James (Wei Lun) Toh, PhD

Building deep tech for the climate ∙ Flagship Pioneering Fellow 2026 ∙ PhD in Chemistry from MIT

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

About

I'm currently a Fellow at Flagship Pioneering, an established venture creation firm in Cambridge, MA. I was formerly the Principal Product Scientist at Lithios Inc, an innovative startup based in Cambridge, MA dedicated to developing Advanced Lithium Extraction (ALE) via an electrochemical approach for more energy-efficient lithium production. Prior to that, I was a PhD graduate student in Prof Yogesh Surendranath's group in Chemistry at MIT, working to better understand how to manage electrolytes in electrochemical devices to optimize transport in membranes and electrocatalysis at electrodes. I have extensive expertise in electrochemistry and materials science, with deep knowledge of membrane science, electrocatalysis, electrochemical device fabrication, and CO2 capture and storage. I strongly believe in the power of translational science, and am deeply passionate about accelerating our energy transition through innovative and disruptive technopreneurship on meaningful sustainability problems. Feel free to contact me if you would like to chat!

Experience

  • Fellow at Flagship Pioneering
    Jun 2026 - Present · 2 mos

    Summer fellow with Flagship Pioneering, an established venture creation firm best known for creating the mRNA vaccine company, Moderna

  • Lithios (Full-time · 2 yrs 5 mos)
    • Principal Product Scientist
      Feb 2025 - Jan 2026 · 1 yr

    • Senior Research Scientist
      Sep 2023 - Jan 2025 · 1 yr 5 mos

      Developing Advanced Lithium Extraction (ALE) using a cutting-edge electrochemical approach

  • Graduate Student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Aug 2018 - Aug 2023 · 5 yrs 1 mo

    Worked with Prof Yogesh Surendranath on understanding how to manage the electrolyte environment in various electrochemical device types, including its impact on ion transport in bipolar membranes. The quality of our first publication on this topic was recognized by curation into the ACS Editors’ Choice archives.

  • Lab Officer at Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), A*STAR
    Jul 2017 - Aug 2018 · 1 yr 2 mos

    Worked with Dr Yugen Zhang on the fabrication of low-cost cathodes for next-generation lithium-sulfur batteries

  • Undergraduate Researcher at Imperial College London
    Oct 2016 - Dec 2016 · 3 mos

    Worked in Dr. Andrew Ashley's group at the Department of Chemistry for my BSc project, on characterizing the structure and reactivity of a potential diazene-bound intermediate in an iron bis(diphosphine)-based catalyst for the selective reduction of dinitrogen to hydrazine. This work was recognized with the HVA Briscoe Prize for Excellence in Inorganic Chemistry, and with a Highly Commended by The Undergraduate Awards.