Bo Jing

DPhil Physics 2013
Co-founder and CEO, ONI

Bo founded ONI in 2016 and raised over $100m to revolutionise scientific discovery. It sounds like science fiction:

“We make microscopes that empower our customers to see individual molecules in living cells and take 10 nanometer photos of cells, 30 times sharper than before. This enables them to unlock the secrets of many diseases, helps them develop treatments and understand how life works on the most fundamental level.”

Bo was born in China, grew up in Germany, and studied Mathematics, Biology and Physics at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. He met his wife Anastasia in 2012, a Keble Physics undergraduate while she was an intern in Germany. She convinced Bo to apply for a DPhil in Oxford. Bo’s first choice was Keble. He still remembers living (without permission) in Anastasia’s room next to the Keble Chapel.

ONI employs over 100 people in San Diego and Oxford. “We employ many Keble graduates at ONI. Keble alumnus Dave Norwood was an early investor. I’m grateful to him because he saw something in us and I learned so much from him”. ONI was given the “Business Start-up Award” by the Institute of Physics and it’s a “Disruptor to Watch” according to Fast Track 100. Bo has also been recognized as “Innovator of the Year” by UK’s BBSRC and he won the Arthur Cook Memorial Prize from Oxford’s Physics Department.

“In Star Trek, biological samples were placed on a feature-less table and the computer was told to zoom-in until individual molecules became visible”. The power and extreme ease-of-use of this imaginary technology resonated with Bo and he decided to make it real. ONI’s microscope is the size of a toaster, costs a fraction of conventional microscopes despite its power and has smart software that non-experts can use.