Jessica is a geneticist and molecular biologist with a background in platform development and rare disease therapeutics. She earned her PhD in Genetics at UC Davis studying the molecular mechanism of DNA double-strand break repair in the lab of Neil Hunter. She then returned home to the Bay Area to undertake her postdoctoral study. At UCSF in David Toczyski’s lab, she studied how the DNA Damage Response surveillance machinery regulate cellular metabolism in response to DNA damage. Since then, she has worked on discovering and developing therapeutics for rare diseases across several drug modalities. From small molecule screening at Perlara to protein engineering for enzyme replacement therapies at Codexis and more recently developing nucleic acid therapeutics at Ultragenyx. She is excited to continue her passion for rare disease at Octant.

When she’s not in the lab, Jessica enjoys trying out new recipes, exploring new places, and spending time with her playful cat.