Introduction

Thanks for stopping by! My name is Jan, I’m interested in science (chemistry, biology, physics), computers and math. I’m also a melanoma survivor, which is a reminder to you to go and see a dermatologist regularly.

Currently, i’m working on OpenFold – a fully open-source co-folding model to make sure this innovation is more broadly available for pharma and biotech companies that want to use these tools to advance their pipelines.

Biography

For 4 years, between 2022–26, I lead an exceptional team at CharmTx, culminating in the development of CHM-029, a novel menin inhibitor, which recently entered clinical trials.

From 2021 to 2022, I worked as an independent software consultant, passionate about improving the velocity of software development. “Movement is life” - the faster you can navigate the software landscape the better. High-velocity can include some unexpected results: decisions can be refined quickly and engineers remain happy (because there is no “velocity” without “quality”). My interests then include cloud engineering (Pulumi) and build systems (Bazel).

From 2017 to 2021, I have been a co-founder and CTO at Labstep. Labstep set out to make scientists more productive and creative, by providing a best-in-class electronic notebook experience www.labstep.com.

Under the supervision of simulation masterminds, Mark Sansom (Oxford University) and Robert Best (NIH), I used to work on membrane protein folding, via molecular dynamics simulation (with enhanced sampling methods).

While at D. E. Shaw Research, New York City, I used ultra-long molecular dynamics simulations to identify cryptic binding pockets in previously undruggable phosphatases.

I did my undergraduate work in Oxford, studying Biochemistry, earning an MBioch with honors and a medal from the Queen and Mick Jagger. My graduate project was in Groningen, Netherlands working on protein-lipid interactions, using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations and the Martini model.