Liliya Khasin

Yo, you gotta hear about Liliya Khasin. She’s one of those people who just crushed it from the jump. W20 YC batch, so she’s legit in the startup scene. But what really makes her stand out? It’s her brains and her hustle. She’s deep in biotech, but not just the boring kind. She’s out here trying to change the game on obesity and diabetes, like, actually tackling the root with some wild science.

So, she’s a co-founder and senior scientist at Equator Therapeutics. These guys are backed by YC, which means they’re the real deal. Their goal? Develop drugs that make your body burn fat and boost metabolism by messing with mitochondria, the tiny power plants in our cells. Basically, they’re trying to make your body heat up and burn calories without you even hitting the gym. That’s some advanced shit. Imagine a pill that makes your body do all the fat-burning work. That’s what she’s working on.

But how’d she get here? She’s got a PhD from Berkeley in Cell and Molecular Biology. Her research was all about mitochondria, how they’re regulated and how they produce heat. She worked under Polina Lishko, who’s a big name in the space. Before that, she got her PharmD from Western University and a B.Pharm from Ben-Gurion in Israel. So, she’s got serious academic creds and a solid science background.

Her process? It’s all about pushing boundaries. She started out as a research assistant, then a teaching fellow at Berkeley, getting her hands dirty in the lab, asking the right questions, and not settling for bullshit science. She’s always been curious about how things work at the cellular level, and now she’s applying that to real-world problems.

What’s crazy is that she saw a problem, obesity, T2D, and instead of just talking about it, she jumped into the science to find a solution. Her work on mitochondria isn’t just academic; it’s about creating something that can actually help millions. That drive? That’s what makes her the real deal. She’s not just in startups to say she is; she’s out here trying to make a difference, using her deep science background to build something that could totally change the way we think about health.

Bottom line? Liliya’s a mix of hardcore scientist and startup founder. She’s driven by real problems, backed by top-tier research, and she’s out here trying to shake up biotech with some original, no-bullshit solutions. That’s why she’s important, because she’s not scared to go deep, ask tough questions, and build something that matters. No cap.