Founder in Residence
Deep Science Ventures
Founder in Residence
Deep Science Ventures
Science-driven venture creation across sectors
Deep Science Ventures · United Kingdom (Remote) · — · Posted 2026-06-30
Workplace: remote
Department: Pharmaceuticals
Join us to build: we’re seeking entrepreneurially-minded scientists with deep technical expertise, who are eager to solve one of the most durable and consequential challenges in medicine through venture building. This role offers a unique opportunity to work at the forefront of CNS drug delivery, leading a company that makes it fundamentally easier, safer and more broadly applicable to get therapeutics into the brain.
The role is full-time, remote initially until venture incorporation and spin-out (circa end of 2027), location TBD.
CNS diseases represent one of the largest and most persistent unmet needs in medicine. Over 1 billion people worldwide live with a neurological condition, yet disease-modifying treatments remain elusive for the vast majority - from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s to multiple sclerosis and rare paediatric neurological disorders. The failure rate in CNS drug development is among the highest of any therapeutic area, and a central reason is not a lack of therapeutic targets: it is our inability to reliably deliver drugs across the blood-brain barrier (BBB).
The BBB is a highly specialised endothelial barrier that protects the brain from pathogens and toxins - but in doing so, it excludes the vast majority of therapeutic molecules. Fewer than 2% of small molecules cross the BBB in meaningful quantities, and almost no large-format biologics - antibodies, proteins, nucleic acids - reach the brain parenchyma without specialised delivery mechanisms. This has forced the field into a narrow set of workarounds: direct intracranial injection, high-dose systemic administration with poor CNS penetration, or compromising on target biology to find something accessible.
The emergence of receptor-mediated transcytosis (RMT) as a BBB delivery strategy represented a genuine step forward. Pioneered clinically by approaches targeting TfR1 and CD98hc, RMT exploits the brain’s own endocytic transport machinery to carry therapeutic cargo across the BBB endothelium. Roche, Denali, and others have invested heavily in this paradigm, and early clinical data are encouraging. But the fundamental constraints of these approaches are becoming clearer: haematotoxicity arising from high peripheral expression of TfR1, receptor saturation by endogenous transferrin, inefficient endosomal tubule sorting leading to lysosomal degradation of cargo, and receptor downregulation under sustained high-affinity engagement. These are not engineering imperfections that can be tuned away - they are intrinsic consequences of repurposing receptors whose primary biological function is not transcytosis.
Much of the underlying biology that governs whether cargo successfully reaches the brain parenchyma, rather than being degraded en route, remains a relatively unexplored design space - distinct from the well-trodden ground around TfR1 and CD98hc. And beyond transcytosis, other constraints persist across the field: a large proportion of CNS-penetrant small molecules remain excluded by efflux mechanisms, and several major therapeutic modalities still lack safe, efficient, and broadly applicable delivery platforms into the brain.
We believe there is a compelling scientific and commercial opportunity to redesign BBB drug delivery from first principles, rather than optimise within the constraints of existing approaches. could we unlock a step-change in the efficiency, safety, and modality breadth of CNS drug delivery? Could such a platform not only outperform current SOTA, but enable classes of therapeutic previously considered undeliverable to the brain?
This role sits within a formal partnership between Deep Science Ventures (DSV) and Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC). Driven by a shared conviction in the urgent need to unlock CNS drug delivery, DSV and MDC have partnered to scope and create a new venture at the intersection of protein engineering, cell biology, and drug development. MDC’s deep domain expertise, translational infrastructure, and network of KOLs, CROs, and pharma relationships will provide the Founder with unparalleled scientific access and a strong route to early validation and partnerships.
You will join DSV’s venture creation programme as a Founder-in-Residence and work closely with the DSV and MDC teams to spin out the new company. During the programme you will refine, improve and complement existing scoping work on:
Preparation for Investment Committee (IC) will involve fulfilling our investment criteria, recruiting advisory and co-founding team members, and parallel fundraising for additional expansion funds.
Assuming success at IC, you will receive pre-seed investment and spin out the company end of 2027. You and your co-founders will own a significant stake in the business and continue receiving support post-spinout.
We are interested in a variety of technical backgrounds. The most important requirement is deep expertise in at least two of the following four areas:
Protein Engineering
Biologics Drug Development
Cell Biology & Neurobiology
Medicinal Chemistry
By joining DSV, you’ll be joining a team of operators who have founded companies and led translation of science at some of the most respected universities, charities, funds and government agencies. 2/3 of the team have founded or led a company at C-suite and 65% have a PhD. Our team dedicate several hours every week to each Founder or founding team to provide tailored guidance, resources and feedback covering every aspect of what it takes to successfully launch a new venture from both the tech and commercial perspectives:
Deep Science Ventures (DSV) is on a mission to create a future in which both humans and the planet can thrive. We use our unique venture creation process to create, spin-out, and invest in science companies, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures. Operating in four sectors - Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture, and Computation - we tackle the challenges defining these areas by taking a first principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.
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Science-driven venture creation across sectors
Deep Science Ventures builds new companies by turning scientific knowledge into startup ventures. It combines scientist-founders with existing expertise to create high-impact businesses in Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture, and Computation. The process centers on a first-principles, evidence-based approach and close partnerships with top institutions to translate research into real-world solutions. Unlike typical investors or incubators, it acts as a venture creator that co-develops ideas, forms teams, and guides the whole company-building journey from lab concepts to market-ready ventures. The goal is to enable breakthroughs that help humanity and the planet thrive by addressing major challenges across its four sectors.
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