Deborah Ojutalayo and AviadoBio, investigating new gene therapies to treat brain disease

For Deborah Ojutalayo, Senior Research Associate at AviadoBio, the lab is where ambition meets discovery. “I’m very much in the lab in the discovery department. So my day to day is testing all the different viruses we want to screen and testing different types of cells,” she explains. 

Science is rarely straightforward. “Things don’t always work, it’s science. You go back, do it again, figure out what needs to change,” Deborah says. But the stakes make it all worthwhile. “It’s one treatment, one shot, in the hope of potentially curing patients. Curing disease through gene therapy is the ultimate aim. And the access to the cure is the next step.” 

Working in Canary Wharf might seem unusual for some. “When I tell my friends I work in Canary Wharf, they’re like, ‘what on earth’? Because Canary Wharf is not giving science at all.” Yet for Deborah, the mix of industries here is part of the appeal. “I think it’s really exciting. Canary Wharf has a mixture of different minds. That blend of finance, tech, science makes it a nice working and living environment.” 

Her drive is rooted in tangible impact. “I’ve always said that whatever I do, I want it to have a physical impact you can see, and that my work is always going somewhere. I love investigating and finding solutions. What’s the problem? How do we fix it? That’s what gets me out of bed in the mornings.” 

Deborah’s story shows that Canary Wharf is a space where diverse minds intersect, ideas thrive, and groundbreaking work, whether in science, technology, or business can make a real-world difference.  

AviadoBio is located at 20 Water Street, Wood Wharf | AviadoBio