Dr. Isabella Fiorello is an Assistant Professor at Imperial College London, where she leads the Hybrid Nature Lab (https://www.fiorellolab.com/).  Her research focuses on the development of small-scale hybrid robotic machines inspired by nature, integrating biological components, advanced materials, microfabrication, and robotics to create systems capable of interacting with and adapting to complex, unstructured environments. Her work explores applications in precision agriculture, environmental sustainability, soft robotics, smart textiles, and space exploration. Before joining Imperial College London, she was a Junior Group Leader at the Cluster of Excellence Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS) at the University of Freiburg, where she led the Biohybrid Machines group. From 2023, she was also a Fulbright Scholar at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California. She received her Master’s Degree in Industrial Biotechnology, with honors, from the University of Turin (Italy) in 2017 and her PhD in Biorobotics, with honors, from the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy) in 2021. From 2021 to 2023, she was a postdoctoral researcher in the Bioinspired Soft Robotics Laboratory at the Italian Institute of Technology (Genoa, Italy). She is the principal investigator of several European and international research projects, including a Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network and a National Geographic grant. During her scientific career, she has received several prestigious awards and recognitions, including the Young Researcher of the Year – Eni Award (2022), Falling Walls Lab Italy (first prize), and a Fulbright Grant.

Yuanquan Liu received her bachelor's degree in Packaging Engineering in 2020 and her master's degree in Materials and Chemical Engineering from Nanjing Forestry University in 2023. She joined the Fiorello team in May 2024 as a PhD student. Her research aims to develop plant-inspired biohybrid materials that can be used in small bionic soft robots.

Arjun Vijaykumar is a design engineer by training and a doctoral candidate within the SUS-BIOCROP Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network of the European Union. His research focuses on the development of autonomous compostable soft agri-robots for seed delivery with applications in climate resilient precision agriculture. He holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering with a master’s thesis in food-grade biomaterial formulation and processing using 3D-printing for eco-engineering livestock agriculture from the department of materials, ETH Zürich. During this work he developed 3D cell scaffolds for tissue engineering applications in cellular agriculture, contributing to the ETH deeptech spinoff - Sallea, which raised $2.6M in pre-seed funding. He subsequently conducted doctoral research in micro-biofabrication and microphysiological systems at Johns Hopkins University, studying developmental biology and manufacturing micro-robots for targeted drug delivery. At Johns Hopkins, he was also briefly a lecturer in the Sustainable Energy Engineering Program, where he designed and taught ‘Reimagining Food Production: The Role of Tissue Engineering and 3D Printing.’ Formerly as a design engineer he has been the recipient of the Helmholtz Association's FAIR - GET_INvolved Scholarship to work on the design of the nuclear radiation shielding around the world's largest Cryogenic Stopping Cell in GSI-Darmstadt’s FRS Ion Catcher. His other design engineering solutions for socioeconomic and environmental problems in the Indian subcontinent have been recognized and awarded national accolades by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, Science Society of India as well as the Governor of the State of Maharashtra, India. Outside academia, he has been actively engaged with governments and public policy organizations as a science diplomat and was formerly the Indian representative to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs from the 28th UN/IAF Session.

David Schultz has over 15 years experience in the field of metal-working industry. He has a bachelor professional of metal production and management. He joined the Fiorello group as technical assistant in April 2024, where he supports the group in the field of purchasing and maintenance of the laboratories.