Maya Schuldiner (Hebrew: מאיה שולדינר; born March 15, 1975) is an Israeli molecular geneticist, a full professor at the Faculty of Biochemistry in the Weizmann Institute of Science,[1] who serves as the chair of its scientific council.

She then conducted postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Jonathan Weissman at the University of California in San Francisco from 2003 until 2008, when she joined the faculty of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel.

Schuldiner’s research focuses on uncovering functions for uncharacterized proteins using the bakers yeast as a central eukaryotic model.

She does this by using high content screening approaches coupled with dedicated follow-ups and with an interest on processes that occur inside organelles.

In the past years her group has made several paradigmatic discoveries in this field: While carrying out her postdoctoral studies in the lab of Prof. Jonathan Weissman and in collaboration with Prof. Blanche Schwappach, she discovered the GET (Guided Entry of Tail Anchor proteins) pathway, which targets Tail Anchor proteins and GPI anchor proteins to the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER); they discovered the EMC complex (ER Membrane complex); defined a role for the protease Ste24 in clearing blocked translocation pores into the ER; identified a new targeting pathway to the ER, the SND (Srp iNDependent) pathway which they and others have then shown is also conserved in humans; discovered a new targeting receptor to peroxisomes, Pex9 and a new mechanism for proteins to co-translationally target to peroxisomal membranes.

Schuldiner's studies have dramatically increased the number of known contact sites, the tethers that form them, and their regulators as well as the molecules that transfer through these specialized domains.

To systematically explore cell biology in increasing resolution and throughput, her group also constantly create new tools and approaches as well as optimize existing ones.