Meet Our Team
The Founders
Ali Afshar
CEO | Co-Founder
First designed lab robots during PhD, and previously started a hardware company. Sits at intersection of science, engineering, and business. YCombinator alumnus, and Forbes 30 Under 30.
Ignacio Willats
COO | Co-Founder
Enterprise sales and product experience at multiple startups. Fosters a deep focus on the customer within the team, and leads sales. YCombinator alumnus, and Forbes 30 Under 30.
Hardware Engineering
Justin Chan
Head of Engineering
Multidisciplinary hardware engineer, experienced in new product development. Former "New Categories" R&D engineer at Dyson, and robotic kitchens at Deliveroo.
James Cunningham
Senior Engineer
Hardware engineer with extensive early development and manufacture experience. Has overseen products from early prototypes, all the way through to manufacture in China.
Sam O'Mahony
Senior Electronics Engineer
Multidisciplinary electronics engineer across firmware and PCBs. Led R&D of next-gen smart EV chargers, working across electronics, firmware & higher level software.
Robert Melling
Junior Mechanical Engineer
Cambridge graduate with experience interning on automated cell culture machines that have come to market.
Paul Rademeyer
Senior Mechanical Engineer
Mechanical engineer with 10 years of experience developing scientific instrumentation. PhD in biomedical engineering, previous hardware lead in cryogenics and atomic microscopy products.
Andrew Stratton
Senior Mechanical Engineer
Ex-Cambridge Consultants Principal Engineer with broad experience in product development. Named inventor on multiple patents and brought multiple products from concept to market.
Felix Russell
Mechanical Engineer
Research and robotics engineer with 5 years experience in automation across the fields of biomechanics, batteries and now biology. Created a world-leading mechanical knee model during PhD
Flynn Marshall
Junior Mechanical Engineer
Mechanical engineering graduate whose specialisations include robotics, control systems and computer simulation.
Aaron Teo
Engineer
Ex-Dyson patent holder. Experience across hardware development, complex modelling, and statistical testing to take products from development to reliable manufacture.
Biology
Dr. Xian Weng
Head of Biology
Highly-innovative scientist skilled in combining biology and chemistry with engineering to solve hard challenges. Former Principal Scientist developing on-chip blood diagnostics at Orphidia, and GMP experience at Lonza.
Jordina Casanova Vilar
Scientist
Multiple years experience in molecular biology techniques and working with multiple mammalian cell types. Experience conducting R&D that crosses engineering and biology.
Dr. Stephen Weston
Stem Cell Scientist
Experience developing and implementing novel iPSC differentiation protocols during PhD.
Dr. Joana Costa
Bioengineer
Experienced developing at the interface of biology and engineering. Modified low-level 3D printer code for printing cell-based structures.
Sigita Malijauskaite
Stem Cell Scientist
Experience in high content imaging techniques, iPSC differentiation and 3D intestinal models (iPSC and primary ASC derived) from PhD training.
Software
Henry Miskin
Tech Lead, Device Software
Full-stack software engineer, spanning from firmware all the way to cloud. 5 years experience as early engineer at multiple startups. Also qualified as a mechanical engineer.
Ben Greenberg
Lead
Multidisciplinary designer & engineer, spanning from hardware to software to user experience design. Experience at Dyson.
Advisors
Ian Felix
Manufacturing Advisor
Over 40 years experience in successfully bringing products from prototype through manufacture as a leader, including Apple, IBM, and 7 medical devices at different startups.
Currently EVP Engineering and Manufacturing at Hound Labs.
Jared Friedman
Partner, Y-Combinator
Founding CTO of Scribd, now a $100m/yr business. As a partner at Y-Combinator, Jared has coached hundreds of highly-succcesful startups, including many in biotech. An expert on all aspects of running and scaling a company.