SINCE 2026
Biocompile
CEO & Co-founder
- Honey without bees
- Virology to food tech
- Food as a molecular target
- Bench-to-scale IP ownership
PHD SCIENTIST · CO-FOUNDER, MELIBIO · UC BERKELEY
Aaron M. Schaller
The virologist who reverse-engineered honey into a spec and served it bee-free.
Aaron Schaller builds at the intersection of AI and the life sciences at Biocompile, the second company he has co-founded. He came through MeliBio, where as co-founder and CTO he invented Mellody — the first real honey made without bees, a 1:1 match served at 3-Michelin-star Eleven Madison Park before FoodYoung Labs acquired it in 2025. Earlier he earned a UC Berkeley virology PhD. He calls himself an avid chef, gardener, and scientist, and lets the chef set the bar the science must clear.
- 10,000 lbsMeliBio co-manufacturing capacity, per day
- $9.4MMeliBio seed round, 2020
- 2021TIME Best Invention, honey without bees
- 13citations of his J Virol paper (Web of Science)
HAPPENING NOW
STANDING TODAY
SINCE 2025
Schaller Consulting
Principal
HOW THEY THINK4 BELIEFS
Four beliefs run from a virus's genome to a honey on the supermarket shelf.
THE IMPACT
Two bodies of work, one instinct: take biology apart, then rebuild it.
EVERYTHING ELSE · 6 WORKS
THE TIMELINE
One instinct across four chapters: take apart what biology makes, then rebuild it better.
The whole record, newest first – tap any moment and Aster tells the story.
2025–PRESENT
Swapping in computation, biology still the object
After MeliBio's 2025 acquisition, Schaller turned toward AI and the life sciences. He studied AI at '100 school,' earned a 'Coding with AI' certification, took a contract role as an AI Biology STEM Specialist at Handshake, and in January 2026 co-founded Biocompile — his second company. The instrument changes; the object, biology, stays fixed.
“Building in AI and Life Sciences”
2020–2025
Honey without bees, engineered to a spec
As co-founder and CTO, Schaller led the science, R&D, and IP that turned honey into an engineered specification. MeliBio raised a $9.4M seed, won TIME's Best Invention of 2021, and shipped Mellody — a 1:1 honey match first served at 3-Michelin-star Eleven Madison Park. FoodYoung Labs acquired the company in April 2025.
“the first real honey produced without bees, trademarked as Mellody®”
2012–2019
Tracing how a virus switches on silenced DNA
At Fred Hutch under Harmit Malik, then a UC Berkeley PhD under HHMI investigator Britt Glaunsinger, Schaller studied how viruses manipulate the host genome. His first-author Journal of Virology paper showed the herpesviral kinase ORF36 switches on silenced B2 SINE retrotransposons through HDAC1/2 inhibition — mechanism traced down to the enzyme.
2001–2011
Oocytes, ion channels, and a decade on the construction crew
Before the labs, Schaller spent a decade managing projects for Keith Schaller Construction (2001–2011). As a Western Washington University undergraduate he ran electrophysiology experiments on ion channels in Xenopus laevis oocytes using the two-voltage clamp technique, presenting the work at Sigma Xi Scholars Day.