Introducing Jason

Tell me a bit about yourself.

My name is Jason, and I’m a product of Southern California, the ’90s, and of course, my parents. I spent most of my childhood playing soccer, whether outside kicking a ball or inside holding an Xbox controller. At lunchtime, I could often be found at Qdoba. One year in high school I learned that I was a top-10 customer in the Greater Los Angeles area. True story! A lot of my free time I spent watching TV. Media consumption played a surprisingly big role in shaping who I became, probably more than my parents would care to admit. In fact, one of the biggest influences in me becoming a scientist was the movie Gattaca. When I first saw the cinematic masterpiece at thirteen, I didn’t understand nor appreciate the social commentary that was being made. Instead, I was fascinated with the concept of genetic engineering and looked forward to the future that it was possible. As I grew older, that fascination stuck, and I eventually went on to earn a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Oregon Health and Sciences University. There, I worked on developing in vitro models to evaluate the cancer-related pathogenicity of genetic variants. In a strange way, I did end up in a future kind of like Gattaca, but instead of using DNA sequencing to decide who gets to be an astronaut, I helped its use in assessing a person’s risk for cancer. 

Why did you decide to join Humane Genomics?

After spending years in academic research, I was looking for an opportunity to apply my experience in a more fast-paced, translational setting. When I came across Humane Genomics, I was excited about the prospect of developing novel synthetic viruses as cancer therapeutics. When I met the team, I was sold. In the short time I’ve been here I am constantly amazed by the science we are doing and I couldn’t hope for a better group of people to be doing it with. 

Why is background a great fit? 

If I had to simplify what I do, I would say that I play with DNA. On the surface, “play” could just mean that I had fun and enjoy my work. However, it also captures a deeper sense of curiosity, imagination, and exploration. This blend of child-like wonder paired and rigorous scientific training that I bring to Humane Genomics will help us drive innovation and move us closer to developing novel, cutting-edge cancer therapies. 

What is your role and what are you working on?

As a Associate Scientist at Humane Genomics, I’m heavily involved in both planning and executing a wide range of experiments, as well as supporting the rest of the team. Lately, my focus has been on optimizing our production platform and exploring new assays and technologies to better evaluate virus efficacy and safety. This work has helped streamline our process, allowing us to synthesize and assess candidate viruses more efficiently and effectively.

What are you most excited about?

What excites me most right now is the prospect of starting clinical studies to test our synthetic oncolytic viruses. The data we have gathered so far, demonstrating selective killing of cancer cells in vitro and in vivo is remarkable on its own, but having our work take the next step towards directly impacting patients is something I am eager to be a part of.