Welcome to @avasciart
I am Alexandra Vasilyeva (or Sasha for short), a freelancer working with life science start-ups to help shape their scientific strategy and to find effective and creative ways to communicate it.
I am supported by a decade of experience in academic research and science consulting. I hold a doctoral degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Oxford, and I have worked with companies from pre-seed biotechnology spin-outs to big pharma, supporting them on all stages from pre-clinical asset profiling to regulatory submissions and post-approval communications. My key role in collaborating with start-ups is helping them understand the road ahead, and to shape a strategic view of the future that is strongly supported by science.
I am also a passionate advocate for open and reproducible research practices, and for widespread science communication and outreach. It is my firm belief that even the most complex scientific ideas can be communicated both precisely and creatively. I always incorporate visuals in my communications, and I have collaborated with both academics and companies on stand-alone projects focusing on scientific art, branding and illustration.
Education
Doctor of Philosophy in biomedical engineering
University of Oxford, Clarendon Scholar​
Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in applied physics and molecular biology
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
Work experience
Biotechnology Scientific Consultant
Scitaris​
Analyst and Medical Writer
Costello Medical Consulting
Freelance collaborations
I have worked across all stages of biomedical research:
Here is what my clients have to say:
Sasha joined us at Orbion recently, and made an immediate impact. Her biology expertise sharpened our customer‑discovery calls, guided improvements to our machine‑learning models, and helped design our AI pipeline. Her unique blend of scientific rigor and strategic insight moves projects forward fast.
ÇaÄŸlar Bozkut
Co-founder, Orbion
Alexandra brought outstanding value to our biotech startup at a critical early stage. With her deep expertise in biotechnology and therapeutics, she helped us craft a strategic communication framework that truly reflected the scientific rigor and innovation behind our work. Her support in refining our messaging and developing professional visual materials made a noticeable impact on how we presented ourselves to partners and investors. In addition, her scientific background helped us to refine our strategic positioning in the therapeutics environment. Alexandra’s insights helped us build a strong, credible foundation in a highly specialized field—we’re very grateful for her contribution.
Henry Erdlei
Co-founder and CEO, Go-CART
Alexandra has provided me with support in creating scientific illustrations for peer-reviewed publications and other materials, as well as editorial help. She took the time to understand the science behind my work, which I particularly appreciated since it is beyond her key areas of expertise. Alexandra helped me to communicate my research more clearly by creating excellent-quality graphic materials.
Dr Lev Ginzburg
Researcher at FAIRmat and HU-Berlin
About the images on this website
I have designed this website myself, to serve as a showcase for my work. All illustrations were made by me without using stock images or AI, unless explicitly stated otherwise in the picture label.
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Neural images, including the title image above, are visualizations made by me using the data from the FlyWire drosophila brain connectome project. Protein images use data from PDB and AlphaFold databases.