Ask Me Anything: Epigenetic Biomarkers for Early Disease Detection

Robert has more than 16 years’ experience in product development at high growth start-ups. Robert was Chief Operating Officer at Biofidelity since December 2020, where he has overseen development of Biofidelity’s ASPYRE platform and launch of the company’s first ASPYRE-Lung products. Previously Robert was an SVP of Technology and Assay Development at Inivata. He led the development of Inivata’s RaDaR product for the detection of recurrent and residual disease from concept to commercial launch in less than 12 months, a key driver in the company’s acquisition by NeoGenomics. Robert was previously Principal Staff Scientist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute where he worked with Dr. Peter Campbell and Professor Sir Michael Stratton to lead the development of a new method, termed NanoSeq, that significantly increases the accuracy of duplex sequencing. The method makes only a few errors per billion DNA letters and allows study of somatic mutations in any tissue, including non-dividing cells. Dr. Osborne also served as Director of Technology Development at Wellcome Sanger Institute’s spin-off company, 14M Genomics, and Director of Research at Population Genetics Technologies. Early in his career, Robert worked with pioneering molecular biologist and Nobel Prize recipient, Dr. Sydney Brenner to secure the first patents for Unique Molecular Identifiers. He has a PhD in Genetics from the University of Nottingham and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Rochester, NY, and a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Oxford. Robert is the inventor or co-inventor of 19 patents and author of more than 20 scientific publications including multiple papers published in Nature and Science