Dr. Jones is an ERC Grantee, EMBO Young Investigator and Vilnius University Research Professor. He was born and trained in the United States, where he earned his doctorate in Molecular Biology, Cellular Biology and Biochemistry at Brown University with Dr. Richard Bennett. He produced his postdoctoral research in CRISPR biochemistry and cellular aging with Dr. Ilya Finkelstein at the University of Texas. In 2021, he established his research group at the EMBL Partnership Institute in Vilnius University's Life Sciences Center, where he leads the group in their search to discover and characterize CRISPR and other programmable nucleases with next-generation biochemistry.

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Stephen lives in Vilnius, Lithuania with his wife Eva and their greyhound, Audrey Sparkles. Beyond science, Stephen is also a musician, mechanic, adventurer and lover of life.

Jonas is an experienced machine learning scientist, passionate about engineering foundational models of cell biology. Throughout his career, Jonas has pursued a multidisciplinary approach, having obtained degrees in math, physics, artificial intelligence, and cognitive neuroscience. Following his Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship at MIT where he developed deep learning models of primate visual system, Jonas co-founded and led Three Thirds, an AI solutions firm, and HERlab, a startup focused on developing novel protein expression systems. The beauty and vast uncharted territories of biology has led Jonas to join Jones Lab to learn wet lab techniques and breeze into the new world of AI-driven biology.

Jonas' passion for biology extends into the domains of nutrition and longevity (he is vegan and loves cooking), synthetic life and post-anthropocentric art (he has collaborated with Urbonas Studio on exhibitions at La Biennale di Venezia, Taipei Biennial, ZKM, and others).

Numan Ullah, originally from Swat, Pakistan, holds a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Biotechnology. He earned his PhD from Yangzhou University, China, where he was part of the Transposon Lab, working extensively on RNA-guided nuclease mining and engineering. At Jones Lab, his research focuses on high-throughput profiling of Type V Cas nucleases.

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Beyond academia, Numan enjoys hiking, drone photography, and outdoor sports.

John comes to the Jones lab from a PhD at the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied how protein quality control degradation by the proteasome affects replicative aging in yeast. As a biologist, he is interested in creating biotechnologies that cure disease and extend the human healthspan. He enjoys discovering the clever little bits of chaos in biology using computational and quantitative experimental approaches. In the Jones lab, he is developing a parallel assay to measure the effects of Cas12a gRNA secondary structure variation on target binding and cleavage using droplet microfluidics and next generation sequencing.

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Outside the lab, John enjoys playing music, social dancing, cooking, cycling, skateboarding, and reading sci-fi and philosophy.

​Uzair, originally from Chiniot, Pakistan, joins our lab with a strong background in biotechnology. He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biotechnology in Pakistan, where he focused on stem cell therapeutics and human metabolic diseases. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, his research centers on CRISPR systems.
In Dr. Jones' group, Uzair investigates how gRNA-DNA sequence parity influences the repair outcomes of CRISPR nuclease editing. He also develops innovative nucleic acid engineering strategies to mitigate unfavorable editing effects in primary human cells.

Beyond academia, Uzair enjoys exploring new technology, playing video games, and watching anime.

Ieva began her life and education in Kaunas, Lithuania. She then spent three years abroad at the University of Manchester, where she completed her bachelor studies in Biomedical Sciences. She did not stop there, and now holds a master's degree in Molecular Biotechnology and is currently doing a PhD in Biochemistry. Ieva is beyond excited to be a part of Dr. Jones’ laboratory, in a team that pushes our understanding of science even further.

Marius is from Lithuania's second largest city, Kaunas. He earned his BS and MS degrees from Vilnius University, most recently in Systems Biology. Now, Marius pursues his PhD in Biochemistry with our group, where he focuses on biochemical and computational strategies for benchmarking gene editing tools of different types, including nucleases, base editors and prime editors.

Lina is a Vilnius native and one of our experts on the area. While attending a local gymnasium, Lina became curious about many different topics and saw herself as a future artist. But as she watched her brother begin his studies in physics, her own interest in the life sciences began to flourish. This influenced her to pursue the goal of becoming a scientist and study at Vilnius University. Now she is working on a PhD in Biochemistry and continuing to grow her love and passion for life’s mysteries.

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Beyond the laboratory, Lina enjoys sharing scientific news and ideas with her family and friends, reading books, learning vintage photography, writing poetry, and taking her dog Gilė on long evening walks.

Urtė, originally from Vilnius, Lithuania, holds a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from Vilnius University and is currently pursuing her Master's in the same field. In her undergraduate years, she discovered her passion for chemistry and biology, leading her to the dynamic world of biochemistry. Now in her Master's program, Urtė is actively engaged in Dr. Jones' laboratory, exploring the use of Cas9 protein for epigenetic modifications and gene regulation, while also enhancing the protein through directed evolution to expand its potential applications.

Agata hails from Vilnius, Lithuania. In childhood, she discovered her strong passion for life. As years passed, she became more and more fascinated by nature. This passion led her to study microbiology at Vilnius University. Agata has always dreamed of working in a top-notch laboratory, where she could challenge herself academically and become a remarkable scientist. She's beginning to realize her dream in the Jones laboratory, where designs DNA libraries for studying CRISPR nucleases. Beyond her earning bachelor's degree, Agata will gain knowledge, spend time with enthusiastic scientists, and contribute to the laboratory's successes.

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Outside of academia, Agata is fond of spending time with her family and playing with her dog, Nugget. She's always down for an adventure! 

Fausta grew up surrounded by forests and lakes in Moletai and currently is living in Vilnius. She is now entering her second year at Vilnius University majoring in Molecular biology. Fausta was inspired to dive into the scientific world via the VU iGEM team and their past projects. She is passionate about science, new opportunities, and future development. That’s why she is an organizer for the International Life Sciences conference - The COINS. Currently, at Dr. Jones’ lab she is learning methods used in the molecular biology laboratory and helping others with their research projects. Fausta is looking forward to deepening and expanding her knowledge and practical skills in the science field.

​Ursule was born and raised in Vilnius, Lithuania. She attended a local Gymnasium in Denmark, where she earned an International Baccalaureate Diploma. Fascinated by the broad application possibilities of the Natural Sciences, she decided to study in Vilnius University Life Sciences Center, where she is completing the Microbiology Bachelors program. Alongside her studies, Uršulė is a member of the Vilnius University Students’ Representation (VU SA), where she organizes events and practices advocacy of her fellow students. She is thrilled to start uncovering the depths of CRISPR technologies along with Dr. Jones’ Team members and hopes to broaden her understanding of scientific research by assisting in practical lab work and  developing her own lines of scientific inquiry.

​As our experienced Research Adviser, Audrey urges us to trust our senses and  our data. She also reminds us that just because you can, doesn't mean you should! Most importantly, she recommends caring for your neighbor.