Unlocking Powerful Biology with Multifunctional Biologics
About Us
At Tentarix Biotherapeutics we are bringing powerful biology selectively to cell types that drive therapeutic benefit with multifunctional biologics that are manufacturable.
Powerful biology
Powerful biology, such as that generated by growth factors, cytokines, and morphogens, can activate a cell, change the fate of a cell, make a cell proliferate, and even extend the life of a cell. However, since this type of activity is rarely cell type specific, if administered systemically this activity not only impact cells that drive therapeutic benefit but also other cells that severely limit these benefits.
Multifunctional biologics
Most powerful biology works through combinations of two or more cell surface receptors, engaged in concert to activate a pathway. The Tentarix multifunctional biologics selectively bind to these cell surface receptors along with other cell surface proteins, specific to the cell type of interest, so that only when targeted cell surface binding conditions are met is the pathway activated.
This targeted, conditional activity allows Tentarix to harness powerful biology and direct it to the cell type that drives therapeutic benefit. This requires the screening of millions of molecules and a platform based on cell surface proteomics (CellSurf), binder generation (HuTARG), and combinatorial assembly and identification of multifunctional biologics (FunctionSeq).
Manufacturable
Molecules that drive powerful biology, such as growth factors, cytokines, and morphogens, are also notoriously difficult to manufacture. Tentarix multifunctional biologics are not based on natural ligands. Rather, Tentarix molecules are based on fully human antibody components, which when combined, recapitulate powerful biology. Thus, their manufacturing is based on decades of robust, industrialized process development.
Leadership

Paul Grayson
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
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
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
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
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.
Board of Directors
Srini Akkaraju
Srini Akkaraju is a founder of Tentarix and also serves as a Director of Seattle Genetics, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Versartis and aTyr Pharma. Previously, he served as a director on the boards of Barrier Therapeutics, Eyetech Pharmaceuticals, ZS Pharma, Synageva Biopharma, and Amarin Corporation. Srini founded Samsara BioCapital in 2016. His vast experience in the industry includes being a general partner at Sofinnova Ventures, Managing Director of New Leaf Ventures, Managing Director of Panorama Capital, partner at J.P. Morgan and senior management at Genentech.
Srini holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and Computer Science from Rice University, and an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Immunology from Stanford University.
Jerel Davis
Jerel Davis is a Managing Director of Versant Ventures based in Vancouver, Canada. Since joining Versant in 2011, he has been instrumental in establishing the company’s presence in Canada and has been involved in launching and investing in a number of Versant’s portfolio companies including BlueRock (sale), Crispr (2016 IPO), Inception 4 (sale), Inception 5 (sale), Quanticel (sale), Akero (2019 IPO), Northern (sale), Turnstone, Repare (2020 IPO), Chinook, Ventus, Integral, and VenatoRx. He has focused on company creation, syndicated deals, and creative corporate transactions with multiple pharmaceutical partners including Celgene, Roche, and Bayer. Jerel was promoted to Managing Director at Versant in April 2016.
Jerel holds a B.S. in Mathematics and Biology from Pepperdine University and a PhD in Genetics from Stanford University.
Cory Freedland, PhD
Cory is a partner at Samsara BioCapital. Prior to that, Cory was a Principal at Sofinnova Ventures where he focused on biopharmaceutical investments. Cory played a central role in Sofinnova’s investments in BioClin Therapeutics, Civitas (acquired by Acorda), NextCure, NuCana Biomed (NCNA), Principia Biopharma, Spark Therapeutics (ONCE), Ziarco (acquired by Novartis), and ZS Pharma (ZSPH; acquired by AstraZeneca). Prior to Sofinnova, Cory was a Principal at Novo A/S.
Before his transition to healthcare investing, he was a Vice President in the healthcare investment banking practice at Morgan Stanley where he advised on over $12 billion of strategic and financing transactions in the biopharmaceutical and life science tools/diagnostics sectors. Prior to transitioning to life sciences finance, Cory worked as a research scientist for Roche focusing on preclinical drug discovery and novel target identification for psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.
He received his PhD in Pharmacology from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. Cory holds a BA in Psychology and Religious Studies from Connecticut College.
Paul Grayson
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.
Paul Kang
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.
Introducing the Tentacles™ platform
Tentacles™—Tentarix’s multifunctional biologics—are targeted, synergistic and conditional, which means they activate a target cell population only when all desired receptors are present.
At Tentarix, we break away from the traditional screening paradigm by sifting through millions of candidates upfront. That allows us to efficiently identify molecules that meet our multifunctional biologics criteria.
Multifunction
Biologics
Targeted
Targeted cell surface proteins enable selectivity with desired function
Synergistic
Cell surface proteins that, when combined, act synergistically
Conditional
There is only biological activity in a cell when all targets are engaged
Main components of the Tentacles™ platform
CellSurf™
Our proprietary method for quantification of cell surface protein expression to identify the ideal receptor combinations.
HuTARG™
Our innovative mammalian display system for antibody variable domains harnesses nature’s most powerful diversity engine, VDJ recombination, to generate functional binding units.
FunctionSeq™
Rapid combinatorial assembly of millions of potential multifunctional molecules, followed by empirical selection directly for conditional functional activity.
Programs
Not only are Tentacles™ highly-effective multifunctional biologics, the Tentacles™ platform is modular, so it can be used to create biologics that treat a range of diseases. The classes of molecules or pathways currently in the pipeline include T cell co-agonists, regulatory T cell reprogramming, cell-specific internalizers, and T cell activators. Tentarix looks forward to the seemingly endless opportunities this platform brings.

Our leading program activates IL2R specifically on tumor-reactive T cells in the tumor-microenvironment using a combination of receptors chosen for selectivity and function. The leading Tentacles™ are designed to activate and expand tumor-reactive T cells while enhancing their effector capabilities and metabolic fitness through a synergistic secondary signal.


News
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Biotechnology company Tentarix Biotherapeutics LP today announced a $50 million Series A investment co-led by Versant Ventures and Samsara BioCapital. Read the full story

Careers
Tentarix Biotherapeutics is led by an executive team with years—often decades—of expertise in the field of multifunctional drug discovery. We are looking to hire highly-qualified, motivated individuals who, like us, want to revolutionize the disease therapy landscape.
Tentarix team members are creative, self-driven, and team-oriented. They’re also effective communicators determined to contribute to the company’s success.
We know that our employees are our most valuable asset, so we provide desirable benefits and compensation accordingly. And we offer a modern, flexible work culture with the tools to ensure that we succeed not only as individuals but as a collective.
Tentarix is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status.
Tentarix Biotherapeutics, Inc. also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and IRCA. We are an E-Verify employer.