Francois Levasseur is a Senior Associate Scientist on Strand’s Cellular Analytical Development team. Francois has experience in small-molecule drug discovery, where he efficiently managed cellular compound screening towards lead generation. He is proficient in screening automation and integration to generate consistent and precise data in an efficient and practical manner. Francois also has experience in mRNA target validation through alternative splicing mechanisms. His undergraduate research explored viral entry mechanisms in human glial cells using super-resolution microscopy (FPALM). Francois graduated from the University of Maine, achieving a dual B.S. degree in Molecular & Cellular Biology and Biochemistry.
Frank Hidalgo is an accomplished scientist with extensive knowledge in molecular biology, machine learning and high-throughput sequencing. At Strand he identifies, refines, and implements machine learning-based solutions to mRNA drug design problems. Prior to joining Strand, Frank completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley in John Kuriyan’s lab where he discovered that cancer hotspot Ras mutations are mechanism-based activators that interfere with GAP surveillance without compromising the thermodynamic stability of Ras, while other mutations are stability-based activators. After graduate school, he worked at a healthcare startup developing and applying machine learning models for natural language processing of patient notes for diagnosis prediction. He then participated in the Berkeley Skydeck Incubator program as part of a team creating a durable DNA delivery platform. Before attending graduate school, Frank earned his undergraduate degree from the IQS School of Engineering.
Gautam is an immunologist with expertise in immuno-oncology and cancer immunotherapy, and is focused on in vivo pharmacology studies at Strand as part of their immuno-oncology program. Prior to joining Strand, Gautam was a research scientist at University at Buffalo, where he was involved in translational research to identify and target immunosuppressive extracellular vesicles called exosomes in the microenvironment of solid tumors in order to rescue T cell function and ultimately suppress tumor growth. Gautam has also been involved in designing and validating novel patient-derived xenograft models for preclinically testing the efficacy of immune-based cancer therapies. He earned his Ph.D. from National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi, India, where he worked on identifying mechanisms that regulate death and differentiation in plasma cells. Gautam also has an M.Sc. In Biotechnology from Bangalore University and a B.Sc. in Microbiology & Biochemistry from St. Xavier’s College, University of Mumbai in India. He has authored multiple publications in peer-reviewed journals, including Nature Immunology, Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer (JITC), Cancer Immunology Research and Journal of Immunology. He has also peer-reviewed over 120 research papers submitted for consideration of publication across 20 different journals in the fields of immunology and cancer research and serves on the editorial board of one of these journals.
Isma Zarin is a Principal Associate Scientist in the Bioanalytics Sciences group. She holds B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Previously, Isma worked at Moderna as a Senior Research Associate in Discovery Bioanalytics group, Wuxi AppTech as a Senior Laboratory Technician, and UPenn as a Research Associate.
Jaspreet Khurana is a molecular biologist with over 15 years of combined academia and industry research experience in target discovery and validation. He is skilled at mRNA therapeutics, genome engineering as well as next-generation sequencing. At Strand Therapeutics, he is leading the in vitro molecular biology platform, which encompasses vector development, mRNA production and in vitro POC studies for target validation. Previously, he was at Omega Therapeutics as the Senior Scientist in the Biology team. During his academic career, he elucidated novel functions for various epigenetic pathways including non-coding RNAs using cutting edge genomics. He received his Ph.D in Biomedical Sciences from University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, followed by a postdoc focused on RNA biology and genomics at Princeton and Columbia Universities. He also holds a Masters in Biotechnology from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), India. He has published several high profile peer- reviewed publications in journals such as Cell, Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, PLoS Biology, PLoS Genetics and has been cited more than 1200 times.
Jennifer Ide is the Senior Manager, Quality Assurance at Strand Therapeutics. She brings 8 years of industry experience, including process implementation, continuous improvement, project management, investigation, CAPA and change management experience. She is experienced in both large and small pharmaceuticals from her positions at Pfizer, Cyclerion Therapeutics and Replimune. At Cyclerion Therapeutics she led a companywide project to revise all controlled documentation as a result of Cyclerion’s spinoff from Ironwood Pharmaceuticals to align the company’s procedures with the earlier stages of development post separation. Her primary role was managing document and training through the eQMS. At Replimune, Jennifer managed document control and training administration through the eQMS and worked cross functionally to streamline onboarding procedures, improve document and training processes and implement change management through the eQMS. Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology with a Concentration in Neuroscience from Emmanuel College, her M.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Tufts University School of Medicine and is a Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB) from the American Society of Quality.
Joseph Barberio is a biochemist and molecular biologist with a proven track record of solving complex problems with innovative solutions. He is the Vice President of Technical Operations at Strand Therapeutics and oversees Strand’s manufacturing strategy to support clinical development. With over fifteen years of industry experience, Joe specializes in process and analytical development and has extensive expertise in manufacturing of both viral and RNA based gene therapy medicinal products. The majority of Joseph’s career has been focused on building platforms for small biotech organizations. Most recently at bluebird bio, he constructed and led the mRNA process development team, a group designed to enable gene editing programs. Earlier in his career, Joe held process development roles at Moderna, Percivia, and Acceleron Pharma. In addition to his work at Strand, Joseph also serves on the Board of Directors of Sophie’s Hope Foundation, a non-profit charity supporting research for Glycogen Storage Disease (GSD). He received his B.A. in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology at Connecticut College, graduating Cum Laude with distinction.
John Sexton is a synthetic biologist with deep expertise in genetic circuit design and a solid foundation in computational and programming methods and tools. Prior to Strand, he completed his Ph.D. and short postdoc at Rice University, where he designed and built genetic circuits to improve cell-cell communication in bacteria. He also co-developed an open-source software package for flow cytometry analysis, which is now used in academic and industrial labs around the world. His work has been featured in leading research journals including Molecular Systems Biology and ACS Synthetic Biology. Prior to graduate school, John was a Padawan at Ginkgo Bioworks. John also holds a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Julian is a cell and molecular biologist with 10 years of industry experience where he filled several versatile roles over the years. With experience in early discovery, automation implementation/informatics integration, DMPK, immunology, and translational sciences, he has proven to be a steadfast team player who prides himself on his ability to provide practical solutions for complex challenges. Previously, Julian was at Moderna where he gained invaluable experience in bioanalytics and has leveraged this experience to bring high quality data to early discovery efforts. At Strand, Julian will focus on building internal bioanalytical capabilities as well as managing external collaborations as Strand progresses into a clinical-stage company. Julian holds a B.S. in biology/biotechnology from Endicott College.
Justin is a synthetic biologist with expertise in genetic circuit design and is passionate about using synbio to program more targeted and effective therapies. As a Scientist of Synthetic Biology at Strand, his work centers around understanding how to leverage the unique microRNA signatures of different cell phenotypes to define how therapies will be targeted to and operate in each cell. Before joining Strand, Justin completed his Ph.D. at Boston University where he developed gene circuits to implement complex signal processing programs and cell-cell communication systems in mammalian cells. Additionally, he holds a M.S. from Boston University and B.S. from the University of Connecticut, both in biomedical engineering. Justin’s work has been featured in several high-impact peer-reviewed journals including Cell, Nature Communications Biology, and Circulation.
Kelvin Muriuki is a Principal Associate Scientist working with the Immune Cell Engineering team at Strand. Kelvin brings assay development expertise from his extensive experience working on immune related projects at Jnana and Rubius Therapeutics as well as Brigham and Women’s hospital. He is skilled in primary immune cells engineering using Crispr-Cas9, immune cells characterization via multicolor flow cytometry and ELISA, and a diverse set of molecular biology techniques. Kelvin graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. in Integrative Biology with a specific focus on Stem Cells and Regenerative Biology. He is passionate about dancing, cycling, jet-skiing, and mixing drinks.
Kendall is a Senior Scientist of Analytical Development.
