Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top Cambridge based Founder operating in the Genetics space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Philippe Leboulch
Founder & Co-Chair of Scientific Advisory Board of Bluebird Bio
Head of the Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies of CEA and INSERM; Professor of Medicine, University of Paris; and Visiting Professor, Harvard Philippe Leboulch is a scientific founder of bluebird bio. He serves as the co-chairman of its Scientific Advisory Board and leader of the LentiGlobin® project. He is a professor of medicine and cell biology at the University of Paris and visiting professor at Harvard Medical School. Philippe is also the director of the Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies of the CEA near Paris and director of an INSERM research unit. He maintains a research laboratory in the genetics division of the Brigham & Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School, where he previously served as a full-time faculty member for 15 years after a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT. Philippe is an expert in vectorology and hematopoietic gene therapy, with special emphasis on the beta-hemoglobinopathies. He has been published extensively in high-impact journals and is a regularly invited speaker at major international conferences. Philippe was a member of the Editorial Board of Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology. He has served on major committees of the National Institutes of Health and the American Society of Gene Therapy. Philippe has received numerous NIH grant awards and prizes that include the Grand Prize Etancelin of the French National Academy of Sciences.
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About Bluebird Bio: Bluebird Bio offers products based on the transformative potential of gene therapy for patients with genetic and orphan diseases.
Khaled Kteily
Founder & CEO of Legacy
Khaled Kteily is the Founder & CEO of Legacy, a digital fertility clinic for men helping change the outdated view that fertility is a “women’s issue”. Legacy is a graduate of Harvard’s Innovation Labs and Y Combinator, has raised over $20M from top-tier investors like FirstMark Capital & Bain Capital Ventures, as well as celebrities like Justin Bieber and DJ Khaled. The company works with leading insurers, military partners, and clinics in additions to its Direct to Consumer offering. A former healthcare consultant at Oliver Wyman in Toronto, Khaled studied public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he received a full scholarship and graduated with distinction. He previously graduated with a triple concentration from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Khaled is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), is an Aspen Ideas Health Scholar, and a World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellow. He was recently recognized as 40 under 40 by the Arab America Foundation. He serves on the boards of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership (Alumni Council) and the Harvard Arab Alumni Association.
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About Legacy: Legacy is a digital fertility clinic for men, founded at Harvard & backed by Y Combinator, FirstMark Capital, Bain Capital and celebrities.
Thomas Schuetz
Co-Founder of Audentes Therapeutics
Dr. Schuetz, M.D., Ph.D., is the co-founder of Audentes Therapeutics and has served as a member of the board of directors since July 2013. Dr. Schuetz also provided consulting services to Audentes from July 2012 to June 2013. Dr. Schuetz is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Compass Therapeutics, LLC. Previously, Dr. Schuetz was a Venture Partner at OrbiMed. Dr. Schuetz served as the Chief Medical Officer of Therion Biologics Corporation and the Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. (now Shire Pharmaceuticals, Inc.). Dr. Schuetz has also served as the Chief Medical Resident at Massachusetts General Hospital and completed a medical oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Schuetz also serves on the board of directors of Relypsa, Inc. and Glypharma, Inc. Dr. Schuetz holds a B.S. in chemistry from Xavier University, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University. Dr. Schuetz is Board Certified in Medical Oncology.
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About Audentes Therapeutics, Compass Therapeutics, Inc.: Audentes is a biotechnology company that employs gene therapy technology to develop treatments for people with rare muscle diseases.
Chris Mason
Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Avrobio
Chris Mason is the Founder & Chief Scientific Officer at AVROBIO .
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About Avrobio, Cell & Gene Therapy, Krystal Biotech, Ori Biotech, University College London (UCL): Avrobio is a clinical stage company developing step-change cell and gene therapies targeting cancer and rare disease.
Jeffrey Medin
Scientific Founder of Avrobio
Jeffrey received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Kentucky. He then trained at the NIH working on gene transcription and gene transfer/therapy. He was recently a Senior Scientist at the University Health Network and a Full Professor at the University of Toronto. In January 2016, Jeffrey started a new position as the MACC Fund Endowed Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He is also Vice Chair of Research Innovation for the Department of Pediatrics, Research Director within the Section of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and GMP Facility Director.
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About Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses, Avrobio, GMP Securities, Medical College of Wisconsin: Avrobio is a clinical stage company developing step-change cell and gene therapies targeting cancer and rare disease.
Christopher Paige
Scientific Founder of Avrobio
Christopher earned a PhD in Immunology at the Sloan-Kettering Division of Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in 1979. He became a Member of the Basel Institute for Immunology in Switzerland in 1980 where he worked until joining the Ontario Cancer Institute as a Senior Scientist in 1987. In 1990, Christopher became the founding Director of the Arthritis and Autoimmunity Research Centre as well as Director of Research at The Wellesley Hospital. In 1997, he returned to OCI, now part of the University Health Network, to assume the role of Vice President, Research at UHN. Christopher is a Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Immunology at the University of Toronto.
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About Avrobio, University of Toronto: Avrobio is a clinical stage company developing step-change cell and gene therapies targeting cancer and rare disease.
Derrick Rossi
Founder of Intellia Therapeutics
In 2010, Dr. Rossi discovered a groundbreaking method to reprogram skin cells into stem cells utilizing messenger molecules. His novel technique eliminated the risk of cancer posed by previous methods and sparked a push to develop cellular and molecular therapeutic products using the technologies he developed. More recently, Dr. Rossi and colleagues again innovated in the stem cell field by applying the CRISPR/Cas9 system to generate hematopoietic stem cells resistant to HIV infection. Dr. Rossi continues to study CRISPR for application in human therapeutics.
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About Convelo Therapeutics, Intellia Therapeutics, Moderna Therapeutics, Stelexis Therapeutics: Intellia Therapeutics is a genome editing company that develops curative gene-editing treatments.
Rodolphe Barrangou
Co-Founder of Intellia Therapeutics
Rodolphe Barrangou is an Associate Professor of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University. His lab focuses on the biology and genetics of CRISPR/Cas immune systems in bacteria. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Caribou Biosciences. Rodolphe was previously a Director of Research and Development at DuPont and Danisco. While with Dansico, he was part of the team that initially established the adaptive immune function of CRISPR systems. Rodolphe received his PhD in Functional Genomics from North Carolina State University and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
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About Intellia Therapeutics, North Carolina State University – NCSU: Intellia Therapeutics is a genome editing company that develops curative gene-editing treatments.
Luciano Marraffini
Founder & Advisor of Intellia Therapeutics
Luciano Marraffini is an Assistant Professor of Bacteriology at Rockefeller University. Luciano’s laboratory investigates the underlying molecular mechanisms of CRISPR immunity, and seeks to employ this natural pathway to develop new technologies. He is a 2012 Rita Allen Foundation Scholar and the recipient of a 2012 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. Luciano received his PhD from the University of Chicago where he studied bacterial pathogenesis, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University.
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About Eligo Bioscience, Intellia Therapeutics, The Rockefeller University: Intellia Therapeutics is a genome editing company that develops curative gene-editing treatments.
Steven Paul
Co-Founder of Voyager Therapeutics
Steven Paul is our Interim President of R&D, a member of the Board of Directors and a Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures. Steven Paul has had a distinguished career in neuroscience with an extensive track record in CNS drug discovery and development. He joined Third Rock in 2010, where he serves as a senior advisor to the firm and participates in the ideation and development of new companies. Steven Paul also currently leads the Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College. Preceding his appointment at Weill Cornell, Steven Paul spent 17 years at Eli Lilly, during which time he held several key leadership roles, including President of the Lilly Research Laboratories, and Vice President of Discovery Research and Neuroscience Research. As President of the Lilly Research Laboratories, he was responsible for the company’s overall R&D strategy, expanding its efforts in oncology and biotechnology and resulting in a pipeline of approximately 70 new molecular entities. Prior to Lilly, Steven Paul served as Scientific Director of the National Institute of Mental Health. He has also served as Medical Director in the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service. Steven Paul has authored or co-authored more than 500 papers and book chapters. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He currently serves on the board or as a trustee of several organizations, including Sage Therapeutics, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, the Sigma Aldrich Company and the Foundation for the NIH. Steven Paul holds a B.A. in biology and psychology from Tulane University and an M.S. and M.D. from the Tulane University School of Medicine.
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About Karuna Therapeutics, SAGE Therapeutics, Third Rock Ventures, Voyager Therapeutics, Voyager Therapeutics: Voyager Therapeutics is a gene therapy company developing treatments for fatal and debilitating diseases of the central nervous system
Cullen Buie
Co-Founder of Kytopen
Cullen R. Buie, Ph.D. is a Tenured Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and co-inventor of the high-throughput genetic modification technology. He brings expertise in the areas of microfluidics, microfabrication, and experimental fluid mechanics to Kytopen.
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About Kytopen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Kytopen developer of a cell therapy platform for non-viral delivery of molecules into hard-to-transfect immune cells.
Paulo Garcia
CEO & Co-Founder of Kytopen
Dr. Paulo A. Garcia co-invented the Flowfect™ technology while he was a Research Scientist at MIT. He is currently leading the development and commercialization efforts of the proprietary cell engineering platform for therapeutic and biotechnology applications.
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About Kytopen: Kytopen developer of a cell therapy platform for non-viral delivery of molecules into hard-to-transfect immune cells.
Nick Morrell
CEO and co-Founder of Morphogen-IX
Nick is the British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiopulmonary Medicine at the University of Cambridge, based in the Department of Medicine. He has 25 years of experience working in the field of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and is the Research Director of the National Pulmonary Hypertension Service at Papworth Hospital. His research spans clinical translational studies, experimental medicine, genetics, cell and molecular biology and preclinical models of disease. He has published over 200 papers in this field and is an internationally recognised authority on the pathobiology of PAH.
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About Morphogen-IX, Papworth Hospital, University of Cambridge: MORPHOGEN-IX Limited is a drug discovery company founded in 2015 by Index Ventures to develop bone morphogenetic proteins
Wei Li
Co-Founder of Morphogen-IX
Wei Li, Co-Founder at MORPHOGEN-IX LIMITED.
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About Morphogen-IX: MORPHOGEN-IX Limited is a drug discovery company founded in 2015 by Index Ventures to develop bone morphogenetic proteins
Abel Ureta-Vidal
Chief Product Officer & Founder of Eagle Genomics
With more than 12 years bioinformatics experience and a scientific background in molecular biology and immune-virology (PhD from the Pasteur Institute, France), Abel first mastered bioinformatics tools and code in the early 90s whilst working on viral phylogenetic studies. After his PhD, he joined the effort at Genoscope (Evry, France) in ramping up the human genome project, putting in place the automatic gene annotation system for human chromosome 14. In 2001, Abel moved to the European Bioinformatics Institute (Cambridge, UK) where he led the Ensembl comparative genomics team until 2007. He founded Eagle shortly before graduating from the Cambridge Judge Business School MBA program in 2008.
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About Eagle Genomics: Eagle Genomics is a enterprise software solutions company to enable the management, orchestration and exploitation of life sciences data.
Kiran Musunuru
Co-Founder of Verve Therapeutics
Kiran Musunuru is an associate professor of cardiovascular medicine and genetics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has made outstanding research contributions in the use of gene editing to study and treat cardiovascular disease. He was honored with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the White House in 2016, the American Heart Association’s Award of Meritorious Achievement in 2016, and the American Philosophical Society’s Judson Daland Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Investigation in 2018. Dr. Musunuru received his M.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College, his Ph.D. from the Rockefeller University, and his MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Before joining Penn Medicine in 2016, Dr. Musunuru trained in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and cardiovascular medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital, followed by postdoctoral work at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute.
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About Verve Therapeutics: Verve is focused on discovering and developing therapies that safely edit the genomes of adults to confer protection against coronary.
Issi Rozen
Co-Founder of Verve Therapeutics
Issi Rozen is the Chief Business Officer at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, where he is responsible developing innovative scientific and business collaborations with life sciences companies, technology companies and venture investors. He is also responsible for initiating and establishing new ventures around novel technologies and for overseeing strategy and licensing of the institute’s intellectual property portfolio. Issi joined the Broad in 2011 after a career in the biotech industry, where he led strategy and business development efforts at a number of venture-backed start-ups. Before that, he headed the business analysis group at a large biotech where he was responsible for evaluations in-licensing and M&A opportunities as well as commercial analytics and forecasting for pipeline and commercial products. Issi is also a co-founder of a number of start-ups and is an accomplished jazz guitarist and former professor at Berklee College of Music. He earned his MBA at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
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About Verve Therapeutics: Verve is focused on discovering and developing therapies that safely edit the genomes of adults to confer protection against coronary.
Burt Adelman
Co-Founder of Verve Therapeutics
Burt Adelman, MD is Chairman and a co-founder of Clear Creek Bio. Burt was born in New York City and graduated Cornell University Medical College in 1976. He served as House Officer and Medical Resident at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital from where he completed his hematology fellowship. Burt was a full time faculty member for 10 years – first at Harvard Medical School and then the Medical College of Virginia. In 1991, he joined Biogen, including as Executive Vice President of Research and Development and Executive Vice President for Portfolio Strategy and led development efforts for Angiomax (bivalarudin) for anticoagulation during angioplasty, Avonex (interferon beta) for multiple sclerosis, Amevive (alefecept) for psoriasis, and Tysabri (natalizumab) for multiple sclerosis. Burt retired from Biogen in 2007 and was most recently Executive Vice President Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer at Dyax Corp where he led the successful development of lanadelumab, a breakthrough drug for the prevention of acute attacks of hereditary angioedema. Dyax was sold to Shire in 2016 for $6.5 billion. Burt is a board member for Catabasis Pharmaceuticals, Sirona-med (a private cardiac device company) and Syntimmune (aquired by Alexion), and a senior advisor to Novo Ventures. He serves on the Board of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust and is a member of the investment committee of the Partners Innovation Fund (Mass General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals). Burt is a generous mentor to select physician-scientists and students in the Harvard – MIT ecosystem where he regularly lectures on life sciences innovation and drug development.
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About Clear Creek Bio, Verve Therapeutics: Verve is focused on discovering and developing therapies that safely edit the genomes of adults to confer protection against coronary.
Danny Reinberg
Founder of Constellation Pharmaceuticals
Professor of Biochemistry, New York University School of Medicine Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
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About Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Fulcrum Therapeutics: Constellation Pharmaceuticals develops drugs in the field of epigenetics focusing on selective regulators of its function.
Yang Shi
Founder of Constellation Pharmaceuticals
Professor of Cell Biology, HMS and Merton Bernfield Professor of Neonatology at Children’s Hospital
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About Constellation Pharmaceuticals: Constellation Pharmaceuticals develops drugs in the field of epigenetics focusing on selective regulators of its function.
Julie Legault
Executive Director, Founder of Amino Labs
Julie legault is the creative director, founder and ceo of amino labs inc, the company pioneering accessible bioengineering in the home and school. As a designer, julie works to make scientific and technological innovations approachable to the public, crafting experiences and products that invite culture shifts. She holds a master of art from the school of materials at the royal college of art (uk), degrees in both design technology and arts from concordia university (canada), and a masters of science from the mit media lab, massachusetts institute of technology(usa). She has taught at birmingham’s institute of art and design (uk) and worked with multi-nationals (aston martin, nokia, bombay sapphire,audi, etc), , museums, and pop stars like rihanna and imogen heap to develop smart materials, wearable technologies, and interactive art.
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About Amino Labs: Amino Labs is a biotechnology company that aims to make genetic engineering accessible to everyone.
Allan M. Fox
Co-Founder of Dimension Therapeutics
Allan M. Fox is the founder and a partner of FoxKiser since 1986. He is specialized in identifying and enhancing business opportunities and improving competitive market positions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Fox provided his services as the director of Dimension Therapeutics from 2013 to 2015. He has also held the same position at REGENX Biosciences. Fox holds a degree in law, science, and medicine from Yale Law School. He also obtained a juris doctorate and bachelor’s degree from Temple University.
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About Dimension Therapeutics, FoxKiser: Dimension Therapeutics is a gene therapy company developing novel treatments for rare diseases.
Dan Greenfield
Co-Founder of PetaGene
Dan Greenfield – spent four years leading teams at startups in Silicon Valley architecting and building groundbreaking products in parallel computing and high performance networking, with a subsequent acquisition by NASDAQ-listed nVidia. He completed a MEng in Bioinformatics, followed by a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Cambridge. His PhD dissertation in Communication Locality in Computation was awarded the 2011 BCS/CHPC Distinguished Dissertation Prize, for the top Computer Science dissertation in the UK. Insights from this dissertation led to founding Fonleap.
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About Fonleap, PetaGene: PetaGene’s mission is to make genomics data cheaper, faster and better.
Vaughan Wittorff
Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer of PetaGene
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About PetaGene: PetaGene’s mission is to make genomics data cheaper, faster and better.
Nawaz Khan
Research Director, Co-Founder of Discuva
Nawaz Khan is the VP Anti-infectives Research at Summit Therapeutics.
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About Discuva, Summit Therapeutics: Antibacterial discovery research has been driven, medically, commercially
Alberto Bardelli
Founder of Horizon Discovery
Alberto Bardelli is a professor at the University of Torino, He is also a Researcher and co-founder of Horizon Discovery, which is a successful British biotech company.
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About Horizon Discovery: Horizon is a gene editing company that designs & engineers genetically-modified cells, applying them to advance human health.
Dave Peck
Co Founder & Consultant of Genometry
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About Broad Institute, Genometry: Genometry commercializes a genome-wide, high-throughput, gene-expression profiling method for pharmaceutical discovery applications.
James Bradner
Founder of Tensha Therapeutics
Dr. Bradner is a chemical biologist and hematologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. He is a graduate of Harvard College, the University of Chicago-Pritzker School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School-Health Sciences and Technology. He completed internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, followed by Hematology and Medical Oncology training in the combined Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care Fellowship Program. He completed post-doctoral research training under the mentorship of Professor Stuart Schreiber, PhD in the Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology at Harvard University and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. In 2009, he joined the research faculty of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Bradner is an Associate Member of the Broad Institute and affiliated faculty in the Chemical Biology Program of Harvard Medical School. He has published in many prestigious journals and is a member of the American Society of Hematology and the American Chemical Society. He is board-certified in Hematology, Oncology and Internal Medicine. Dr. Bradner’s specific interests include the development of direct-acting inhibitors of transcriptional complexes and isoform-selective inhibitors of chromatin-modifying enzymes.
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About Tensha Therapeutics: Tensha Therapeutics develops small molecule bromodomain inhibitors to treat cancer and other serious disorders.
