Team

Jennie Law

Head of Operations

As Head of Operations at MicrobesNG Jennie is responsible for the commercial arm of our business. As an experienced and versatile operational all-rounder she brings over a decade of comprehensive expertise spanning sales strategy, customer relations, human resources, and day-to-day business operations. Her holistic leadership style ensures that the company’s infrastructure and wider business operations align with our commercial ambitions. Jennie thrives at keeping the wheels of the business turning behind the scenes and ensuring the delivery of an outstanding customer experience.

Charlotte Thompson

Head of Lab Production

Charlotte is the Head of Laboratory Production at MicrobesNG, where she leads the team responsible for delivering high-quality microbial sequencing services. With five years of experience at the company, Charlotte brings a strong understanding of laboratory operations and a passion for continuous improvement. She enjoys working with her team to ensure efficient workflows and a high standard of service. Charlotte joined MicrobesNG after graduating with a BSc in Biochemistry. During her degree she completed a placement year in a research laboratory where she developed an interest in microbiology, molecular biology and Next Generation Sequencing.

Mark Kennedy

Head of Technology

Mark leads the bioinformatics and software teams at MicrobesNG. He brings a broad industry background in large-scale web infrastructure, software engineering, business intelligence, data pipelines, Linux and information architecture, and is a strong advocate for open-source software. At MicrobesNG, his focus is on guiding the team to improve and maintain the scalable and reliable bioinformatics and data delivery platform our customers have come to depend on.

Tolu Aina

Fullstack Developer

Tolu Aina is a Fullstack developer with experience leading and building software across commercial internet platforms, scientific computing, and open source initiatives. He has served as a technical lead, senior software engineer, and systems administrator, bringing a broad technical perspective to projects from architecture and infrastructure to application development.

Andrew Holmes

Principal Bioinformatician

Andrew completed his PhD at the University of Liverpool, where he developed his interest in the applications of Next Generation Sequencing. His PhD focused on bioinformatic analyses of transcriptomic data for ageing and metabolism research. Afterwards, he worked as a data manager at a major birth cohort study, where he managed legacy data for millions of laboratory samples through data cleaning and migration to new systems. We are so pleased he joined the MicrobesNG Team in February 2020 to help drive our Bioinformatics services forward!

Helen McNeil

Business Development Executive

Helen did her PhD at the University of Birmingham, looking at the diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains in the Midlands. She went on to research antibiotic resistance in Salmonella, where she began to explore Next Generation Sequencing. After working as a lab manager for 2 institutes in the medical school at UOB, Helen joined MicrobesNG in June 2022. She will be responsible for key account management and business development and is really looking forward to combining her love of learning and science with a desire to facilitate new research and help people translate ideas into results.

Ayodeji Lawal

Finance Officer

Ayodeji is a process improvement advocate with an academic background in Biochemistry and over 8 years experience in process operations and customer relationship management (CRM). In applying LEAN and ITIL principles, he is focused on improving efficiency, reducing waste and ensuring customer satisfaction at every touch point.

Olivija Ziupsnyte

Accounts Executive

Olivija gained a BSc in Biomedical Sciences, where she honed her skills in microbiology, virology and clinical diagnostics. With experience across both industrial microbial and clinical diagnostic environments, she combines scientific understanding with collaborative project support. As an Accounts Executive, Olivija provides multi-platform support to help kickstart exciting projects and support the research community. You can often find Olivija and Helen at conferences and community engagement events, connecting with researchers and helping researchers turn exciting ideas into impactful projects.

Ryan Cardenas

Bioinformatics Pipeline Developer

Ryan is a bioinformatics engineer with several years of experience developing and maintaining Nextflow pipelines in both Academic and Industrial environments. He completed his PhD at the University of Nottingham in 2017 which focused on the identification of microRNA therapeutics from testicular germ cell tumours. He progressed to become a core facility bioinformatician that focused on developing variant-calling and gene expression pipelines for the medical school at UEA. Following a couple bioinformatics-related positions in industry, Ryan joined the MicrobesNG team in 2024, where he continues to develop new and exciting bioinformatics products.

Ammaraah Khalifa

Laboratory Team Leader

Ammaarah joined MicrobesNG in 2024 and has a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and a Master's degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. She is responsible for planning and overseeing daily workflows, guiding the lab team to maintain operational excellence.

Rosie Ware

NGS Scientist

Rosie joined MicrobesNG in 2026 as an NGS scientist, focusing on R&D for new and existing services. She undertook her PhD and several postdoctoral roles at the University of Warwick, specialising in environmental and ancient DNA metagenomics and whole genome sequencing. Prior to starting at MicrobesNG, she worked in industry, delivering clinical diagnostics for infectious and genetic disease, as well as human identification services.

Eleanor Gillam

Laboratory Technician

Eleanor did a BSc in Microbiology, studying a wide variety of microbes and developing a strong interest in genomics. She then completed a Masters by Research in Cancer and Genomic Sciences at the University of Birmingham before joining MicrobesNG in 2025. She receives samples and performs internal QC checks, preparing samples throughout the NGS pipeline and conducting ONT sequencing.

Chloe Hancox

Laboratory Technician

Chloe completed a BSc in Biomedical Science, building an interest in genomics through her degree with studies in microbiology, bioinformatics and biomedical laboratory practices. Graduating and joining MicrobesNG in 2025 she receives samples, performs internal QC checks throughout the NGS pipeline and conducts ONT sequencing.

Prof Nick Loman

Chief Scientific Officer

Nick is Professor of Microbial Genomics and Bioinformatics at the University of Birmingham, and a Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute. His research interests include the use of microbial genomics and metagenomics for detection and surveillance of infectious diseases.

Rupert Loman

Director

Rupert is an investor and advisor to online media and technology businesses. Following 18 years as CEO of Gamer Network - a leading global online games media and events company he founded and ultimately sold to ReedPop - Rupert is now focused on helping businesses, founders and their teams grow to reach their full potential.