Voyant Bio
Rewiring Immune Communication
Unleashing the power of immune cell interactions
Our spatial biology platform uses machine learning to understand immune cell communication in tumors and autoimmune diseases, saving failed clinical trials and designing more effective therapies.
Instead of blocking interactions that weaken immune responses, we focus on enhancing important positive signals while also blocking negative ones.
We’re developing a portfolio of targets to restore critical interactions in patients with unmet clinical need, while also using our platform to boost biopharma clinical trial success.
Voyant Bio Selected for Merck Digital Sciences Studio
Voyant Bio is proud to announce its acceptance into the latest cohort of the Merck Digital Sciences Studio (MDS Studio), a digital accelerator designed to enable the next generation of technologies for drug discovery and development, including artificial intelligence and machine learning. MDS Studio was founded to offer support for early-stage biomedical startups providing strategic guidance, direct investment, and connection opportunities within Merck.
About Merck Digital Sciences Studio
The Merck Digital Sciences Studio (MDS Studio or MDSS), a collaboration between Merck, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Northpond Ventures, McKesson Ventures, Microsoft for Startups, and the New Jersey Innovation Institute, a New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) subsidiary. The 10-month startup accelerator program, with direct investments from Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Northpond Ventures, and McKesson Ventures, empowers members and enables the generation of innovative digital technologies for drug discovery and development through hands-on mentorship, connection opportunities with industry-leading partners, and training in an active entrepreneurial setting. Through the accelerator program, these startups will have access to workshops, coaching, office space, and Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub resources, including up to $150,000 Azure Cloud computing credits.
Leadership
Assaf Magen, Ph.D.
Founder & CEO
Expert in immuno-oncology, computational biology, and AI/ML, with a track record of pioneering innovations in cancer research and precision medicine. As a former assistant professor at Mount Sinai, he led high-impact collaborations with Regeneron, integrating clinical, experimental, and computational teams. His groundbreaking discoveries, published in Nature Medicine, have identified critical drivers of anti-tumor immunity, unlocking new strategies for rational immunotherapy design with curative potential.
Zoya Gluzman-Poltorak, PhD, MBA
Chief Development Officer
Led IL-12 immuno-oncology development at Neumedicines. Entrepreneurial scientific executive with 25+ years in gene, cell, genome editing, and protein therapeutics. Led multiple therapeutic areas from idea to clinical development. Managed 7 IND submissions and 5 INDs. Managed multimillion-dollar government contracts and grants. Initiated global collaborative R&D projects. Originated and partnered on 12 patents and over 30 peer-reviewed publications.
Tatiana Novitskaya, MD, PhD
Spatial Biology Staff Scientist
An expert spatial biology imaging scientist with a proven track record in immune-oncology and project leadership, from conception to data interpretation, has made significant contributions to the biopharma industry. Co-inventing multiple patent applications, she established a robust quality control platform, evaluated cutting-edge technologies, and effectively managed image analysis workflows.
Sangeetha Ramsagar
BD & Pharma | Commercialization
Over two decades of experience in global commercial strategy, brand management, and portfolio optimization within the oncology industry. Successfully fostered cross-functional collaborations and partnerships, resulting in optimized portfolio performance that drove the success of therapeutic assets.
Christopher Woelk, PhD
Bioinformatics AI/ML
20 years of leadership in R&D across pharma, biotech startups, academia, and hospital systems, leveraging machine learning and multi-omics to drive innovation in drug development, biomarker discovery, and precision medicine across multiple therapeutic areas.
Partner with us
Leverage our validated spatial biology platform to uncover previously hidden drivers of resistance to cancer immunotherapy (ICB, CAR T, Engagers, ISACs). |
As we have successfully demonstrated in previous collaborations, our platform generates more sensitive patient selection strategies using novel spatial biomarkers. We can also inform R&D efforts to selectively target these interactions in refractory patients. |
Simply send us a small number of archival patient tumor slides. We’ll perform deep spatial mapping and utilize our machine learning framework to identify resistance mechanisms where essential immune-immune cell interactions upstream of direct tumor killing are disrupted. |
If you have a specific target in mind, we can interrogate our spatially-informed immune cell interactions atlas across various cancer types to reveal which cell types and functional states would be affected, and how, letting you make informed decisions without wandering in the dark. |
Input |
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Archival slides from 20+ tumors resected during or after treatment and pathological response status. |
Output |
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Deep phenotyping of immune niches via highly-multiplexed imaging |
Model of cellular interaction patterns distinguishing responders & non-responders |
Actionable interaction axes to block/stimulate, or use for patient selection. |
Founding computational biologist role
About Us: Voyant Bio has developed a spatial biology platform to unleash immunity against multiple cancers by rewiring immune cell interactions. Our first-in-class therapeutics have the potential to radically improve treatment efficacy for the 80% of patients who fail to respond to cancer immunotherapies. We are a backed by Merck Digital Sciences Studio.Who We Are: Our team is led by Assaf Magen, PhD, CEO, an expert in immuno-oncology and computational biology, inventor of the technology, and lead author of a seminal publication. He trained at the National Cancer Institute (NCI, NIH) and was an assistant professor at Mount Sinai. Together with a world-class biopharma advisory team, we are uniquely positioned to make breakthroughs in immuno-oncology.The Role: We are looking for a founding Machine Learning/Computational Biology scientist to lead our technical efforts, focusing on multi-modal single-cell geomics, spatial data analysis, and method development. You’ll be instrumental in shaping the bioinformatics roadmap and building scalable platforms and generative models for diverse biological datasets.
This role requires hands-on experience in Python for microscopy data analysis and single-cell genomics, as well as expertise in large-scale data management in cloud environments. A strong foundation in AI-driven approaches to biological data interpretation and modeling is essential. Ideally, you have recruited, managed, and led a computational biology or machine learning team. Exposure to immunology or immuno-oncology is a plus.This is a founding scientist position with incredible room for growth in responsibilities and benefits as we grow.Please use the form below. No recruiters, please. We are unable to sponsor visas at this time.
Voyant Bio
Rewiring Immune Communication
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