Pillai is a biochemist and evolutionary biologist who joined the Institute in Fall 2025 as an Assistant Investigator. His research explores how new protein structures originate during evolution and how those principles can be harnessed to design future therapeutics. In establishing his lab, he plans to recruit and mentor a collaborative, multidisciplinary team of scientists passionate about tackling biology’s biggest mysteries.

“I enjoy working with committed, curious students who come from diverse disciplinary backgrounds,” said Pillai.

The small class sizes and limited teaching load for Stowers Graduate School faculty means that Pillai and other faculty have more flexibility in how they approach coursework. “I can be very intentional about how I design and refine a course,” Pillai said, “trying ideas, getting feedback, and iteratively improving the material in a way that would be much harder at a larger, more traditional university.”

Pillai’s long-term goal is to build molecular tools—such as programmable sensors or therapeutic delivery systems—that could one day help detect and treat conditions like cancer or Alzheimer’s disease. Students working with Pillai can look forward to studying deep evolutionary biology paired with advanced protein biochemistry and artificial intelligence to investigate and explore these questions.

“If you have initiative and enthusiasm,” said Pillai, “there’s a huge amount of technical and intellectual support at Stowers to take ambitious ideas as far as they can go.”

Lean more about the Pillai Lab here.

If you’re ready to pursue big questions in biology and learn alongside world-class scientists and mentors, applications for the Stowers Ph.D. program are now open. Apply here.