Interview | Our research associate Jenneke Wijling

June 2026

When Jenneke Wijling arrived at Tzu, it was just our colleague Joost in the lab. “We built it from the ground up,” she says. For someone early in their career, that’s either daunting or exciting. For Jenneke, it was the latter.

Her path into science was driven by curiosity. A biology Bachelor’s led to a Master’s in Biological Sciences, and somewhere along the way, genetics took hold. The turning point? The 2022 Nobel Prize in Medicine, awarded for isolating DNA and RNA from ancient mummies. “It made me realise how a single mutation can have a huge impact, such as causing a tumor.” That realisation pointed her towards precision oncology, and eventually, towards Tzu.

Jenneke believes in precision therapy. With so much variation between cancers and patients, she sees it as essential to look at those differences up close. Tzu, in her view, offers exactly that: the full picture and process.

What attracted Jenneke to Tzu was the team and the shared sense of purpose. Everyone is working towards the same goal rather than pursuing isolated projects. Jenneke’s day-to-day work sits at the heart of that: isolating DNA and RNA from samples, sequencing them to trace the molecular origins of tumors.

Beyond her core work, she is eager to absorb as much as possible across the company, from using the FACS to conducting data analysis. She also took on a mentoring role early on, which sharpened her multitasking and critical thinking.

Jenneke brings original ideas to Tzu and the courage to act on them, including pitching and building her own protocol from scratch. Her colleagues would also say she brings warmth to the team, not least through the Tuesday croissant tradition she helped turn into a weekly thing.

Outside the lab, Jenneke reads widely, bakes, plays chess, knits, and embroiders. Quick to get curious and quick to pick up something new, she brings that same energy to everything she does at Tzu.