CAMBRIDGE, UK, 09:00, 11 May 2023 - bit.bio today announces the addition of its early stage investor Weslie Janeway as a Board member. With her extensive experience on both company and non profit boards, she will bring her innovative and purpose driven mindset to the governance of the company.
She was attracted to bit.bio because she saw how cells reprogrammed with bit.bio’s opti-oxTM technology can solve the reproducibility crisis in research by providing iPSC-derived human cells for experiments that are consistent and reliable at scale. She also sees how the precision reprogramming power of opti-ox is uniquely transferrable to stem cells from different donors - enabling panels of cells reflecting the genetic diversity of patient populations to be created to transform drug discovery. This will pave the way for medicine personalisation from the start of the medicine development process.
"When I first met Mark, the founder and CEO of bit.bio, through my studies at Cambridge, I immediately saw the potential of his scientific discovery - the investor in me thought “there’s a company here” which is why I invested. I’m now looking forward to supporting the company as a board member using my scientific background as well. I’m convinced that the technology will transform drug development by enabling highly consistent and scalable cell standards which can be expanded to run clinical trials in a dish. The consistency and scale of bit.bio’s products can also address the reproducibility crisis, which casts a shadow on the industry.”
Weslie has served in various non-executive roles. At present she serves on the boards of the Rockefeller University, the New York Genome Center and myelopathy.org. She brings over 20 years experience as an investor, philanthropist, scientist and author to the company.
Her background as a scientist stems from her family’s relocation to Cambridge in 2006. She decided to use the move as a chance to go back into full time education and studied genetics at the University of Cambridge. Through these studies and by joining Roger Pedersen’s lab located at the Laboratory of Regenerative Medicine, she became fascinated by stem cells and what ultimately they could do for humanity.
Weslie will provide important guidance as bit.bio scales their proprietary synthetic biology cell identity coding platform, creating products and solutions based on reprogrammed human stem cells for basic research and drug discovery as well as next generation cell based therapies. She was one of the first investors in the company, at the pre-seed stage so has always seen the potential of the technology.
"We are thrilled to welcome Weslie Janeway to our Board of Directors. Her expertise in financial services, genetics, and her passion for innovation make her a perfect fit for our company. We are confident that her leadership and guidance will contribute significantly to our mission of coding cells for novel cures. As a founding investor of bit.bio, Weslie will also serve on the Audit and Compensation Committees."
Weslie Janeway - full biography
Weslie Janeway is an investor, author, philanthropist and scientist based in New York, USA and Cambridge, UK. While pursuing a career in financial services, she has served in a variety of non-executive roles in the not-for-profit sector, such as Treasurer of Cancer Care, Inc., a social services agency for cancer patients and their families, Board Trustee and Chair of the Development Committee of the New York Women’s Foundation and Vice-Chair and Head of the Nominating and Governance Committee of The Jackson Laboratory, a genetics institute based in Maine, USA.
She is a graduate of both Columbia University in New York and Brown University in Rhode Island. Additionally, she has studied genetics at the University of Cambridge as well as in New York. She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst and the co-author of Mrs. Charles Darwin’s Recipe Book. At present, as well as being a Trustee for Myelopathy.org, Weslie is a Trustee of the Rockefeller University, where she serves on the Audit, Hospital and Technology Transfer Committees. In addition, she is an Independent Director of the New York Genome Center.