At DSV we’re looking for future Founders, entrepreneurially minded individuals with industry-specific technical and commercial domain expertise eager to solve urgent unmet challenges through venture building.
You will join DSV’s venture creation programme as a Founder in Residence and work closely with the DSV team, using our methodology, to spin-out a new company. During the programme, you’ll work on all aspects related to venture creation in this opportunity area, including working out the optimal approach to solve for the desired outcome, building a team and building a viable business case. Once the new venture is incorporated with pre-seed investment from DSV, you and your co-founders will own the majority stake in the business and continue receiving support from the DSV team post-spinout.
The role is full-time and fully remote until venture incorporation and spin-out, after - TBD.
Neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) is one of the most prevalent human genetic diseases. Affecting ~1:3000 people globally, its global incidence is comparable to that of cystic fibrosis. NF2-related schwannomatosis (SWN), a similar genetic disorder, affects an additional ~1:33,000. The burden of these diseases is large and multi-dimensional, encompassing the characteristic development of nerve sheath tumours, alongside chronic pain, vision loss, hearing loss, musculoskeletal disfigurement and increased risk of other cancers. Neurofibromatosis also brings with it a range of significant cognitive, psychosocial, and socioeconomic challenges.
Partly hindered by a broad, unpredictable mutational landscape, current NF therapy is limited to non-curative drugs or tumour resection surgery, targeting downstream disease manifestations with limited clinical efficacy and often high risk. But what if we could address the root cause of NF? What if we could correct loss of gene function with a mutation-agnostic gene replacement therapy? This represents the holy grail of NF1/2 treatment and is our goal at Deep Science Ventures.
Given the range of distinct NF tumour subtypes and their broad anatomical distribution, we will circulate our drug widely throughout the body whilst ensuring selective activity exactly where it is needed. To achieve this safely and efficiently, we will build tailored delivery systems and are looking for an inspiring co-founder to help us do so. All this with our north star outcome at the forefront: simultaneously preventing and curing NF tumours across the entire NF1 and NF2-SWN patient population.
We are designing a precise and conditional gene replacement therapy capable of delivering NF1/2 transgenes to multiple cell and tumour types in vivo. Beyond tumour regression, we are developing the technology to cure and prevent disease in the NF patient population. We will be exploring how next-generation nanoparticles can help us achieve this ambitious aim, focusing on novel techniques to enable safe, selective and efficient distribution throughout multiple biological compartments. By solving shared constraints between indications, we also aim to maximise the platform potential of our therapy.
Essential (must-have):
Preferred (nice-to-have):
By joining DSV, you’ll be joining a team of operators who have founded companies and led translation of science at some of the most respected universities, charities, funds and government agencies. 2/3 of the team have founded or led a company at C-suite and 65% have a PhD. Our team dedicate several hours every week to each Founder or founding team to provide tailored guidance, resources and feedback covering every aspect of what it takes to successfully launch a new venture from both the tech and commercial perspectives:
You will be joining Dr. Liron Elkouby, an accomplished scientific leader with many years of experience in leading gene therapy programs. Liron, a co-founder and former CSO at NOGA Therapeutics, previously held various scientific roles at Spark Therapeutics and Enlivex Therapeutics. Liron's extensive background in pre-clinical gene therapy development, along with her outstanding professionalism and ambition, makes her a top talent to work with.
Deep Science Ventures is creating a future in which both humans and the planet can thrive.
We use our unique venture creation process to create, spin-out and invest into science companies, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures.
We operate in 4 sectors: Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture and Computation, tackling the challenges defining those areas by taking a first principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.
