We're Trailblazers
Co-founder CEO CSO
Jay Lee, MD, PhD
Jay Lee, M.D., Ph.D., is a physician-scientist and builder focused on turning complex biology into practical diagnostic tools. Over the past 15 years, he has worked across academia, cancer research, and biotech, with a particular focus on spatial genomics and proteomics. At Ultivue, he helped lead a scientific and product turnaround that ultimately supported the company’s merger with Vizgen.
Jay is a named inventor on foundational spatial genomics intellectual property, including patents now held by 10x Genomics, and has helped advance the use of high-plex tissue imaging in oncology research and diagnostics. At Terrain Life Science, he has refocused the company around next generation applications of spatial proteomics and data science, including technology partnerships and translation efforts relevant to a broader academic community.
His commitment to better diagnostics is shaped by his own experiences as a patient and family member, and by seeing firsthand how “good enough” answers can miss critical biology and change the course of people’s lives. Jay completed his undergraduate studies and internal medicine training at the University of Pennsylvania, received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Tufts University, and conducted postdoctoral research in George Church’s laboratory at Harvard Medical School.
Co-founder
Kirby Bloom
Kirby Bloom has spent more than 20 years building data and software platforms and leading engineering teams in complex, regulated environments. His work has focused on large‑scale data analytics, AI, and cloud infrastructure for healthcare and life sciences applications.
At Illumina, as Head of Informatics for Applied Genomics, he led development of tools that extended “sample‑to‑answer” capabilities across forensics, transplant, microbiology, and consumer genomics offerings. He later served as Chief Technology Officer at LunaDNA, where he built a secure platform to support continuous research collaborations between patient communities and biopharma partners. Most recently, at Ryght, Kirby has worked on applying large language models, knowledge graphs, and agentic workflows to streamline and optimize clinical trial operations.
At Terrain, Kirby created the initial AI and data engineering roadmap, including how to integrate imaging data, clinical context, and external datasets. He continues to advise Terrain’s mission to create a assay platform and data pipelines that will enable scalable collection and analysis of high‑quality spatial proteomics data in the future.
Kirby holds an M.S. in Data Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.S. in Management Information Systems from Texas Tech University.
Co-founder
Brian P. Dranka, PhD
Brian brings decades of experience leading teams to build life science research products, data, and software, with a focus on turning complex clinical information into practical tools for researchers and clinicians. At Seahorse Bioscience, he led a research lab that used real‑time live cell analysis assays to push the boundaries of cellular metabolism research. Later, at Deep Lens, he oversaw go‑to‑market strategy for technology that combined clinical reports and genomics data to identify patients for hard‑to‑recruit clinical trials, supporting customer growth and the company’s eventual acquisition.
Brian co‑founded Terrain Life Science with Jay and Kirby to apply spatial proteomics to cancer diagnostics, drawing on his background in assays, software, and commercial strategy. In his time at Terrain, he helped shape the initial product vision and early partnerships around a microscopy‑based test that can read multiple biomarkers in a single tissue sample to support more informed treatment decisions. Today, Brian continues to focus on improving outcomes in cancer and chronic disease through data‑driven solutions that help clinicians and researchers make clearer decisions for patients, while remaining an supporter of Terrain’s mission in building a requisite assay platform with our partners.