OUR JOURNEY

Todd Dickinson, a seasoned leader in life sciences technology, holds dual degrees in chemistry and theology from St. Olaf College, and a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Tufts University under Professor David Walt's mentorship. An early employee of Illumina, the global leader in DNA sequencing today, Dr. Dickinson served in a number of technical and commercial roles over a 13-year period. His contributions included overseeing 60 product launches as Director of Product Marketing, resulting in triple-digit growth across multiple product lines. He subsequently joined BioNano Genomics, where he led the development and commercialization of the groundbreaking Irys™ nanochannel array product. Most recently he served as CEO of Dovetail Genomics and Arc Bio, which he merged in 2022 to create Cantata Bio, delivering innovative solutions in chromatin biology, genome assembly, and infectious disease. Dr. Dickinson currently serves as CEO for Stellaromics and sits on several professional and charitable boards.

Dr. Karl Deisseroth, MD, Ph.D., is a renowned American scientist and physician, board-certified psychiatrist, and the D.H. Chen Professor of Bioengineering and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. He's celebrated for pioneering the groundbreaking technologies of CLARITY, STARmap, and optogenetics, which blend optics and genetics to explore adaptive neural circuits and neuropsychiatric disorders. In 2019, he was inducted into the US National Academy of Engineering for his role in developing molecular and optical tools that shed light on neuronal signals and animal behavior in health and disease. He is also a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the US National Academy of Medicine. As the Scientific Co-founder and Scientific Advisor at Stellaromics, his academic background includes an AB in biochemical sciences from Harvard University and an MD and Ph.D. in neuroscience from Stanford University. His work in optogenetics earned him many prestigious accolades, including the 2018 Kyoto Prize, 2021 Lasker Award, and 2023 Japan Prize.

Dr. Ye Fu is a seasoned biotech innovator with a research portfolio encompassing biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology, and genomics. With a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago, mentored by Professor Chuan He, Dr. Fu’s PhD thesis opened the field of reversible RNA modifications, which is the foundational work for the prestigious 2023 Wolf Prize in Chemistry. With numerous patents and publications including first-author articles in Cell and Nature Chemical Biology, Dr. Fu's work has garnered over 18,000 citations. As Principal at Plaisance Capital Management, Dr. Fu spearheaded the incubation and management of groundbreaking biotech firms, including Aferna Bio, Sedec Therapeutics, ProteoValent Therapeutics and Stellaromics, where he serves as co-founder and Chief Technology Officer. He also actively participates in advising early-to-mid stage biotech enterprises.

Dr. Xiao Wang, the Edward Scolnick Professor and Core Institute Member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, also serves as an Assistant Professor at MIT's Department of Chemistry. Holding a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago, she established her research laboratory in 2019, specializing in innovative tools to decipher tissue function at a molecular level. Before joining the Broad, Dr. Wang conducted pioneering postdoctoral research at Stanford University's Bioengineering Department under Professor Karl Deisseroth. As the Scientific Co-founder and Scientific Advisor for Stellaromics, Dr. Wang is a recipient of the 2022 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, the 2022 Merkin Institute Fellowship, and the 2021 NIH Director's New Innovator Award. Her notable accolades include the Ono Pharma Breakthrough Science Initiative Award and the Edward Scolnick Professorship at the Broad Institute in 2021.