Epigene Labs

Epigene Labs

Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning, Health, Pharmaceutical / Biotech

Paris, Boston

As a Senior Computational Biologist at Epigene Labs, Kader develops cutting-edge informatics methods for cancer scientists. He leverages his background in mathematics and computer sciences to build strong analysis pipelines to facilitate the extraction of biological insights from raw data.

Kader started off his career in academia focusing on genetics, evolution, epidemiology, and more broadly on mathematical models for biology. His PhD research was centered around the detection and characterization of correlated evolution processes at Collège de France and Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. He then conducted postdoctoral research in the University of Glasgow, modeling the dynamics and mechanisms of epidemics in various environmental contexts.

Dr. Behdenna holds a master’s degree in computer sciences from the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, and a dual master’s degree in environmental sciences and policies from Sciences Po Paris and Université Pierre et Marie Curie. In 2016, he obtained his PhD in genetics and bioinformatics from Université Pierre et Marie Curie.

As a co-founder & CEO of Epigene Labs, Akpéli primarily focuses on building and managing the company’s R&D team.

He trained and conducted research in both cancer biology at Institute Curie in Paris and computational biology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Aside from his research, he also played an instrumental role in the inception of Hello Tomorrow, a non-profit organization based in Paris that promotes deep tech entrepreneurship globally.

Akpéli completed a dual PharmD-PhD curriculum at Université Paris Descartes and advanced research training at Harvard Medical School.

As a data scientist at Epigene Labs, Julien is prototyping and testing AI-powered tools for the aggregation and analysis of genomic data from multiple sources. He is also highly involved in setting up the company’s technology stack.

Prior to joining Epigene Labs, Julien was a data science consultant in the Ernst & Young Advisory Experience Lab. He has also been a teaching assistant for the Accenture Chair in Strategic Business Analytics at ESSEC Business School.

Julien holds a PharmD from Université Paris Descartes as well as master of science degree in data science from École CentraleSupélec and a master of science degree in management from ESSEC Business School (Grande École program).

Presentation

Epigene Labs ensures cancer drug hunters pilot R&D programs thanks to rich and diverse human genomic data. The company’s technology platform combines artificial intelligence with domain expertise for the aggregation and analysis of multi-dimensional genomic data.

The team initially focuses on the identification of immunotherapy drug targets and biomarkers based on gene expression datasets from multiple public and private databases. Epigene Labs thus aspires to significantly accelerate drug discovery for precision medicine in oncology.

The company is supported by Station F, Agoranov, Cancer Campus, AstraZeneca, and the Harvard Innovation Labs.

What they are looking for

They are building a team equipped with complementary expertise in disciplines spanning data sciences, software engineering, biology, and oncology.

They are thus seeking talents with deep expertise and autonomy in their own discipline, but also with an open mindset allowing them to create bridges towards other disciplines.

Good to know

At Epigene, each team member is responsible for – keeping alive! – its own plant. Thus, they do not forget that every day they are trying to help living beings, though they are working with machines most of the time.

When a team member is not going to be in the office, they have to coordinate with a colleague to take care of their plant, which creates a sense of shared and continuous responsibility across the team, that they are all working towards the same goal.

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