Jason Merkin

Jason Merkin has a strong background and extensive work experience in the field of computational biology. Jason currently holds the position of Director of Computational Biology at AvenCell, starting in November 2021. Prior to this, they worked at Faze Medicines as a Consultant from November 2021 to September 2022, and as an Associate Director and Head of Computational Biology from May 2020 to November 2021. Jason also served as a Computational Biology Consultant at Third Rock Ventures from May 2020 to November 2020. Before joining Faze Medicines and Third Rock Ventures, they had significant experience at KSQ Therapeutics, Inc., where they held multiple roles from 2016 to 2020, including Principal Scientist, Associate Principal Scientist, and Senior Scientist in Computational Biology. Jason was responsible for driving target identification, validation, and drug discovery using computational approaches, as well as developing and analyzing proprietary technologies. Prior to that, Jason worked as a Research Investigator in Oncology Bioinformatics at Novartis from May 2014 to June 2016. Jason began their professional career as an Undergraduate Researcher at UMDNJ from September 2005 to May 2008. Jason Merkin's educational background includes a Ph.D. in the Department of Biology from MIT, where they conducted research in the lab of Chris Burge, and also served as a Teaching Assistant for various biology courses.

Jason Merkin obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, magna cum laude with highest honors, from Rutgers University in the years 2004 to 2008. Following this, they pursued a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Biology from MIT, completing their studies from 2008 to 2013.