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 United Kingdom based CEO’ operating in the Genetics space. If you think a CEO’ 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.
Gordon Sanghera
Chief Executive Officer, Co – founder of Oxford Nanopore Technologies
Gordon Sanghera was co-founder of Oxford Nanopore, together with Hagan Bayley and IP Group. He was appointed CEO in June 2005 having acted as a consultant since February 2005 whilst the Company was established. He brings over 15 years experience in the design, development and global launch of novel point-of-care biosensor devices. At Abbott Laboratories, Dr Sanghera held both UK and US Director level positions, including Research Director and Manufacturing Process Development Director. Before its acquisition by Abbott, Gordon led the R&D of Medisense Inc. where he was instrumental in the launch of several generations of blood glucose biosensor systems for the consumer and medical markets. He has also developed and validated market production processes to meet with the regulatory requirements for USA and Europe. Gordon has a DPhil in biosensor technology and a degree in Chemistry.
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About Oxford Nanopore Technologies: Oxford Nanopore Technologies develops nanopore-based electronic systems for analyzing single molecules, including DNA, RNA, and proteins.
Avi Lasarow
CEO Europe, Middle East & Africa of Prenetics
Avi Lasarow is a multiple award-winning South African entrepreneur referred to by the media as ‘a lifestyle genetics pioneer’ known for his work associated with DNA testing. Avi is currently founder and CEO of genetic testing company DNAFit Life Sciences, which conducted the worlds 1st peer-reviewed and published clinical trial using both genetics and exercise interventions. In 2011 he became the youngest person to be appointed Honorary Consul for South Africa to the United Kingdom by His Excellency President Jacob Zuma. Avi was recently named African Businessman of the year in London at the African Enterprise Awards, his company DNAFit has won numerous awards, including the Lloyd’s Bank National Business Award for Innovation of the Year in 2015, winner at the UKActive Flame Awards and an award for Innovation at the South African Chamber Awards. Most recently, DNAFit was named as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative in the field of Data Science.
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About DNAFit, Prenetics: Prenetics is a genetic and diagnostic health testing company that helps identify health risks with the use of a DNA sequencing technology.
Maria Chatzou Dunford
CEO and Co-Founder of Lifebit
Dr. Maria Chatzou, CEO of Lifebit, is a biotech innovator and a proud geek, expert in bioinformatics, medical informatics and high performance computing. She is also a passionate entrepreneur and has founded two companies, Innovation Forum Barcelona and Techstars-backed Lifebit. Prior to Lifebit, she was a researcher at the Centre for Genomic Regulation, in Barcelona, where she was designing and deploying tools and methods that facilitate the analysis of Big Biomedical Data, allow for biological discoveries, and promote personalised medicine. She was part of the developing team of Nextflow, a programming framework that is revolutionising the computational analysis of genomic data and setting the foundations for personalised medicine computational analyses. Maria is also a frequent industry speaker and has spoken in many international conferences on the subjects of docker containers, genomics workflows, the computational challenges of personalised medicine, AI and HPC in genomics, women in leadership, entrepreneurship, science ventures, among many other topics.
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About Lifebit: Lifebit CloudOS is the intelligent genomics platform that is the industry standard for unified, secure research over distributed big data.
Robert Habib
Chief Executive Officer of MiNA Therapeutics
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About MiNA Therapeutics: MiNA Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapeutic medicines to harness gene activation mechanisms.
Bobby Gaspar
Chief Executive Officer of Orchard Therapeutics
Bobby is Professor of paediatrics and immunology at the UCL Institute of Child Health and Honorary Consultant in paediatric immunology at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London. He has a special interest in the treatment of severe primary immune deficiencies, including bone marrow transplantation, gene and cell therapy. He has led multiple clinical trials that have shown that gene therapy can successfully correct the genetic defect in immune deficiencies. Bobby is currently leading UK and European-wide initiatives for newborn screening in severe combined immune deficiency. He is Director of the Centre for Research in Rare Diseases in Children (CRRDC), a new academic and clinical facility that will open at Great Ormond Street in 2018.
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About Orchard Therapeutics: Orchard Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients through innovative gene therapies.
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.
Ian Nicholson
Chief Executive Officer of F2G
Ian joined Advent in 2012 from Chroma Therapeutics Limited, a privately held oncology-focussed R&D company, where he served as Chief Executive Officer for eight years. Prior to joining Chroma, Ian was Senior Vice President, Business Development at Celltech Group plc, then the UK’s largest biotechnology company. He has extensive experience in licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and market development in the UK, Europe and the US. Ian has held a variety of senior commercial positions with Oxford Asymmetry International plc, Lonza AG and Amersham International plc and currently sits on the Boards of Consort Medical plc, Clinigen Group plc and is Non-Executive Chairman of Bioventix plc. Ian holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree from University College London and an MBA from Boston University. Ian is CEO of F2G Ltd and an advisor to NeRRe Therapeutics.
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About Advent Life Sciences, Amersham International, F2G: F2G discovers and develops novel drugs for the treatment of life-threatening fungal diseases.
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
Alex Zhavoronkov
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Insilico Medicine
Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine (insilico.com), a leader in next-generation artificial intelligence technologies for drug discovery, and biomarker development. He is also the founder and CEO of Deep Longevity, Inc, a global company developing a broad range of artificial intelligence-based biomarkers of aging and longevity. Since 2015 he invented critical technologies in the field of generative adversarial networks (GANs) and reinforcement learning (RL) for generation of the novel molecular structures with the desired properties and generation of synthetic biological and patient data. He also pioneered the applications of deep learning technologies for prediction of human biological age using multiple data types, transfer learning from aging into disease, target identification, and signaling pathway modeling. Under his leadership Insilico raised over $50 million in multiple rounds from expert investors, opened R&D centers in 6 countries and regions, and partnered with multiple pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and academic institutions. Prior to founding Insilico, he worked in senior roles at ATI Technologies (acquired by AMD in 2006), NeuroG Neuroinformatics, Biogerontology Research Foundation. Since 2012 he published over 130 peer-reviewed research papers, and 2 books including “The Ageless Generation: How Biomedical Advances Will Transform the Global Economy” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). He serves on the editorial boards of Aging Research Reviews, Aging, Trends in Molecular Medicine, Frontiers in Genetics, and co-chairs the Annual Aging Research, Drug Discovery and AI Forum (7th annual in 2020) at Basel Life, one of Europe’s largest industry events in drug discovery. He is the adjunct professor of artificial intelligence at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.
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About Deep Longevity, Insilico Medicine: Insilico Medicine develops an AI platform for drug development to treat cancer and age-related diseases.
Sergey Musienko
CEO of Atlas Biomed Group
Sergey Musienko is a technology expert with over a decade’s worth of experience, specifically in the health sector. He is the CEO of Atlas Biomed, the personalised health company. Sergey took time out to join the Silicon Valley think tank, Singularity University, in 2011. It was here that Sergey realised that the future was, in his words, “integrative personal omics profiles, which gather information about the body at a molecular level”. This insight led to him to found Atlas Biomed where he is currently the CEO. Here, he has put together a successful team that has developed two major products: the Atlas DNA Test and the Atlas Microbiome Test. These tests analyse how genes and gut bacteria influence various health traits like disease risk, nutrition, personal traits and physical activity, allowing people to take control of their health with actionable, scientifically proven lifestyle recommendations.
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About Atlas Biomed Group: The Atlas DNA and gut microbiome tests evaluate your health status and provide personalised recommendations to improve wellbeing.
Anthony Finbow
Chief Executive Officer of Eagle Genomics
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About 360Leaders, Eagle Genomics, Henley Business School, Solv: Eagle Genomics is a enterprise software solutions company to enable the management, orchestration and exploitation of life sciences data.
David Atkins
CEO of Congenica
Dr Atkins has over 25 years’ experience as a global leader in a broad range of diagnostics and healthcare businesses. He has held senior positions in R&D, business development, operations and sales and marketing. He has extensive commercial experience in markets in North America, EMEA, Asia and Latin America. Prior to joining Congenica, Dr Atkins was CEO of Synevo, a clinical diagnostic laboratory service business operating across Germany and Eastern Europe. Past roles also include global head of the Advanced Staining pathology business unit for Leica Biosystems, a Danaher Company. Dr Atkins also has over 20 years’ experience with Johnson & Johnson’s Medical Device and Diagnostic businesses in R&D and business development and in senior international commercial roles.
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About Congenica: Congenica is a biotechnology company that provides a diagnostic decision support platform.
Dr. Danuta Jeziorska
CEO & Co-Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics
Danuta Jeziorska is the CEO & Co-Founder at Nucleome Therapeutics.
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About Nucleome Therapeutics: Nucleome Therapeutics is decoding the dark matter of the human genome to uncover novel ways to treat diseases
Dr. Danuta Jeziorska
CEO & Co-Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics
Danuta Jeziorska is the CEO & Co-Founder at Nucleome Therapeutics.
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About Nucleome Therapeutics: Nucleome Therapeutics is decoding the dark matter of the human genome to uncover novel ways to treat diseases
Jonathan O’Halloran
CEO of QuantuMDx Group
Inventor of QuantuMDx’s proprietary nucleic acid preparation, amplification and detection technology with over 12 years in scientific research, biotechnology & clinical laboratories.
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About QuantuMDx Group: QuantuMDx is a medical devices company developing handheld and portable diagnostic, genomic sequencing, and proteomic platforms.
Victor Dillard
Founder , COO & CEO of Desktop Genetics
A former chemical engineer keen on seeing personalized treatment realized, Victor has spent the past three years leading Desktop Genetics’ business development and CRISPR genome-editing initiatives. He has closed several partnerships with leading life science companies, placing Desktop Genetics at the forefront of CRISPR therapeutics research. Informed by his previous experience at P&G, GlaxoSmithKline, Flagship Ventures, Victor believes that software will be the key to unlocking the full potential of biotech R&D. He holds MEng, Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London and an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge.
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About Desktop Genetics: Desktop Genetics is an international company to help researchers discover and treat the root genetic causes of human disease.
Mike Westby
CEO of Centauri Therapeutics
Mike Westby is the Chief Executive Officer at Centauri Therapeutics Limited since September 2015.
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About Avvinity, Centauri Therapeutics: Centauri Therapeutics is a UK-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of life threatening diseases.
Malcolm Pye
CEO of Benchmark Holdings
Mr. Malcolm David Foster Pye has been the Chief Executive Officer at Benchmark Holdings plc since November 2000. Mr. Pye works within Benchmark Holdings companies on strategic business development, marketing, acquisitions and commercial matters and his roles include the development of the important synergies between Benchmark Holdings companies and ensuring that opportunities are resourced and exploited. He has over 30 years’ experience in international agribusiness, including at board director level within the Hillsdown Holdings/HMTF animal breeding, feed milling, veterinary and poultry companies prior to joining Ruth Layton and Roland Bonney to set up the Group. During his time at Hillsdown he also worked extensively on M&A projects, both leading and advising on acquisitions and disposals. Mr. Pye serves as Executive Director at Benchmark Holdings plc. Mr. Pye is a graduate of the University of Wales (Bangor) in Zoology/Applied Zoology.
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About Benchmark Holdings: Benchmark Holdings, a pioneering bioagtech company.
Lukas Lange
CEO and Co-Founder of Probably Genetic
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About Probably Genetic: Probably Genetic helps rare genetic disease patients.
Richard Pither
CEO of Cytox
Dr Richard Pither is CEO of Cytox Ltd. Richard has been involved in the development diagnostic and therapeutic pharmaceutical products for more than twenty years. He has held senior R&D and leadership positions in global Pharmaceutical companies including GE Healthcare (Medical Diagnostics), UCB-Celltech, Lorantis and Amersham plc. During this time, he was involved in the development of a novel 18F-PET radiopharmaceutical for imaging amyloid deposition in the brains of Alzheimer’s Disease patients for more than ten years. Richard has a BSc in Cellular and Molecular Pathology from Bristol University. His PhD, also at Bristol, was gained in the field of immunology and vaccine design, followed by post-doctoral research at Harvard.
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About Cytox: Cytox have developed a simple genetic based blood test for the assessment of risk and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Clive Morris
President & Chief Executive Officer of Inivata
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About Inivata: Inivata is a clinical cancer genomics company harnessing the emerging potential of circulating DNA analysis.
Peter Donnelly
Chief Executive Officer of Genomics
Peter Donnelly is Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics and Professor of Statistical Science at the University of Oxford, and a founder and director of Genomics plc, a fast-growing company in the genome analytics space. He has played a leading role in many of the major projects and developments at the interface between genetics, healthcare, and clinical medicine, including the HapMap project, the Wellcome Trust Case Control consortia, and WGS500, one of the studies pioneering whole genome sequencing in clinical medicine.
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About Genomics, University of Oxford: Genomics plc aiming to lead the genomic transformation of healthcare.
Raj Mehta
Co-Founder & CEO of Adendra Therapeutics
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About Adendra Therapeutics, Apple Tree Partners: Adendra Therapeutics wants to use new insights into dendritic cell biology to develop a novel type of immunotherapy.
Peter Widdowson
Founder & CEO of Quethera
Peter Widdowson has over 30 years of drug discovery experience during which he has worked on a number of small molecule, protein and gene therapy approaches to managing disease. He has a background in researching therapies for indications as diverse as ophthalmic, neurological and psychiatric disorders, type-2 diabetes, oncology, gastrointestinal motility disorders and inflammatory conditions encompassing inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis. He has held a number of senior scientific roles within Servier (Research Group Leader), AstraZeneca (Senior Scientist and Project Research Manager), Pfizer (Senior Scientist and Project Research Manager), OSI Pharmaceuticals (Director of Pharmacology) and most recently, whilst Head of Preclinical Development at Oxford BioMedica was responsible for overseeing and managing the development of three lentiviral vector gene therapies for wet age-related macular degeneration, Stargardt disease and Usher 1B syndrome which are all currently in Phase I/II clinical development. Dr. Widdowson has experience in all aspects of preclinical and early stage development from animal model proof-of-concept studies to clinical trial design and biomarker identification. Widdowson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in human Physiology from Newcastle University and a PhD in Neuropharmacology from Manchester University.
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About Ikarovec, Quethera: Quethera is a gene therapy company dedicated to improving the future treatment of common blinding eye diseases.
Terry Pizzie
Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Discovery
Terry became Chief Executive Officer in May 2018 having joined Horizon Discovery Group in February 2017 as Head of Commercial Operations. He has amassed more than 30 years of commercial experience within the biotechnology tools sector. He started his career with Applied Biosystems in 1988 in a sales role and became Vice President of Europe in 2003. Terry went on to join the Swedish biotechnology firm Biacore in 2005 as SVP Global Commercial Operations and was part of the team that reignited the company’s commercial success, culminating in its acquisition by GE Life Sciences. After a period with Genetix PLC as Director, Global Commercial Operations prior to its acquisition by Danaher, Terry went on to head global sales at Pacific Biosciences. Terry graduated with a degree in Physiology and Biochemistry from the University of Reading and since then has spent most of his working life focused upon commercial excellence within the sector.
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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.
Samantha Decombel
Co-Founder & CEO of FitnessGenes
A co-founder of FitnessGenes, with a PhD in genetics and a passion for science communication, Sam is responsible for product development and management of the science team. Fascinated by genetics from an early age, she studied the subject for her PhD at the University of Birmingham, UK, where she has also lectured on Evolutionary and Conservation Genetics. Sam is an enthusiastic sportswoman, and particularly enjoys playing football and running when she is not in the gym trying to improve on her squat PB of 165lb.
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About FitnessGenes, InnovationXchange, Play DNA: FitnessGenes is pioneering the field of genetic data analysis to produce personalized fitness and diet recommendations.
Chris Genders
Chief Executive Officer of Gendius
As a diabetic, Chris had the idea to set up a business that would help people focus on their areas of highest risk. An experienced Sales Director within the Pharmaceutical Industry, Chris brings an understanding of what it is like to have diabetes and a view of how this can be improved – created from his own experience but also from working in the Pharmaceutical Diabetes area for many years with Healthcare Professionals and other people with diabetes. Intellin is the result of Chris’ dedication and passion.
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About Gendius: Gendius is a diabetes management platform helping its consumers check and level diabetes.
Jorge Cortell
Founder and CEO of Kanteron Systems
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About Kanteron Systems: Transforming patient care through the combination of medical imaging and clinical genomics
