Jennifer Nelson, Ph.D.

Dr. Jennifer Nelson joined Omega as Senior Vice President, Research, and was promoted to Chief Scientific Officer in November 2024. Dr. Nelson brings over 20 years of biopharma industry experience and scientific expertise in the field of RNA biology. Prior to joining Omega, she served as Vice President of Research at Flagship Pioneering, where she helped launch and develop bioplatform companies, including oversight of platform-related strategy and research. Previously, she served as Head of Vaccines at Laronde, having formerly led Platform Research, and played pivotal roles throughout her tenure advancing the company’s preclinical development, manufacturing capabilities and portfolio and IP strategy. Before Laronde, Dr. Nelson held management positions of increasing responsibility at Moderna Therapeutics, culminating in a leading role advancing novel approaches to leveraging mRNA for therapeutic purposes. Dr. Nelson began her industry career at Archemix Therapeutics and later worked at GSK prior to joining Moderna.

Dr. Nelson is an author on numerous articles and patents focused on various nucleic acid technologies, including mRNA, circular RNA, ribozymes and aptamers. She received a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder, a Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies, field: Management from Harvard University, and a B.A. from Northwestern University.