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Founding Team

Our founders bring deep expertise in cutting-edge oncology research and successful gene therapy product development and company formation. We’ve combined this know-how to change the paradigm in cancer treatment outcomes with AAV-delivered T-cell Immunotherapy.

Timothy P. Cripe, M.D., Ph.D.

Co-Founder & Board Member
  • Chief, Division of Pediatric Hem/Onc/BMT at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
  • Gordon Teter Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cancer
  • 20-year member of American Society of Cell and Gene Therapy
  • Editor-in-Chief, Molecular Therapy Oncology
  • Former Chair, FDA Cellular, Tissue & Gene Therapy Advisory Committee

Brian Kaspar, Ph.D.

Co-Founder & Board Member
Brian Kaspar headshot
  • Chief Scientist & co-founder of: AveXis (acquired by Novartis), Celenex (acquired by Amicus), Motus Bio (acquired by Insmed), and Milo Biotechnology
  • Formerly Endowed Chair in Pediatrics and Professor at The Center for Gene Therapy at NCH & OSU’s College of Medicine
  • Ph.D. from UCSD – over 110 scientific articles published

Samit Varma

CEO & Board Member
Samit Varma headshot
  • CEO and co-founder of Celenex (acquired by Amicus)
  • CEO and co-founder of Motus Bio (acquired by Insmed)
  • Investor & Board member of Advanced Cell Technology (ACTC) (acquired by Astellas)
  • Investor & Board member of Cynvenio
  • Managing director & co- founder – Troy Capital/Quid & Anthem Ventures, multi-stage VC firms with $1.2b AUM

Allen Reha

Chief Development Officer
Allen Reha headshot
  • 25 years in Pharma/Biotech R&D (Preclinical to Commercial Stage Programs)
  • Led multiple AAV gene therapy programs (Amicus, PTC Therapeutics, Lexeo Therapeutics) – preclinical to late clinical stage
  • Former Vice President/Head of Program Leadership, Portfolio Management and Corporate Strategy (Lexeo)
  • Former Head of Gene Therapy R&D (Amicus)

Read Dr. Cripe’s landmark Science Advances publication describing the single-dose, AAV-delivered cancer immunotherapy approach that became thefoundation for Vironexis’s TransJoin™ in vivo protein engineering platform.

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