NextGen Jane is defining the next generation of obstetric and gynecological health.
Our story
At its core, NextGen Jane’s organizing principle has always been the same: this shouldn’t be so hard.
Whether “this” is navigating excruciating period pain, inexplicable infertility, the amorphous transition to menopause, or a difficult pregnancy, it should be easier to find answers. But it’s not. The impediments to receiving care range from cumbersome, expensive procedures required to make a full diagnosis (laparoscopy for endometriosis) to a lack of tests available to help make decisions (are you entering menopause?). If you are lucky to get an appropriate diagnosis, you are often left with poor treatment options (hysterectomy, drugs that induce menopause) or diagnoses that arrive too late (ovarian cancer). At Jane, we are building a foundation of knowledge to impact all of these areas and transforming obstetric and gynecological health through molecular insight.
Why menstrual blood?
Menstrual blood is an elegant, uterine tissue-enriched sample which allows for non-invasive, routine, longitudinal data collection.
If you have had a period in your life, you probably have an intuitive understanding of why this sample type is so powerful. Superficial changes in your menstrual cycle – a delay, early onset, heavier than usual, missing a cycle entirely – alert you to something going on in your body. These changes can be meaningful or completely mundane, but they are your uterus responding to different stimuli. At Jane, we are leveraging this ability of the uterus to act as a sentinel for your health and expanding it to a molecular level. This means we collect tampons from people with all different types of conditions, generate terabytes of genomic information from these tampons and associate the molecular signatures from your uterus with discrete health outcomes. The ultimate goal is to improve both the efficiency and accuracy of a diagnosis, as well as how to precisely treat it.
The future of OB-GYN care
You should have better diagnostics, more options for treatment, and easier access to information for fully-actualized preventative care.
- Easy access to care through convenient sample collection.
Whether you live in a GYN desert, can’t take time off of work for an appointment, or don’t have many transportation options, in-clinic sample collection should not be an impediment to seeking care. - Making subjective assessments, objective.
Understanding whether your menstrual experience is ‘normal’ or ‘typical’ is hard to establish in a vacuum. Is this level of pain normal? Is this amount of blood loss average? What clot size should have me worried? A molecular Menstrual Health Assessment should provide a clear indication of menstrual health. - A more granular understanding of disease.
Molecular profiling of uterine tissue in response to disease provides insight into your body’s unique response to a disease and should inform treatment options. - An expanded druggable space.
Understanding how your body responds to a disease should also help identify new targets for better drugs. - True patient stratification.
Deep genomic profiling of different disease states can reveal whether a partiuclar drug is right for you.
Executive Team
Ridhi is an engineer, scientist, business woman, and aspiring writer. She started Jane out of frustration but has stayed for the rigorous intellectual challenge and the chance to fix something broken. Her passions include genomics, women's health, work in emerging markets and a good Spotify playlist.
- MIT, SM Biomedical Enterprise
- Harvard, MBA
- Georgia Tech, BS Industrial Engineering
- Broad Institute
- Blavatnik Fellow
- Ferolyn Fellow
Stephen is a scientist, designer, artist, and former chef. He started Jane out of deep empathy for what his sisters have gone through in order to get clear diagnoses and stayed for the satisfaction of building a different future for his nieces. His passions include virology, genomics, and photography.
- Columbia, MPH
- Colorado State University, BS Biology
- Centers for Disease Control
- United States Army Medical Research Institute of
- Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) Fellow
- Whitehead Institute
- Broad Institute
Xitong is a scientist, engineer, and veteran in building bioinformatics enterprises for genomic diagnostic products. He joined Jane out of his passion for modeling biology and the Jane team's determination to unlock the complexity of uterine biology for women's health.
- University of Rochester, PhD Biology
- Fudan University, BS Biophysics
- MIT, NIH Postdoctoral Fellow (National Research Service Award)
- Novartis, Verinata/Illumina, Genomic Health
Team
I feel a sense of purpose working at Jane, in part, because I’m passionate about showing up for women and people with female biology in any area where we are underrepresented (read: all of them). Research around our bodies is nowhere near representative of our needs, but it feels like there is a shift happening in the culture & I’m thrilled to be a part of that change.
- MS, Biotechnology, Johns Hopkins University
I feel proud to work at a company that fights every single day to emphasize the importance of research in the problems around female biology, especially as a mom raising 3 young women. Outside of Jane, I spend time with my family and run a small business with my husband.
- 18 years in Medical Device Manufacturing
I am excited to bring awareness to the vastly unexplored and under-researched world of women’s reproductive health so that women are empowered to take back ownership of their bodies. In my spare time, I enjoy playing with my ultimate frisbee team and exercising with my yellow lab Gus.
- BA, Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley
Matt is a reformed herpetologist who got into the diagnostic space after managing a high-throughput Covid-19 testing lab. The more he learns about the realities of endometriosis and other poorly understood women's health issues the more excited he is to be contributing towards solutions at NextGen Jane. Outside of work he is likely smoking his own bacon and experimenting in the garden.
- PhD, Biology, University of Washington