A cancer biologist by training, Jess obtained a PhD from the University of Cambridge in collaboration with AstraZeneca, with additional postdoctoral experience at the Francis Crick Institute. Driven by impact, motivated daily by the Hamilton soundtrack.

An avid synthetic biologist, Chris obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge at the renown Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Chris tinkers with biology using his favourite building block, XNA, meeting Jess as a postdoc at the Francis Crick Institute.

Xterna’s resident immuno-oncology expert, Rob secured his PhD from Kings College London in novel CAR-T therapies, before working with early stage biotechs LeucidBio (CAR-T) and OligoTune (RNA immuno-oncology).

Laura is a nucleic acid specialist, training across the Oxford Genomics Centre and the Francis Crick Institute. Laura optimises our nucleic acid screening methodology and candidate generation, in addition to keeping the lab running smoothly.

Recently graduating with a PhD in Cancer Immunology from the University of Cambridge, Jack joins as an Assay Scientist, helping validate our platform derived assets.

Oxford MBiochem Biochemistry (Molecular and Cellular) graduate, Ellie joined the team in Spring 2026 as Research Assistant. Ellie leads internal candidate synthesis and validation.