Who We Are

Chief Operating Officer (COO) – Dr Martin W Stow

Martin has recently joined geneOnyx Ltd as COO and has over 23 years of R&D & business leadership experience in the Medical Device and Diagnostics & Biotechnology industries.

From 1995 to early 2012, Martin worked for Johnson and Johnson and was responsibility for leading diverse teams in the areas of wound closure (suture), hernia solutions & advanced wound care in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific.  He held positions of increasing responsibility within different businesses of J&J ultimately reaching the level of Vice President WW responsible for R&D within the Ethicon Products.  Martin has brought more than 25 new products to market, most of which have been launched globally. More recently, Martin has been leading the development of an Emerging Market strategy and pipeline for Ethicon which included building R&D capability in China.

Prior to joining J&J, from 1990 to 1995, Martin worked in various roles for Biocode Ltd (now Authentix Ltd) a Biotechnology venture capital start-up company.

During his career Martin has skillfully balanced the dynamic needs and opportunities that the science, talent and business conditions create. Martin has earned a successful track record of managing teams world-wide by developing talent & capability, implementing processes to ensure sustainability while driving innovation and creating a valuable pipeline that advances care and meets the specific strategic requirements of the business.

Martin has a first class B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Biochemistry (1984) and a DPhil in Molecular Biology/Biochemistry (1990) from the University of York.

Head of Genetic Research – Dr Belinda Nedjai

At geneOnyx since 2011, Belinda investigates the role of human genetic variation in skin and establishes a correlation between genetic variation and effectiveness of active ingredients used in over the counter (OTC) cosmetic products. She leads innovative projects requiring close collaboration between genetic research and IT teams to create, develop and implement intelligent software’s tools for skin care product recommendations. She also focuses on bridging the gap between gene discovery and the ability to use genetic information to benefit skin health.

She has a PhD in genetics and functional genomics from Queen Mary, Bart’s and The London School of Medicine. Her expertise in cell biology acquired during her Master degree in cellular and molecular physiopathology obtained from University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI) in Paris, is an asset to understand and skin biology at the molecular level. She has acquired an extensive knowledge in genetics and the functional consequences of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on various inflammatory disorders associated with strong skin inflammation (TRAPS disease). She joined Imperial College in 2008 and worked on cytokines/receptors activation models, which provided her with a strong understanding in protein-protein interaction, molecular biology and compounds biochemistry. She is also passionate about plants biochemical properties and utilises this knowledge in her research. In 2010, she joined the Bio-inspired group as a Research Fellow and drives projects relating to the understanding of human genomic variation and the impact of environmental and lifestyle factors to predict human phenotypic response in skin ageing.

Belinda is really inspired by the advent of semiconductor technology as it has permitted accurate real time, non-invasive acquisition of an individual’s genetic data. She believes that this information makes personalisation a reality where genetic polymorphisms affect compounds metabolism (i.e. drugs, ingredients) and or hypersensitivity for example of skin care products.

Head of Molecular Biology – Dr Chan-Ju Angel Wang

Angel Wang is a molecular engineering specialist, who played a key role in early work of label-free nucleic acid detection using semiconductor chips. With strong interest in genetic engineering and DNA-drug interaction, she holds a Master degree in Molecular & Genetic Medicine and subsequently acquired a D.Phil. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Oxford, where she practiced genetic engineering and structural biology (enzyme/drug screening), and genotyping using both conventional and Sequencing techniques. Before joining geneOnyx, Angel headed Molecular Biology Department at DNA Electronics Ltd and led several technical projects in Proof of Concept work in ISFET-based DNA detection

Head Electronics Engineer – Danny Wong

Danny Wong is an electronics engineer with extensive experience in systems and software design as well as engineering management. After graduation with top honours from the University of Bristol, he joined signal processing specialist Ensigma (now part of Imagination Technologies) for nine years to become a Head of Group. Being multilingual he has also worked in technically hands-on management roles in international conglomerates including Panasonic and the Hutchison Whampoa group. Throughout his career, Danny has a tendency to pursue technologies still in their nascent stages, e.g. DSP ASIC, GSM, DAB, Bluetooth and cloud computing. It is unsurprising that he is the named inventor in a number of patents. Besides qualifying to be a Chartered Engineer through IEE in 1996, he is also a member of IEEE. Since 2001, he and his family relocated to Hong Kong where he founded two consultancies and a mobile phone design house.

Marketing Consultant – Holly Baker

An ambitious creative marketer with over 7 years’ experience in a global beauty organisation, Avon Cosmetics and most recently for geneOnyx who are revolutionising the way we market skincare. Holly’s career has included full marketing mix responsibilities inclusive of; end to end project management, category management, sales growth, event management, customer & internal incentive planning, Telecontact management, creative print execution and partner acquisitions in both commercial and supporting marketing roles.

Holly has enjoyed various marketing roles spanning across multiple markets in the WEMEA region. Most notably heading up the Field & Marketing department for Avon Germany, based in Munich, where across her secondment field leads increased by 100%. With Holly’s keen eye for creative execution, sales analytics and drive for profit, she contributed to significant sales growth across both the Personal Care & Hair Care categories through managing the iconic Skin So Soft brand to its highest grossing new product launch, as well as managing the highest annual sales in both Telecontact and Incentive programmes in 2010.

Holly was awarded a Bachelor of Arts with honours degree in 2005 in Advertising and Design from the University of Northampton.

Marketing Associate – Lara Beard

Lara has a First Class Honours Degree in Marketing, Design and Communication. Whilst at University, she was selected to work on projects with L’Oreal, nominated to compete with aspiring journalists across the UK in the ‘First word Journalist’ awards, and had placements at EMMA (Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy), Creative Habitat, Green My Style, Queens of Vintage, Delightful Media, New Look Retailers and Luchford APM.

Prior to joining geneOnyx in 2012, Lara was Marketing & PR Manager at The Feel Good Group, parent company to the UK and Ireland’s leading tanning retailer, The Tanning Shop. While there, Lara cultivated her experience in retail and was responsible for an extensive rebranding exercise including its implementation.

Lara is entrepreneurial and highly creative in her execution of strategic marketing, branding and PR campaigns.

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Genetic Research Associate – Dr William G Spinner

William joined geneOnyx in 2012 to utilise his expertise in bioinformatics to develop the geneOnyx product. William has always been interested in the changes in the biochemical characteristics of proteins that occur as a result of genetic variation. William is part of the genetic research team working closely with the IT team to generate and implement intelligent software for product recommendation.

William has a first class B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Zoology from the University of Wales, Swansea (2006) and a PhD in Molecular Biology at Bristol University (2011).

Software Engineer – Zi-Jian Lai

Working with Professor Toumazou during his final undergraduate year at Imperial College London, Zi-Jian Lai developed an image quantification software for use in the cosmetics industry.

His interest in software development and data analysis has compelled him to join geneOnyx as a software engineer after obtaining his First Class MEng (Hons) degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

Chief Scientific Advisor & CEO DNA Electronics Ltd – Professor Christofer Toumazou (FRS, FREng, FIEEE, FIET, FRSM, FCGI, CEng, Deng, PhD)

This portable, over-the-counter DNA testing technology is the brain-child of Prof. Christofer Toumazou, FRS, a world- renowned scientist, engineer and pioneer in the field of bio-medical technologies and commercialised by DNA Electronics Ltd.

Professor Toumazou’s dedication to understanding a relationship between genetics, active ingredients and skin disease is a long and accomplished one and is now being applied to the skin care industry in order to bring personalised skin care recommendations based on genetics into the retail environment for the very first time.

He established himself as a respected scientist early in his career with the invention and development of an entirely novel concept of current-mode analogue circuitry for ultra-low-power electronic devices for which he was made Professor at Imperial College at 33, one of the youngest in history. Since then he has gone on to publish over 700 research papers and holds over 40 patents in the field semiconductors and healthcare. He is also the Founding Director and Chief Scientist at The Institute of Biomedical Engineering Imperial College London; Founder and CEO of Toumaz Technology; Director of the Winston Wong Centre for Bio Inspired Technology, and Professor of Bio-Inspired Technology. His most recent awards include: 2011 IET JJ Thomson Medal, 2009 World Technology Award, and the UK’s highest honour in science-Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Fellowship of the Royal Society.