Team

We are a highly collaborative, creative bunch of people, with the right balance of academic and commercial expertise

FOUNDERS & BOARD

Prof. Peter Donnelly

Founder & CEO

I am Director of the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, and Professor of Statistical Science, at the University of Oxford. My research involves the analysis of genomic data to understand human disease, human biology, and human history.

After growing up in Australia, I studied for a doctorate in Mathematics in Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar.   My work has focussed on genetics and genomics for the last 15 years, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be involved in one of the most exciting areas of science.  It is an honour to have been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.

I am proud of having played a leading role in some of the major national and international genomics projects, including the HapMap Project, and the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium.  The main paper from the Consortium – which I chaired – won several awards, including Scientific American’s Research Leader of the Year, The Lancet’s Paper of the Year, and the Amadeo Prize. While my TED talk has (scarily) been viewed a million times.

Beyond work, I love being with my kids, playing and watching sport, cooking and dancing (badly).
 

Papers and Talks

Genetics, genomics, and human disease

Genome-wide association study of 14,000 cases of seven common diseases and 3,000 shared controls

Public Lectures

How juries are fooled by statistics

The Gene Revolution

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SOME OF MY WORK

Prof. Gil McVean

Founder & Director

I am a Professor of Statistical Genetics at the University of Oxford, the Director of the Oxford Big Data Institute and a founder of Genomics plc. My main expertise is in statistical genetics, human genome variation and evolution.

I help organise and run the 1,000 Genomes Project, which is mapping human genomic variation. I’m also part of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health where I help establish methods and protocols for storing and exchanging genomic data with linked medical information.

Along with my Francis Crick lecture at the Royal Society, one of my proudest moments was a 2004 paper showing recombination hotspots in humans.

Outside work, my passions lay in family, natural history and various forms of sourdough.

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SOME OF MY WORK

David Norwood

Chairman of the Genomics plc Board

My long career has been spent building a number of science, technology and investment companies. I am the founder of IP Group plc, one of the UK’s leading technology commercialisation businesses. I now lead Oxford Sciences Innovation, the largest university venture fund worldwide.

Following my graduation from Keble College, University of Oxford, where I read History I joined city investment bank Bankers’ Trust.  Since then I  have been a founder and/or director of many UK technology companies including Oxford Nanopore, Proximagen, Synairgen, Ilika, Oxford Catalysts and Plectrum Petroleum (acquired by Cairn Energy).

Chess has always been a passion of mine and I was awarded the International Master title and International Grandmaster titles in the mid and late eighties.  Currently I am a member of the Internet Chess Club and have on a number of occasions captained, managed, or sponsored the England Squad in major team events such as the Olympiad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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SOME OF MY WORK

Dr. Mark Warne

Director

The focus of my career has been building the businesses of high growth spin-out companies especially in the area of Healthcare. As IP Group Healthcare Portfolio Director I am on the board of eight spin-out companies.


Every experience involves learning something new, so I don’t think I can pinpoint the proudest moment in my career yet.

I am looking forward to Genomics ‘winning’ in this fast emerging and industry changing space.

Outside of work I enjoy sailing, scuba diving, running, cycling, eating and drinking.

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Dr. Chris Spencer

Founder

I collect, curate, analyse and interpret very large amounts of genetic data to help understand human diseases. My career has happily coincided with an era of collaboration – we've made major inroads into our understanding of human genetics.

As a young scientist, my doctoral work analysing large-scale human genetic data was awarded the Corcoran Memorial Prize by the Department of Statistics at the University of Oxford. The prize is awarded every two years for outstanding graduate work.

I am proud to have played a lead analytical role in the International HapMap project and the Wellcome Trust Case Controls Consortium. I’ve also spent a significant part of my career researching the genetic basis to severe malaria susceptibility.

Outside of the office I enjoy running and gardening, and spending time with my wife and two boys.

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SOME OF MY WORK

Dr. Gerton Lunter

Founder

I am an expert in algorithm development, statistical modelling and sequence analysis (particularly human genetics).

I gained my PhD in Mathematics in 1999, in the Netherlands. My published work includes the ‘Platypus’ algorithm and a paper demonstrating the dynamism of evolution.

A group of us were also the first to show the importance of a class of so-called ‘non-coding DNA’. This class of DNA is now believed to be at least as important as ‘classical’ genes.

But my proudest moment was hearing that our algorithms made a difference to a patient diagnosed with breast cancer. It resulted in a more positive prognosis and a more effective treatment. It’s a great feeling to see the impact of your work on individual lives.

In my free time I love cycling and going on nature walks with my family. My attempt to master the piano is a work-in-progress.

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SOME OF MY WORK

John Colenutt

COO & Director

I’ve spent most of my career in investment banking with Cazenove, as Head of Research, and later as COO for its joint venture with JPMorgan. More recently I was COO of Teach First – the fast-growing UK charity closing the educational divide by placing top graduates in low-income schools.

I am enjoying the challenges of building a successful genomics analysis business, which will make a massive difference to healthcare.

Outside of work I enjoy time with my family. I’m also a keen road cyclist and a dangerous skier.

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SOME OF MY WORK

Dr. Jeff Barrett

CSO & Director

I built a fifteen year career at the world's biggest academic genome centres to understand how genomics can help us figure out human disease. I see Genomics plc as uniquely placed to translate that research into improved human health, and am excited about driving our scientific strategy as CSO.

After a degree in physics from MIT I worked as a programmer and analyst during the founding years of the Broad Institute. I moved to Oxford where I received a D.Phil. in statistical genetics, and then to the Wellcome Sanger Institute, near Cambridge. I have led some of the largest genome-sequencing studies in the world, working to understand how genetic variation influences human diseases ranging from infection and inflammation to autism and schizophrenia. My academic work has been cited more than 65,000 times.

From 2015 to early 2018 I was Head of Open Targets, a unique, pre-competitive partnership of the Sanger Institute, European Bioinformatics Institute, GSK, Biogen and Takeda. Together we systematically improved the identification and prioritisation of drug targets for safe and effective medicines by combining large-scale genomic experiments with objective statistical and computational techniques. I see my move to Genomics plc as the next phase of that journey to use genomics to transform drug discovery.

Links to some of my work:

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11582
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22969
https://www.nature.com/articles/ng.3903

Video of a keynote at Discovery on Target:

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THE TEAM