan, she worked on clinical drug development in the central nervous system and dermatology fields at Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. She then returned to the United States to join Beyond Meat, a leading plant-based meat startup based in El Segundo, California, as one of the core scientists who joined the company before the IPO. Her research focus included nutritional analyses and structure-function research through microstructure imaging and textural property measurements.

■ Comments from Ayu Fujii
“I come from a pharmaceutical and sustainable food background because contributing to people’s health and our future is my passion. I am very honored to be a part of this initiative to create a new global food industry with silkworms that have deep roots in Japanese history. As we witness significant climate change and the protein crisis, I will bring my passion to help solve pressing global challenges related to protein production and nutrition.”

■ Comments from Morus CEO Ryo Sato
“We are very honored to welcome Ms. Fujii, who came from Beyond Meat, a global startup in the alternative protein field. With her wide range of research tools in food science, we will accelerate our global growth and product development. We are excited to further advance our business.”

■ Careers at Morus
https://morusjp.notion.site/Careers-at-Morus-254925d2a0194502b5996550bfc7fe76

■ About Morus
Morus is an R&D-focused startup company that conducts research and produces biomaterials made from silkworms, the insects that have supported development of the Japanese economy. Our mission is to solve global problems such as the protein crisis by creating new raw materials from silkworms and supplying them to multiple industries through efficient mass production.

Silkworms are naturally rich in protein, have abundant nutrients, and are full of potential. There have been great advances in the research of silkworms’ unique nutrients that are not found in other insects. Silkworms are suitable for mass production because of their nature of not escaping and not cannibalizing, which has been developed over the long history of domestication. Ongoing research on silkworms continues to yield new discoveries. We believe silkworms will solve the global food crisis and even health problems using Japanese technologies and new research findings.

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