Liran has an MBA from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
Prior to pursuing his MBA, Liran was a founder and CEO of a B2B e-commerce start-up in Israel. In his previous role as CEO, Liran negotiated an equity investment in which Globes, Israel’s largest business daily, acquired a 50% stake of the company.
The company grew to become the leading B2B marketplace in Israel before selling in 2015. Liran served as an army commander in the Israel Defense Forces for a period of three years. He also holds a degree in Law and Commerce from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herziliya, Israel.
In his spare time Liran likes watching Rocky movies, reading books about successful entrepreneurs, cooking middle eastern food and going on canoe trips.
Shelby has a BSc in Biology with a minor in Psychology from Carleton University.
Her past experience includes administrative work in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Ottawa Hospital and a not-for-profit organization that supports families of individuals with developmental disabilities. She is excited to join the BenchSci team and support the innovative work they do.
Outside of work you can find her looking for live local music, enjoying an outdoor adventure or cooking for friends.
Bryn has a BCom from Rotman Commerce at the University of Toronto and holds the CPA, CMA designation.
Prior to joining BenchSci, Bryn was Sr. Manager of Finance at Wave, a leader in cloud based small business financial software, where he helped manage rapid growth while continuously improving financial processes and insights. Bryn is always looking for new challenges and how to expand his expertise with a focus on providing financial intelligence to drive growth.
Outside of work, Bryn loves to read about all things technology, innovation, and leadership, watch documentary films or catch up on the latest comedy, run cooking experiments to try out all sorts of food types, enjoy the outdoors during the summer by walking through the city or jumping in a lake up north at a cottage, and in the winter you’ll most likely find him riding down the side of a hill on a snowboard.
Rasheed graduated from Ryerson University with a BComm in Information Technology Management with a minor in Marketing.
Before joining BenchSci, Rasheed worked in a marketing agency managing and augmenting cross-regional Pharmaceutical portfolios. He architected solutions and processes for issues and inefficiencies with a client-centric approach in a heavily regulated industry. Rasheed has also taught courses on Program management and innovative thinking at Youth University for Political Science in Beijing. His passion for Pharma industry and innovation began when he worked with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in streamlining their dope testing workflow.
His passions outside of work are theatre and art shows, riding his motorcycle and bouldering.
Simon has a Bachelor of Journalism from Ryerson University and a Master of Arts in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology from the University of Toronto.
Simon has spent 17 years straddling business strategy, marketing and technology in life-science-focused startups and agencies. Immediately prior to BenchSci, he led digital marketing initiatives for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as SVP, Strategy with Klick Health. He’s passionate about (and a bit obsessed with) scaling innovative solutions to meaningful problems.
Outside work, Simon devours books and articles on business strategy, personal effectiveness, technological innovation and similar light subjects; writes about artificial intelligence, automation and its implications; hacks code (current focus: text generation with neural networks); hacks biology (current focus: life extension); hacks psychology (current focus: meditation); and tries to continuously cultivate a sense of wonder by seeing the world through the eyes of his two young children.
Jeremy has a Bachelors of Arts degree from Trinity College at the University of Toronto.
Since 2012, Jeremy has helped pharmaceutical and medtech clients leverage data to develop marketing strategies and implement operational changes. In his most recent role as Director, Strategy at Klick Health, Jeremy led a team responsible for designing, executing, and iterating on marketing initiatives for large pharmaceutical companies in the US and Europe. He has also helped his clients to implement and leverage new platforms designed to improve marketing effectiveness and efficiency. Jeremy is constantly looking for ways to fuel his passion for applying innovative technologies to meaningful problems in healthcare, which is what brought him to BenchSci.
If you catch Jeremy outside of work, he’s likely consuming a new podcast on business, society or technology, planning his next road trip (potentially on his motorcycle), or obsessing about the current state of his beloved Toronto Raptors.
Maurice obtained his PhD. in Pharmacology from the University of Toronto in 2015. His thesis examined the physiological role of a novel dopamine receptor complex, the D1-D2 heteromer, in drug addiction and depression-related behaviours, as well as the associated neuroadapatations.
Maurice believes that the current research process can be greatly complemented by the recent advance in machine learning technology. He is dedicated to building a digital research tool that can benefit the scientific community as a whole by speaking to researchers and incorporating their needs into BenchSci.
Outside of work, Maurice is passionate about singing, particularly rock & roll. He has entered singing competitions twice. He also enjoys watching thriller and mystery movies. For outdoor activities Maurice likes to go hiking and biking in the summer, while during winter he loves snowboarding.
Stephanie has a PhD in Cell and Systems Biology from the University of Toronto. Her research investigated the functions of a diverse family of enzymes involved in bacterial metabolism and how these metabolic pathways are regulated at the transcriptional level.
After her PhD, she worked as a Freelance Scientific Writer, Editor, and Publication Support Specialist. During this time, she also assisted with the start of a not-for-profit company, eParliament, that makes academic research more accessible to the general public. She is enthusiastic about science communication, and can’t wait to tell you all about BenchSci and its applications!
In her free time, Stephanie practices circus arts, including aerial silks and partner balancing. When she isn’t dangling from the rafters, she enjoys travelling, playing a good board game, pyrography, and painting. Using these creative skills, she prepared a dance explaining her PhD research, which made the finals of the international Dance Your PhD competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkWe1OtDlb8&t=2s
Simona has a PhD in Immuno-Pharmacology from the University of Palermo in Italy. Prior to joining Benchsci, she worked as a Scientific Associate at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre where her research focused on advanced proteomic technologies for cancer biomarker discovery by using mass spectrometry.
After spending 15 years at the bench, Simona is fascinated about exploring opportunities in science communications. She is passionate about accelerating biomedical research, drug discovery and enthusiastic about promoting BenchSci to the scientific community.
Outside of work you can find her at the gym! She is a certified group fitness instructor and eager to teach new BodyCombat and Barre classes to her members.
Matan has a Master’s in Biomedical Communications from the University of Toronto where he learned how to best design visuals and interactive apps for use in the biomedical sciences.
Prior to moving to Toronto for his Master’s degree, Matan completed a BSc in Biology at the University of British Columbia. The countless hours he spent in Vancouver and Taiwan trying to produce immunohistochemistry slides and western blots has made him appreciate the challenging job research scientists have. Marrying his backgrounds in science and design, he aims to make the BenchSci platform a delight to use.
In his spare time, Matan likes to learn about virtual and augmented reality, illustrate, and eat delicious pizza.
Ashley has a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from OCAD U where she aimed to create work that opened discussions and debates about the kind of future people want.
Prior to joining BenchSci, Ashley has worked at a design agency and one of the leading e-commerce companies in North America. She is experienced in brand development and working collaboratively across teams to deliver nationwide campaigns. Through her experience in mapping user journeys and designing responsive digital experiences, she’s quickly grasped the importance of user-focused design processes.
When she’s not designing, you can find her at rock climbing gyms, ceramic studios, or on some slope with her snowboard.
Luigi has a Honours Bachelor of Science Specialist Degree in Human Biology, a Master of Science Degree in Physiology and a Collaborative Master's in Neuroscience, all from the University of Toronto.
Luigi had spent over 15 years building and leading commercial teams in start-up, SME and large multinational life science, healthcare and IT businesses. He has been recognized as a top sales and marketing leader, including at GE Healthcare where he held the roles of Executive Director of a Global Innovation Center for Digital Pathology, National Sales and Marketing Leader for Healthcare IT, as well as the Client Solutions Director for the Canadian Healthcare business.
Prior to industry, Luigi spent 10 years in biomedical research where he focused on psychopharmaceutical clinical trials, computational neuroscience, medical biophysics of Alzheimer's disease, and specialized in the electrophysiology of neurotransmitter release.
Outside work Luigi will likely be found indulging in his passions for rocking out on guitar, shooting something with a camera and traveling the world with his young family.
Ryan has a BSc in Biology & a Minor in Business from Trent University, as well as a Project Management Certification from the University of Toronto.
Prior to joining BenchSci, Ryan managed late phase pharmaceutical development projects with Patheon and was an Account Executive with the Healthcare & Life Science team at Salesforce. Ryan is passionate about creating amazing customer experiences and is committed to making certain BenchSci customers are wildly happy.
Outside of work, Ryan loves the outdoors, enjoying snowboarding in the winter and triathlons in the summer. Ryan also enjoys competing in public speaking competitions and is always thinking of his next travel destination.
Mark has a BSc in Biochemistry from McGill University, as well as an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
Prior to completing his MBA, Mark worked as an entrepreneur, running a service contracting business and then a business coaching and leadership development company. During his Master's he became passionate about the intersection of technology and healthcare, combining his love for science with his affinity for business. Since his degree he has worked as a project manager for Fio, running multiple Malaria programs in Africa, and in sales at League, a company working to disrupt the health insurance and corporate wellness space.
Outside of his professional life, Mark enjoys getting exercise and playing sports, namely basketball, Ultimate Frisbee, and wakeboarding. He also loves camping, travel (he’s been on every continent except for Antarctica), and cooking.
David has a BSc in Computer Science as a software engineering specialist and a PhD from the Institute of Medical Sciences at University of Toronto.
His research focuses on gaining new insight into brain chronic pain neurophysiology and pushing the boundaries of diffusion MRI tractography by pushing toward large populations and clinical deployment. Thus, he is familiar with high-dimensional data, and new ways of applying insights from the brain into deep learning algorithms for automation and prediction with commercial applications.
In his spare time, his life revolves around neuroscience, computer science, and martial arts. He develops Android apps, obsessing over 3D printers and day dreaming about horse-back Asiatic archery.
Asaf has an MBA from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, and a BA in Computer Science from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herziliya, Israel.
Prior to joining BenchSci, Asaf managed software and digital teams at healthcare and technology companies in Toronto and Israel. Most recently, he was at Klick Health, leading digital projects for several large pharmaceutical companies. Asaf also served as a commander in the Israeli Intelligence Corps. Having collaborated in numerous team settings, Asaf is passionate about team building and developing processes that are agile and best suited for the team. He has always had an interest in human-computer interactions and joined BenchSci because he is driven to build a great product that is optimized for functionality and usability, and to help address a major need in the scientific community.
Outside of work, Asaf loves discovering new travel destinations, hiking, basketball and different types of juggling.
Thiago has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto.
Prior to BenchSci, he worked as a Full Stack Developer at Top Hat for three years, with the last two as a Lead developer for their Marketplace and Content initiatives. Thiago believes you are only as good as your team and excellent teamwork is what builds great companies. He is also very interested in building highly maintainable code, and in how to deliver ambitious projects on time without dropping quality.
In his free time, he is either watching the Brazilian Soccer League, playing Magic or going to metal concerts.
Anvar completed a BSc in Computer Science with a minor in psychology at Carleton.
Before BenchSci, Anvar worked as a software engineer in a three-person team developing a cognitive exercise and assessment program based on MOCA (Montreal Cognitive Assessment). He is passionate about software development, human-computer interaction and understanding the increasingly complex relationship between technology and its consumers.
Outside of work, Anvar loves public speaking and humour. He is also a stand-up comedian, and has performed his act at large Canadian clubs such as Yuk Yuk’s and Absolute Comedy. Anvar has been very active in developing the comedy community by producing shows as well as an online competition.
Wisam has a Bachelor of Computing (Honours) in Software Design from Queen's University.
Prior to working at BenchSci, Wisam worked in the sport-tech space, leading the development of a mobile app that helps Crossfit users quantify and measure their training. He is passionate about writing code that delivers business value, being agile, and promoting processes that help create high performing teams.
In his spare time, Wisam is powerlifting at the gym, going to local rock/metal concerts or cooking up a feast at home.
Rick completed his Bachelor of Applied Science and Engineering from the University of Toronto.
Rick’s previous experience includes working at mobile software start ups and building websites. He wishes to learn and apply the newest technologies to build infrastructures, which he hopes will eventually better serve ourselves as a species.
In his spare time, Rick enjoys the act of creating things; whether it be apps, websites, food or drawing. He also practices martial arts.
Luke is completing his BSc in Computer Science and Mathematics at the University of Toronto.
Luke became interested in math at an early age and began programming in C and Python soon after. Since then, he has written many, many lines of code for websites, applications, and microcontrollers and aspires to create technologies that will help as many people as possible. He is particularly interested in abstract algebra, graph theory, group theory, information security, and machine learning.
When not writing code, Luke enjoys writing and playing music, making art, and watching movies.
Aaron has spent his career in the dual worlds of biology and programming. Before joining BenchSci, he was working on managing the data flow from a sequencing centre core to investigators at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. His Masters works examined graph-theoretic approaches to protein interaction visualization. At Brown University, he completed an ScB in neuroscience and ABs in philosophy and computer science.
BenchSci is exactly the sort of work he looks for — creatively applying technology to help people. Its particular mission of making biology run better captures what he has been thinking about for over a decade.
In his spare time, he eats and runs. It’s a cycle.
Before BenchSci, Lenny was a software developer, and eventual principal developer, at Cyclica Inc. for nearly five years, where he developed cloud applications to digitally screen drugs and proteins for potential interactions. As he discovered how just how challenging good science in biology is, Lenny has become driven to building tools to improve accountability and accuracy for researchers around the globe.
Outside the office, Lenny maintains Styn, a python library for simple build scripts. He also likes to climb rocks, play and design board and video games, and catch up on sleep.
Boris received his Bachelor's Degree in Computer Information Science from the University of Guelph in 2006 where he studied computer science fundamentals as well as AI, graphics, and networking.
He worked at Symantec for over four years where he built tools for distributed systems, monitoring platforms, and Linux operators. He debugged problems in production systems while on-call as well as placing first in a hackathon.
Boris has experience in building automated testing frameworks across a multitude of domains including aerospace and defense (Aversan & Honeywell), rail (Thales), advertising (EyeReturn), and healthcare (PointClickCare.) While at PointClickCare, Boris participated in a hackathon and received the “I can’t believe that sh*t works award” for creating a 3D virtualization of a long-term-care living facility.
Outside of software development, Boris enjoys losing at video games to his 8-year-old daughter and reading about quantum physics.
Xiao is currently a third-year student at University of Toronto. She is pursuing a BSc in Computer Science with focus in Artificial Intelligence and Game Design.
Before BenchSci, Xiao has worked as a software developer intern at an industry software development company and has contributed a lot of her time to school organizations. She enjoys solving real life problems using newest technologies and writing clearly structured code.
In her free time, she likes to go for long runs, practice karate, search for good video games and, try everything she hasn’t tried yet.
Ryder has a MEng in Biomedical Engineering from Ryerson University, as well as a BSc in Medical Science.
Before BenchSci, Ryder spent time working as a biomedical engineering intern, a freelance software and app developer, and even some time working on a cruise ship. He’s a fan of trying something new as much as possible. He is specifically interested in the intersection of biomedical and software engineering and the exciting recent advances in genetic engineering.
Outside of work, Ryder likes longboarding, travelling, flying, learning languages not written on a computer, and supporting the Oxford comma.
Casandra is concluding her PhD in Virology with the Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. Her thesis examines the unique entry mechanism of human enteric adenoviruses, which is important for the future development of these viruses as vectors for gene therapy.
Having been at the bench recently herself, Casandra appreciates the fact that sifting through the literature to find the appropriate reagents for experiments can be a rate-limiting step. She joined the BenchSci team because she believes in the enormous potential of this platform to accelerate research in the scientific community.
In her spare time, Casandra likes to maintain an active lifestyle in the form of hiking, yoga and high intensity interval training. She also loves to travel, learn about different cultures, and embark on photography adventures.
Cristina has a PhD in Biomedical Sciences and recently worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto.
As a cell and molecular biologist, Cristina is passionate about microscopy, and her PhD addressed the consequences of a failed mitotic division through live cell imaging and DNA combing. After 9 years at the bench, Cristina joined the BenchSci team driven by the idea of making scientific research more efficient due to the great amount of valuable scientific data that easily gets unnoticed.
Outside of work, Cristina spends her free time playing video games, listening to music and playing the piano. She also loves nature and travelling.
Laurence has a BSc in Agronomie from Laval University, as well as a MSc in Biomedical Sciences and a PhD in Pathobiology from the University of Guelph.
Laurence’s PhD research focused on better understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of severe asthma in horses using high-throughput RNA sequencing, pathway and network analysis, and a variety of protein detection techniques. Laurence experienced first-hand the challenges of finding antibodies to advance companion animal research and is passionate about exploring methods to make research more efficient, comprehensive, and inclusive.
Outside of work, Laurence can often be found rock climbing, hiking, watching a movie at home, reading about evolutionary biology, or spoiling her beloved dachshund.
Tom completed his MSc in Virology and PhD in Epigenetics at the University of Toronto.
For his PhD thesis, he investigated the molecular mechanism of repressive genetic bookmarking during cellular division and the potential application of reversing these bookmarks as alternative cancer therapeutic approaches. As a molecular biology research scientist, Tom experienced first hand the inefficient organization of biomedical publications.
Tom is very passionate about the development of a solution to better organize the vast amount of data in scientific literature in order to bring the most relevant information to scientists to facilitate the next big biomedical breakthrough.
Elvis has a BSc in Biochemistry, MSc in Electrical & Computer Engineering, and is now culminating his PhD thesis in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto.
His research focused on signal processing of multi–dimensional neuroimaging data from Electroencephalography (EEG), Magnetoencephalography (MEG) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). He has successfully developed cutting-edge software algorithms and statistical tools for improving time-series analyses of signal detection. He also completed his MSc thesis in ultrasound sensor programming.
He is also skilled in front-end development having single-handedly designed, coded and launched the new Life Science Career Development Society (WWW.LSCDS.ORG) website and built a graphical user interface (GUI) for MEG.
Anshu has a Bsc in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Bioengineering from University of Toronto and a Machine Learning nanodegree from Udacity.
His experience includes working at companies like Analog Devices, as well as research experience in labs such as the Multimedia Lab, Humanistic Intelligence Lab at UofT and Bhabha Atomic Research Center in India. He has worked on some interesting projects like accelerometery based seizure detection, classical conditioning through EEG feedback and visualization of gravitational waves. His main interests currently are machine learning and software development.
In his free time, he enjoys reading and doing spontaneous random new things.
Jakub Kosakowski completed his MSc in Computational Biology at McMaster University, working with Dr. Paul Higgs.
For his thesis, he studied bacterial interactions in spatial simulations, working with rock-paper-scissors models. The results of these studies demonstrated that systems with antibiotic producers and cheaters can be stable with a sensitive cell type, and that these systems can evolve to optimize antibiotic production.
Outside of work, Jakub enjoys reading, camping, and watching NFL football.
