Unlocking Powerful Biology with Multifunctional Biologics

Paul Grayson is a founder of Tentarix and brings over 25 years of experience from his successful career in the biotech sector. Paul specializes in start-up through IND enablement, CMC and clinical proof of concept stage products. Prior to co-founding Tentarix and becoming President and CEO, he was a Partner at Versant Ventures. During and prior to his time at Versant Ventures, Paul was President and CEO of Bird Rock Bio, a company focused on fibrotic, metabolic and inflammatory diseases. Prior to joining Bird Rock Bio, he was the founding CEO of Fate Therapeutics (NASDAQ:FATE) a clinical-stage, next-generation cellular immunotherapy company.  Prior to Fate, he was managing director of Sanderling Ventures. Prior to Sanderling, he served as the founding Chairman and CEO of Senomyx (NASDAQ: SNMX).

Paul holds an MBA from the University of California, Irvine, and a B.A. in Computer Science and Biochemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Stephen Demarest has over 20 years of antibody and multi-specific protein development experience in both biotech and pharma. He contributed to more than 10 molecules that reached IND-enabling studies and managed departments that moved many more. Stephen’s career began as a scientist at Syngenta and Diversa before moving into the role of Associate Director of Protein Sciences at Biogen Idec. Before coming to Tentarix, Stephen was the head of Lilly’s Protein Engineering and Computational Biotherapeutics Departments and a liaison to Immunology and Oncology. Stephen is a co-developer of Lilly’s OrthoMab bispecific technology with partners at UNC Chapel Hill and used the technology to bring many bispecific monoclonal antibodies into development, including with external partners. The technology has also been licensed by AbCellera. Stephen has >45 publications and is an inventor on >20 granted patents and applications.

Stephen holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from SUNY Stony Brook. His postdoctoral studies were at The Scripps Research Institute.

Margaret Karow is a founder of Tentarix and brings over 25 years of experience in the generation and engineering of protein therapeutics. Prior to joining Tentarix, Margaret was the CSO for Gensun Biopharma, and before that she was the Senior Vice President of Pre-Clinical Development for Xilio Therapeutics (formerly Akrevia Therapeutics) where her contributions helped secure $30M Series A funding. Before joining Xilio Therapeutics, she was an Executive Director at Amgen for 10 years, and held multiple positions including leadership roles for Biosimilars Process Development, Amgen Thousand Oaks Protein Sciences, Biologics Optimization, and Site Head for Amgen Burnaby, Canada. Margaret started her career in biotech at Regeneron, over the course of a decade, had a variety of roles including Vice President and co-lead for the development of the VelocImmune mouse platform.

Margaret holds a B.A. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Utah.

Paul Kang is a founder of Tentarix and has been involved in the development and application of antibody generation technologies for over 20 years, with time at ImmGenics Pharmaceuticals, Abgenix Inc., and Amgen Inc. Paul has played an instrumental role in the development and deployment of novel first-in-class antibody discovery technologies, including ImmGenics’ SLAM technology (Selected Lymphocyte Antibody Method) and Abgenix’s XenoMouse Technology, which was subsequently acquired by Amgen. At Amgen, Paul oversaw Amgen British Columbia’s Preclinical In Vitro Cellular Assay and In Vivo Pharmacology research teams, whose primary responsibilities were the screening and characterization of XenoMouse-derived antibodies. After leaving Amgen, Paul was a co-founder of Innovative Targeting Solutions (ITS).  As CSO of ITS, Paul oversaw the advancement of the company’s HuTARG protein engineering platform and the company’s six pharma collaborations. Paul is also a co-founder of A2 Biotherapeutics and an inventor on over 15 pending or granted patents. 

Paul holds a B.S. from Simon Fraser University.

Michael Gallo is a founder of Tentarix and the current President of Innovative Targeting Solutions and, before that, was part of the original scientific team at Cell Genesys. that created XenoMouse, the premier transgenic mouse technology for generating fully human antibodies. When Abgenix spun off from Cell Genesys in 1996, Michael served on the Strategic Planning Group and Intellectual Property Group and was the Vice President of Research. Abgenix became Amgen British Columbia, and there Michael oversaw over 100 target collaborations including AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Abbot, Curagen, Millennium, and Dendreon. As the site-head for both Abgenix’s subsidiary (Abgenix Biopharma) and Amgen’s subsidiary (Amgen British Columbia) from 2001 to 2007, he led a research unit of 65 people focused on antibody generation and the development of new antibody discovery technologies. Michael is the inventor of numerous patents including the commercial antibody Vectibix.

Michael holds a Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology and Immunology from Ohio State University and completed his postdoctoral studies at Stanford University.