Jacob Rubens

Jacob (Jake) Rubens, Ph.D., is an Origination Partner at Flagship Pioneering. He is a scientist entrepreneur and leads a venture-creation team that founds and grows companies based on new biotechnology.

At Flagship, Jake co-founded Quotient Therapeutics, Tessera Therapeutics, and Sana Biotechnology, and launched Kaleido Biosciences. Jake is the President of Quotient and Chief Innovation Officer and founding Chief Scientific Officer at Tessera, where he led research from 2018 through 2021. Previously, Jake was the Head of Innovation at Cobalt Biomedicine, where he co-invented and developed the company’s Fusosome platform prior to its merger with Sana Biotechnology.

Before joining Flagship, Jake received his Ph.D. in microbiology from MIT, working in the Synthetic Biology Center with Professor Tim Lu with the support of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. At MIT Jake invented gene circuits that allow engineered cells to do novel analog, digital, and hybrid computations, enabling the emerging field of “intelligent” cell therapies.

Jake’s work has resulted in multiple pending patents and publications, including articles in Nature and Nature Communications. Jake was honored in 2017 in Forbes' 30 under 30 list in science, in 2021 in Endpoints’ 20(+1) Under 40 list of the next generation of biotech leaders, and in 2021 in Business Insiders’ list of 12 young serial entrepreneurs building the next generation of biotech startups.