Fred has founded numerous biotech companies with successful exits, including Pear Tree Pharmaceuticals, Javelin Pharmaceuticals and PolaRx Biopharmaceuticals. He is also a founder and Chairman of the Board of Courage Therapeutics. Fred is an experienced investor, having served several roles in biotech venture capital and private equity. Fred received a joint Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from Rutgers University and UMDNJ-RWJ.

Stephanie is a biotechnology and medical device consultant and investor. She is also a Partner and Analyst at Ascentia Asset Management, a biotech private investment fund. Stephanie was previously a reconstructive plastic surgeon and former Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at Yale University School of Medicine. She received her M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Julia serves as General Counsel for Microbial Machines, Courage Therapeutics and NextRNA Therapeutics. She is responsible for corporate formation, founder and seed round financing, technology licensing, contracting and general company administration. Earlier in her career, Julia was a litigator, primarily in the areas of government contracts and consumer financial services. She earned her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center and graduated magna cum laude from Connecticut College.

Pearl Bakhru received her PhD from UTHealth and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Immunology and completed her postdoc from La Jolla Institute and UNC Chapel Hill. She has had extensive immunobiology experience in oncology, autoimmunity and inflammatory therapeutic areas. She has led successful milestone transitions of projects and collaborated with multiple teams to advance programs through pre-clinical and IND enabling studies. Prior to joining Dynamic Cell Therapies, she worked at Sanofi and Compass Therapeutics as a Project lead to discover first-in-class/best-in-class strategies to activate anti-tumor immunity.

Prior to joining Dynamic Cell Therapies, Sakeena led in vivo pharmacology research at Ikena Oncology focusing on proof of concept and candidate selection studies targeting the hippo pathway in cancer. Throughout Sakeena’s career, she has successfully advanced several molecules into the clinic, spending over 14 years at Takeda Oncology and EMD Serono Inc. in the cancer pharmacology group.  She holds a B.A. in Biology from Oberlin College.

Zach received a B.S. in Cell & Molecular Biology from the University of Rhode Island. After graduating, he was a research associate in the Department of Pathology at Brown University where he investigated the mechanisms by which exposure to environmental toxicants can lead to defects in reproductive development. 

Cecilia has extensive industry experience in cell therapy and immuno-oncology with SimnovaBio, TCR2 Therapeutics, Takeda, and Oncorus. She has developed both autologous and allogeneic CAR-T and TCR-T platforms across multiple indications. Her contributions in R&D and CMC have led to successful IND filings. Cecilia holds a dual degree, B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and B.A. in English, from UMass Amherst.

Carl is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute & Harvard Medical School and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. His original research has resulted in the founding of Dynamic Cell Therapies, Microbial Machines and Mana Therapeutics. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the W.M. Keck Distinguished Young Scholars Award, Department of Defense Idea Award, The NCI Director’s Provocative Questions Award, the National Science Foundation Collaborative Research Project Award and the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award. Carl received his M.D. from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and his Ph.D. in immunology from Tufts University.