One founder, building both sides of the problem
NeuroPenetrance is led by a solo founder who spans the lab bench and the machine learning — advised by the mentor who helped shape the idea from the start. She's now looking for a co-founder to help take it further.
Nella Christie Delva, PhD
Founder — Neuroscientist & Data ScientistNella's doctoral research at Florida State University examined dopamine signalling in the prefrontal cortex and its role in stress resilience and mood — in other words, why some brains cope with pressure and others don't. That question is the direct ancestor of this company.
A Fulbright Research Fellowship brought her to the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin, where she worked hands-on in the Hammes-Lewin laboratory with patient-derived stem cells: growing them, turning them into neurons, and imaging what those neurons became. That is the scientific foundation of the laboratory engine.
She then built and tested the machine learning engine independently, pairing that bench background with formal data science training in Python, SQL and machine learning. She is also a McKnight Doctoral Fellow and a recipient of the Germanistic Society of America Award.
Dr. Annette Hammes-Lewin
Advisor & Mentor — Max Delbrück Center, BerlinGroup Leader for Molecular Pathways in Cortical Development at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine. Her laboratory studies Sonic Hedgehog signalling in forebrain development — the developmental system that sits underneath NeuroPenetrance's entire model of incomplete penetrance.
Dr. Hammes-Lewin supervised Nella's Fulbright research and has continued since as an advisor and mentor to NeuroPenetrance, helping shape the biological model behind the platform. Her laboratory may provide bench space and infrastructure to support early proof-of-concept work.
Where things stand — and what's next
NeuroPenetrance is built and run by one founder today, spanning both the wet-lab and machine-learning sides of the platform. That range is what has taken the idea from a research question to a tested proof of concept and a working two-engine business model. Scaling both engines at once, though, is a job for more than one person.
Dr. Hammes-Lewin's role has been, and continues to be, that of an advisor and mentor — not a co-founder or employee. Her guidance and lab access have been essential to getting this far, and are offered as support for the company's early stage rather than a formal stake in it.
I'm looking for a co-founder to build this with — someone strong on the commercial, regulatory or software-engineering side, or an equally hands-on scientific partner ready to grow both engines together. If that could be you, or someone you know, I'd like to talk.
NeuroPenetrance is also open to collaborators, pilot partners and advisors — particularly clinical geneticists, biotech R&D teams working on neuro-therapeutics, and research groups with relevant patient cell lines. If that sounds like you, get in touch.