Mihir Pershad

Singapore, Singapore Contact Info
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    Business Consulting and Public Speaking

About

I am a serial entrepreneur passionate about harnessing deep tech and business model…

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Experience & Education

  • Umami Bioworks

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Volunteer Experience

  • Thought For Food Graphic

    TFF® Ambassador Singapore

    Thought For Food

    - Present 3 years 11 months

    Launched in 2016, the TFF® Ambassador Program has created uncountable connections and experiences for young changemakers and has taken the TFF® movement to new heights. As a TFF® Ambassador, I:
    - Host meetups, events and other impactful activities focused on raising awareness about food and agriculture and the opportunities to innovate in this space.
    - Improve my entrepreneurial skills, build a strong network of fellow change-makers and create an impact on the local, regional and global…

    Launched in 2016, the TFF® Ambassador Program has created uncountable connections and experiences for young changemakers and has taken the TFF® movement to new heights. As a TFF® Ambassador, I:
    - Host meetups, events and other impactful activities focused on raising awareness about food and agriculture and the opportunities to innovate in this space.
    - Improve my entrepreneurial skills, build a strong network of fellow change-makers and create an impact on the local, regional and global levels.
    - Gain access to exclusive resources, training, and tools that are building my leadership skills.

  • Thought For Food Graphic

    Food Systems Game Changers Lab Guide

    Thought For Food

    - 5 months

    Health

    The Food Systems Game Changers Lab is a global program to build a better food future, together.

    EAT, IDEO, Thought For Food, The Rockefeller Foundation, Forum for the Future, Meridian Institute, SecondMuse and Intention 2 Impact have joined forces to support ideas, enterprises and initiatives that have the potential to transform our world’s food systems. The Food Systems Game Changers Lab is in support of the UN Food Systems Summit.

    As a Guide, I facilitated systems thinking…

    The Food Systems Game Changers Lab is a global program to build a better food future, together.

    EAT, IDEO, Thought For Food, The Rockefeller Foundation, Forum for the Future, Meridian Institute, SecondMuse and Intention 2 Impact have joined forces to support ideas, enterprises and initiatives that have the potential to transform our world’s food systems. The Food Systems Game Changers Lab is in support of the UN Food Systems Summit.

    As a Guide, I facilitated systems thinking discussions and solutions development for cohorts working to develop more inclusive, sustainable solutions for our food system.

  • Venture For America Graphic

    Alumni Advisory Board - Programs Co-Chair

    Venture For America

    - 1 year 2 months

    Economic Empowerment

  • Conrad Challenge Graphic

    Judge

    Conrad Challenge

    - Present 4 years 9 months

    Education

Publications

  • Cultivated Abundance

    New Degree Press

    Cultivated Abundance is a book about how we can solve humanity’s most challenging problems with transformative technology entrepreneurship. I wrote this book because I think there are not nearly enough people working to solve the biggest challenges facing humanity, yet we need these types of people now more than ever. I set out to write a book that inspires more people to build startups with the goal of solving Big Intractable Problems facing the world and provides those aspiring entrepreneurs…

    Cultivated Abundance is a book about how we can solve humanity’s most challenging problems with transformative technology entrepreneurship. I wrote this book because I think there are not nearly enough people working to solve the biggest challenges facing humanity, yet we need these types of people now more than ever. I set out to write a book that inspires more people to build startups with the goal of solving Big Intractable Problems facing the world and provides those aspiring entrepreneurs with a roadmap of the strategies that can help them succeed.

    See publication

  • A Structural Model for Vinculin Insertion into PIP2-Containing Membranes and the Effect of Insertion on Vinculin Activation and Localization

    Structure

    Vinculin is an essential adhesion protein that links membrane-bound integrin and cadherin receptors through their intracellular binding partners to filamentous actin, facilitating mechanotransduction. Here we present an 8.5-Å-resolution cryo-electron microscopy reconstruction and pseudo-atomic model of the vinculin tail (Vt) domain bound to F-actin. Upon actin engagement, the N-terminal “strap” and helix 1 are displaced from the Vt helical bundle to mediate actin bundling. We find that an…

    Vinculin is an essential adhesion protein that links membrane-bound integrin and cadherin receptors through their intracellular binding partners to filamentous actin, facilitating mechanotransduction. Here we present an 8.5-Å-resolution cryo-electron microscopy reconstruction and pseudo-atomic model of the vinculin tail (Vt) domain bound to F-actin. Upon actin engagement, the N-terminal “strap” and helix 1 are displaced from the Vt helical bundle to mediate actin bundling. We find that an analogous conformational change also occurs in the H1′ helix of the tail domain of metavinculin (MVt) upon actin binding, a muscle-specific splice isoform that suppresses actin bundling by Vt. These data support a model in which metavinculin tunes the actin bundling activity of vinculin in a tissue-specific manner, providing a mechanistic framework for understanding metavinculin mutations associated with hereditary cardiomyopathies.

    See publication

  • Role of PIP2-Dependent Membrane Interactions in Vinculin Activation, Motility and Force Transmission

    Biophysical Journal

    Vinculin is an essential and abundant cytoskeletal protein localized to focal adhesions and cell-cell contacts, where it participates in the linkage of transmembrane receptors to the actin cytoskeleton to control cell survival and migration. Loss of vinculin results in increased cell migration, apoptotic resistance, and the acquisition of tumorigenic properties. Mutations in vinculin and its splice variant, metavinculin, are associated with cardiac disease. Vinculin consists of a head domain…

    Vinculin is an essential and abundant cytoskeletal protein localized to focal adhesions and cell-cell contacts, where it participates in the linkage of transmembrane receptors to the actin cytoskeleton to control cell survival and migration. Loss of vinculin results in increased cell migration, apoptotic resistance, and the acquisition of tumorigenic properties. Mutations in vinculin and its splice variant, metavinculin, are associated with cardiac disease. Vinculin consists of a head domain (Vh) and a tail domain (Vt) that form autoinhibitory interactions in its inactive state, but release upon activation, exposing phosphorylation, protein and phosphoinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) binding sites. The interaction of vinculin with PIP2 is believed critical for its function, however, it is currently unclear how vinculin specifically recognizes PIP2 and regulates vinculin. Vt forms an antiparallel five-helix bundle with amino-terminal (NT) and carboxyl terminal (CT) extensions. While a crystal structure of an oligomerized Vt mutant complexed to a short chain PIP2 has recently been published (Chinthalapudi et al. (JCB, 2014)), the structure is incompatible with membrane insertion. We propose an alternative model using experimental data, molecular docking and dynamics simulations and provide validation of the model through biophysical and biochemical analyses. In our model, the PIP2 head group binds to the Vt basic collar, and promotes release of Vt's strap and CT to facilitate membrane insertion. The role of vinculin/PIP2 interaction in mediating vinculin activation, localization, cell migration, force sensing and transmission has also been characterized using cell microscopy, including super-resolution microscopy approaches, by examining WT and PIP2-deficient full length vinculin in knockout cells. Information derived from these analyses will result in an unprecedented understanding of vinculin function from the molecular to the...

    See publication

  • The Structural Basis of Actin Organization by Vinculin and Metavinculin

    Journal of Molecular Biology

    Vinculin is an essential adhesion protein that links membrane-bound integrin and cadherin receptors through their intracellular binding partners to filamentous actin, facilitating mechanotransduction. Here we present an 8.5-Å-resolution cryo-electron microscopy reconstruction and pseudo-atomic model of the vinculin tail (Vt) domain bound to F-actin. Upon actin engagement, the N-terminal “strap” and helix 1 are displaced from the Vt helical bundle to mediate actin bundling. We find that an…

    Vinculin is an essential adhesion protein that links membrane-bound integrin and cadherin receptors through their intracellular binding partners to filamentous actin, facilitating mechanotransduction. Here we present an 8.5-Å-resolution cryo-electron microscopy reconstruction and pseudo-atomic model of the vinculin tail (Vt) domain bound to F-actin. Upon actin engagement, the N-terminal “strap” and helix 1 are displaced from the Vt helical bundle to mediate actin bundling. We find that an analogous conformational change also occurs in the H1′ helix of the tail domain of metavinculin (MVt) upon actin binding, a muscle-specific splice isoform that suppresses actin bundling by Vt. These data support a model in which metavinculin tunes the actin bundling activity of vinculin in a tissue-specific manner, providing a mechanistic framework for understanding metavinculin mutations associated with hereditary cardiomyopathies.

    See publication

Honors & Awards

  • Adams Apprentice

    -

    The Adams Apprenticeship connects Carolina's top entrepreneurial student talent with successful founders, funders and executives at high-growth ventures. Apprentices are all-in entrepreneurs tasked with building relationships within the Adams Advisors in order to accelerate their entrepreneurial careers.

  • Carolina Research Scholar

    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  • American Chemical Society Poster Award

    American Chemical Society, Analytical Chemistry Division

    Travel award to present about prominent figures in analytical chemistry for the 75th anniversary of the Analytical Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society

  • Colonel John T. and Lilian H Robinson Scholar

    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

    Four-year comprehensive merit-based scholarship to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for students engaged in math and the sciences

  • Honors Carolina

    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  • National AP Scholar

    -

  • National Merit Scholar

    -

  • Eagle Scout

    Boy Scouts of America

  • Gold Presidential Service Award

    Office of the President of the United States

    Three time award winner (2010, 2011, 2012) with a lifetime service record of over 1000 hours.

Languages

  • English

    Native or bilingual proficiency

  • Spanish

    Limited working proficiency

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