Payam Mehrshahi holds a PhD in plant biotechnology from the University of Nottingham. His scientific achievements include pioneering techniques in molecular and synthetic biology and analytical biochemistry to determine how plants and algae make/store high-value chemicals like pigments, vitamins, and oils.

Payam has led international programs at Michigan State University (2008-2015) and University of Cambridge (2015-2025), developing a track record in working across disciplines, where he collaborated with researchers, educators, and industry partners to address global challenges in food security, climate change, and renewable energy. From 2020-2024, Payam managed the Algal Innovation Centre at the University of Cambridge and led R&D, educational and outreach projects, particularly between industry and academic collaborators. Payam has experience of developing and delivering professional development courses on plant and algal biotechnology for undergraduate and postgraduate students and supervised or mentored researchers at different stages of their careers.

Before joining GreenCoLab, Payam was interim Chief Technology Officer for the startup Nutrition from Water (NXW), setting and overseeing the direction, goals and KPIs for R&D and scale-up activities, while also managing collaboration with research partners and clients to accelerate R&D initiatives.