Founded by scientists. Driven by purpose.

Basic Jane was co-founded by two women whose credentials are rare in any industry.

Kersten Gaba, RN — Co-founder

Kersten is a registered nurse with deep experience in clinical research at leading institutions including the University of Washington. She has spent her career at the intersection of patient care and rigorous scientific inquiry understanding not just what treatments exist, but why they work, how they're tested, and what safety standards they must meet.

Her motivation to found Basic Jane was personal: helping her mother find effective, trustworthy relief from arthritis pain. When she couldn't find a hemp topical she trusted as a clinician, she built one.

Jessica Tonani, MS — Co-founder

Jessica holds advanced degrees in immunology, microbiology, and molecular biology. Her research background goes to the cellular level understanding how compounds interact with the immune system, how inflammation works, and what the biology of pain actually looks like at a molecular scale.

That depth of scientific understanding shapes every formulation decision Basic Jane makes, from ingredient selection to delivery mechanism to dosage.

The first cannabis research license in the country

Before Basic Jane existed as a consumer brand, Kersten and Jessica built Verda Bio a research organization that was awarded the first cannabis research license in the United States.

That license wasn't a checkbox. It was the foundation of everything: the legal framework to study the cannabis plant scientifically, rigorously, and transparently.

We sequenced the genome. Then we shared it.

Basic Jane and Verda Bio didn't just grow hemp — they studied its genetics. Our team conducted original research into the genetics of the cannabis plant and released the public genome data into the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database.

Releasing that data publicly wasn't required. We did it because we believe science advances when knowledge is shared and because transparency is a core value, not a talking point.

Our research has been recognized by:

• Market Watch      
• Bloomberg
• Entrepreneur
• Genome Web
• Popular Science
• Nanalyze

Over one million hemp plants grown

In collaboration with our farming partners, we have cultivated over one million hemp plants. This isn't incidental scale and it reflects years of systematic research into cultivation practices, plant genetics, compound profiles, and quality consistency.

Understanding the plant from seed to finished product means we control variables that most brands never think about: which cultivars produce the most therapeutically relevant compound profiles, how growing conditions affect potency, and how extraction methods preserve or degrade the bioactive compounds that make topicals effective.

How we formulate — and why it's different

A nurse and a molecular biologist approach product development differently than a marketing team. Here's what that looks like in practice:

Starting with mechanism, not marketing

Before we develop a product, we ask: what is the biological mechanism we're targeting? For topical pain relief, that means understanding how cannabinoids interact with receptors in skin tissue, how transdermal delivery works, and what co-ingredients support or impede absorption and efficacy.

Ingredient decisions based on evidence

Every ingredient in a Basic Jane product is there for a reason rooted in evidence not because it sounds good on a label or photographs well. Our clinical research background means we evaluate ingredients the way a pharmacist would: for bioavailability, safety profile, interaction potential, and evidence of effect.

Recognized for quality and efficacy

Our products have been evaluated and recognized by leading publications in health, wellness, and science — not for branding, but for performance:

• Oxygen Magazine
• HelloMD
• Today's Health and Science
• Holistic Primary Care

Pushing the industry toward safety and
transparency

Basic Jane's founders don't just meet standards, they help set them. We have been active members of state and national organizations working to establish meaningful safety and transparency frameworks for the hemp and cannabis industry:

• Washington State Hemp and Food Safety Task Force — contributing scientific expertise to state-level safety policy
• LCB Cannabinoid in Science Workgroup — working with regulators to ensure science informs cannabis policy

This work matters because the hemp industry's credibility depends on companies that are willing to be held to rigorous standards — and to help define what those standards should be.

See the science in every product

Basic Jane's full product line — creams, gels, transdermal patches, aromatherapy rollers, and mints — reflects everything above. Each product is a direct expression of what happens when serious scientists apply serious research to a category with the goal of designing products for their families.

Browse our products — and when you see the lab results, the ingredient rationale, and the formulation notes, know that they come from a team that earned the right to make them.