Will Cisneros
Associate

Will Cisneros joined Flagship Pioneering in 2024 as an Associate following the completion of the Flagship Pioneering Fellowship in 2023. Working as a part of General Partner Ignacio Martinez’s Pioneering Business Unit, Will works closely with a diverse team of entrepreneurial scientists to explore emerging domains of biology and contributes to the scientific direction and business strategy for early-stage companies focused on human health, sustainability, and agriculture.
Will completed his Ph.D. at Northwestern University where he conducted infectious disease research in the laboratory of Dr. Judd Hultquist. His research broadly focused on HIV host-pathogen interactions using genetic engineering tools to uncover new strategies to manipulate viral transcription and inform novel curative therapeutic strategies. During this time, Will helped establish Nucleate in Chicago – an organization aimed to accelerate the commercialization of academic research and provide accessible tools to academic trainees to start their own biotech companies. He also worked as a Venture Fellow at Portal Innovations as a part of their diligence team to identify emerging academic spin-outs and accelerate their company development.
Prior to graduate school, Will worked at Sanofi Genzyme and KSQ Therapeutics in various research roles spanning rare disease pharmacology and immuno-oncology. His research work has been featured in high-impact journals such as Science Advances and PLOS Pathogens and has been presented at the NIH and multiple international conferences.
Will received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from Northwestern University at the Feinberg School of Medicine and his B.S. in Bioengineering with a minor in Political Science from Northeastern University.
