VUS Genetics Strengthens Board with Drug Discovery Pioneer Dr Niall Martin and Precision Oncology Leader Eric Lindquist
Two strategic board appointments and an exclusive license to the geneSlice™ functional genomics platform signal a pivotal moment for the company
June 9, 2026 — Amsterdam, the Netherlands
VUS Genetics, a genomics-focused company dedicated to innovating patient stratification for personalised treatment approaches, today announces the appointment of Dr Niall Martin, FMedSci and Eric Lindquist, MBA to its Board of Directors. The appointments coincide with the announcement of an exclusive license to geneSlice™, a novel functional genomics platform developed at The Hospital for Sick Children in the laboratory of co-founder and scientific advisor, Dr Zhenya Ivakine — positioning VUS Genetics to set a new standard for functional gene variant testing in precision medicine.
Too many clinical trials are still failing. Not because the science is wrong, but because patient selection has not kept pace with the innovation in drug target modalities. VUS Genetics was built to close that gap — delivering gene variant-level functional data where the field has relied on gene-level data, enabling clinicians and biopharma partners to match every patient to the right treatment with confidence.
"Having been involved in building innovative biotech companies for the last 25 years, many clinical trials continue to fail even today. If we do not get patient stratification in line with the innovation we have seen around drug target modalities then we will continue to see failures in bringing innovative treatments to patients."
— Dr Niall Martin, Board Director, VUS Genetics
Dr Martin is an accomplished figure in translational oncology. As CEO and Co-Founder of Artios Pharma, he raised $400M to advance the company's DNA damage response (DDR) platform, including its ATR inhibitor and novel Pol theta inhibitor into clinical proof-of-concept studies. Earlier in his career, Dr Martin served as Head of Drug Discovery at KuDOS Pharmaceuticals (acquired by AstraZeneca), where he co-invented olaparib — the world's first PARP inhibitor and the first marketed DNA-repair-enzyme inhibitor demonstrating synthetic lethality in the clinic. Olaparib, marketed as Lynparza, has now been administered to over 100,000 patients worldwide and remains the landmark proof that targeting cancer genetic vulnerabilities can deliver transformative clinical outcomes.
The connection between olaparib's legacy and VUS Genetics' mission is direct. Synthetic lethality works — but its full potential is constrained by imprecise patient stratification. A gene variant is not one thing; for the thousands of gene variants identified by sequencing every year across BRCA2, ATM, and other clinically actionable genes, a positive result is only the beginning — without functional evidence of drug response, clinicians cannot act with confidence. VUS Genetics' platform addresses this by generating functional gene variant-level data for enabling the identification of responding patients based on NGS DNA sequencing data. VUS Genetics was started to bring the patient stratification innovation that personalized therapies demand.
"Determining whether a gene variant functionally drives drug response has been one of genomic medicine's most stubborn unsolved problems. VUS Genetics is tackling this head-on — and the opportunity to transform how gene variants can impact better patient care could be enormous."
— Eric Lindquist, Board Director, VUS Genetics
Eric Lindquist brings extensive experience in oncology and diagnostics, having most recently served as CEO of InnoSIGN. Before that, he was Chief Business and Commercial Officer at Celcuity, where he led the acquisition and Phase III development of a breast cancer drug. Earlier roles include senior positions at Natera (launching a personalized cancer test) and Roche (companion diagnostics and business development). He holds a BS in genetics and cell biology from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Capella University.
"I am thrilled to have the support and expertise of Niall Martin and Eric Lindquist help unleash the potential of what we have already started building at VUS Genetics."
— Arne Nedergaard Kousholt, CEO & Founder, VUS Genetics
About Dr Niall Martin
Dr Niall Martin, PhD, FMedSci, is an industry pioneer with over two decades of leadership in drug discovery, translational oncology, and biotech entrepreneurship. He co-invented olaparib (Lynparza) at KuDOS Pharmaceuticals and built Artios Pharma into a leading DDR company, raising over $400 million. He also co-founded MISSION Therapeutics, focused on deubiquitylating enzyme inhibitors in DNA damage and repair. He is currently an independent consultant through DR.NMB Consultancy Ltd and serves on the Board of Link Biologics.
About Eric Lindquist
Eric Lindquist is a pharmaceutical and diagnostics executive with deep experience in fundraising, business development, and commercialisation across precision oncology and companion diagnostics. He has held senior leadership roles at Celcuity, Natera, ZephyrAI, Asuragen, HTG Molecular, and Roche Tissue Diagnostics (Ventana), among others. He was until recently the CEO of InnoSIGN Bio. Eric Lindquist has co-founded Companion Biosciences LLC.
About geneSlice™
geneSlice™ is a proprietary gene editing and functional genomics platform developed in the laboratory of Dr Zhenya Ivakine at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Toronto, Canada. The technology enables systematic, scalable functional testing of genetic variants, providing clinicians and researchers with the evidence needed to reclassify VUS findings and support more precise diagnoses and treatment approaches for genetic diseases including oncology. geneSlice™ combines cutting-edge gene editing tools with advanced cellular models to deliver reproducible, clinically meaningful results.
About VUS Genetics
VUS Genetics is a genomics-focused company dedicated to innovating patient stratification for personalised treatment approaches. By building a scalable functional genomics and data intelligence platform for drug response testing of gene variants, and partnering with leading biotech and pharma companies in addition to leading academic medical centres, VUS Genetics aims to provide clinicians and patients with definitive answers by enabling informed interpretation of NGS DNA sequencing data. The company is committed to accelerating the clinical utility of next-generation genomic tools for improving personalised treatment of genetic diseases including oncology.
Media Contact
VUS Genetics: Pieter-Jan Vos, Director Business Development
p.vos@vusgenetics.com — P +31 6 12507033