Yajie Niu

Yajie Niu is a Principal at Flagship Pioneering, where she focuses on conceiving, creating, and developing first in category ventures across the life sciences and agricultural biotechnology sectors. Before assuming her current role, she served as a founding team member at Inari Agriculture, developing proprietary CRISPR gene modulation tools and securing listings as an inventor on twelve distinct patent applications. Niu previously completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, researching plant nutrient and stress responses under Jen Sheen. She holds a doctorate in molecular plant sciences from Washington State University and a bachelor of science from Fudan University, contributing to over ten peer reviewed scientific articles, including publications in Nature, with more than 1,600 citations. Her career bridges advanced molecular biology with venture scale commercialization to build new biotechnology companies.