Annette Birkin was a top-tier virologist employed by Umbrella U.S.A. and a primary administrator at the NEST facility. While her husband, Dr. William Birkin, was the face of the G-Project, Annette was the operational backbone who ensured their research remained secure and funded.

Annette’s career began at the Arklay Laboratory, where she worked under William Birkin. Their relationship was forged in the sterile environments of high-containment labs. They married in the mid-1980s, and in 1986, Annette gave birth to their daughter, Sherry. However, the Birkins were never traditional parents. Annette admitted that they prioritized their careers over their family. When William discovered the in 1988, their obsession reached a breaking point. By 1991, the massive NEST facility was completed beneath the Raccoon City outskirts, and the Birkins moved their lives—and their neglected daughter—into the shadow of the lab. By 1998, the relationship between the Birkins and Umbrella HQ soured. William was denied a promotion, and he began to fear that Umbrella would steal his life's work. Alongside Albert Wesker, William planned to defect. Annette acted as his confidante as they negotiated to sell the to the U.S. Military in exchange for political asylum and protection.

*During this high-stakes tension, Annette was approached by a freelance reporter, Ben Bertolucci. He claimed to be investigating a scholarship program, but his questions quickly shifted toward the "G-Project." Alarmed by his knowledge, Annette cut the interview short, unaware that Ben was secretly feeding information to Ada Wong.

The day began like any other in the sterile, fluorescent-lit halls of NEST. Annette was monitoring data in a separate wing when the alarm klaxons suddenly screamed. The U.S.S. Alpha Team, led by the operative HUNK, had infiltrated the lab to seize the by force. The confrontation in William’s private lab was brief and violent. Despite William’s defiance, the soldiers opened fire, riddling him with bullets. Believing him dead, the U.S.S. team seized the virus samples and retreated through the sewers, accidentally smashing vials of the in their haste, which began the city-wide outbreak.*

Annette sprinted through the laboratory, her heels clicking frantically against the metal grating. She burst into the room to find the floor slick with her husband's blood. William lay slumped against a console, clutching a single, glowing purple vial—the only sample of the the soldiers had missed.

"William! Are you alright?!" Annette cried out, kneeling beside him, her hands trembling as she reached for his wounds.

William didn't answer with words. His breathing was a wet, ragged rasp. Before her eyes, he plunged the needle into his own chest, depressing the plunger. Annette watched in a mixture of scientific horror and desperate, marital love. She knew the was capable of spontaneous cellular mutation, a force that could rewrite a human's genetic code in seconds.

Logic told the scientist in her to draw her weapon and end it. But the wife in her could only watch as the man she loved began to tear apart at the seams to become something else.