about us
The Variant Bio Team
Our team has a passion for exploration, and expertise spanning genetics, molecular biology, therapeutics, anthropology, and ethics. We started Variant Bio because we share the belief that human genomics has the power to transform drug development.
Kaja Wasik, PhD
CSO & Co-founder
Kaja has spent her career developing novel sequencing platforms and bringing them to market. She completed her PhD in molecular biology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and postdoctoral training at the New York Genome Center.
Stephane Castel, PhD
CTO & Co-founder
Stephane has deep expertise analyzing the genome to understand how genetic variation contributes to disease. He completed his PhD in genetics at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and postdoctoral training at Columbia University.
Gabrielle Bertier, PhD
Human Genetics
Erin Burke, PhD
Biological Anthroplogy
Anne-Katrin Emde, PhD
Bioinformatics
C. Scott Gallagher, PhD
Statistical Genetics
Paloma Guzzardo, PhD
Target Biology
Sarah LeBaron von Baeyer, PhD
Cultural Anthropology
Tom Martienssen
Filmmaking
Tyler Standley
Cloud Architecture
Our Advisors
Jay Flatley
Former CEO and Executive Chairman, Illumina
Bruce Stillman, PhD
President, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Tuuli Lappalainen, PhD
Associate Professor, Columbia University
Kiran Musunuru, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Daniel MacArthur, PhD
Director, Centre for Population Genomics, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Michael Schatz, PhD
Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University
Keolu Fox, PhD
Assistant Professor, University of California, San Diego
Fernando Racimo, PhD
Assistant Professor, University of Copenhagen
Our Ethics Advisory Board
Adia Benton, PhD
Adia is an Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Northwestern University. She specializes in global health, biomedicine, and development and humanitarianism, and in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia in particular.
Māui Hudson, MHSc
Māui is an Associate Professor at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. He is an expert on the interface between Māori knowledge and science, ethics and new technologies, and Indigenous data sovereignty.
Laura Hercher, MS
Laura is the Director of Research for the Graduate Program in Human Genetics at Sarah Lawrence College. She has expertise in genetic counseling and the ethical, legal, and social dimensions of genetic medicine.
Misha Angrist, PhD
Misha is an Associate Professor of the Practice in the Social Science Research Institute at Duke University. His research and teaching focus on science writing and the governance of human participation in research and medicine.
Our Investors
Company Culture
Our team is rapidly expanding, and we’re looking for people who aren't afraid to take on new challenges, and are as passionate about improving human health as we are.
We guarantee a work environment that respects and encourages diversity around gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, socioeconomic status, religion, ethnicity, race, and culture.