Head of Business Development & Scientific Partnerships at PartitionBio
Zehra Nizami is a biotech scientist and translational strategist working at the nexus of scientific discovery and real-world application. As Head of Business Development & Scientific Partnerships and Principal Scientist at PartitionBio, she leads external strategy and collaborations to advance BubbleFect—the company’s non-viral delivery platform—for research and therapeutic use.
Her scientific journey began at Princeton University, researching B cell tolerance in autoimmune disease. During her PhD and postdoc at Johns Hopkins/Carnegie, Zehra made foundational contributions to the study of biomolecular condensates, discovering new nuclear organelles and non-coding RNAs involved in nuclear architecture and gene regulation.
That work sparked a career-long focus on RNA biology and cellular compartmentalization, leading to BubbleFect—a delivery system inspired by nature’s own compartments to efficiently transport RNA, DNA, CRISPR, and proteins. This platform anchors a broader therapeutic pipeline based on leveraging endogenous condensates.
Managing Director of PartitionBio.
Between 2003 and 2018 he worked with Niall Armes as Chief Scientific Officer of TwistDx Ltd on the development and commercialisation of the Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) technology.
RPA, the leading isothermal nucleic acid amplification approach, is fundamentally based on the dramatic increase of in vitro enzymatic activities in appropriately configured molecular condensates.
Following his involvement with TwistDx, Olaf worked in senior positions in the private biotechnology sector (Head of Sequencing Biochemistry at Base4 Ltd, Head of Molecular Development at SenseBio Ltd), before joining the Scientific Operations department at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Hinxton, UK as Head of Research.
Olaf obtained his PhD in Molecular Genetics at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany and he completed post-doctoral studies with Sir Jim Smith at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, UK.
Founder and Chairman of PartitionBio.
Niall Armes is the scientific founder of PartitionBio and a renowned molecular biologist and protein biochemist. He invented Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA), a widely used isothermal DNA amplification technology central to Illumina sequencing.
He is also the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Biocrucible, a UK-based subsidiary of Sapphiros, developing novel amplification chemistries for rapid, low-cost diagnostics.
A pioneer in biomolecular condensates, Niall was the first to construct an in vitro multi-enzyme machine via crowding-driven condensation. This foundational work led to the creation of PartitionBio, aimed at leading synthetic biology innovations through engineered phase separation and targeted drug delivery.
As CEO of TwistDX, he led a $160M exit to Alere (later acquired by Abbott). In 2021, he sold Biocrucible to KKR’s diagnostics venture Sapphiros, joined its board, and spun out non-diagnostic IP into Biofaze.
Niall holds over 33 U.S. patents, with a BSc from Newcastle University and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now CRUK).
Our Team
Director & Chief Operations Officer at PartitionBio.
Helen brings over 35 years of experience in the life sciences and biotech sectors, with 25+ years in senior operational leadership. She served as Chief Operations Officer (COO) at TwistDx, overseeing R&D and production operations for the company's RPA isothermal amplification technology, including facilities development, H&S implementation, ERP systems, and ISO 13485 compliance.
Helen later became COO and Director at Biocrucible, where she led business systems implementation, site expansion, ERP upgrades, HR, and H&S—supporting the company through its acquisition by Sapphiros Inc and the subsequent spin-out of PartitionBio.
She currently serves as COO and Director at PartitionBio, building out operational systems for the growing biotech startup, and since 2022, has also held the role of COO at Gene Weaver, based at Chesterford Research Park.
