Alice Zhang

In fall 2022, Alice Zhang traveled to the Centre for Human Drug Research in the Netherlands for a momentous milestone: Verge Genomics’ first in-human clinical trial of its ALS drug. The process began in 2015, when Zhang abandoned her MD/Ph.D. degree program in neuroscience to cofound Verge. She believed her research using artificial intelligence to map diseases could have a massive-scale impact, and she set out to develop drugs for some of the most difficult-to-treat conditions, including ALS, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s. In contrast to other drug development techniques, Verge uses samples of human tissue to sequence and create a data map of a disease’s biological profile, in an effort to pinpoint areas that can be addressed with treatment. Last winter, Verge raised $98 million in Series B funding from BlackRock, Eli Lilly, Threshold Ventures, and others.

Follow:

Twitter