Abby Mungcal is an Associate Scientist II, Analytical Development at Strand Therapeutics. She received her BS in Chemistry from Northeastern University, where she worked with the Analytical Development group at Vertex as a co-op. Previously, she has worked at Vor Biopharma, where she ran, developed, and validated several HPLC based assays.
Aidan Coia is a Senior Associate Scientist conducting mRNA/pDNA process development. He is working to scale mRNA production by optimizing processes related to both synthetic biology and mRNA development. Prior to joining Strand, Aidan worked in pharmaceutical drug development and, most recently, worked to develop high-throughput COVID-19 testing processes. He received his B.S. degree in cell and molecular biology/genetics from Boston University.
Aidan Simpson is a Senior Associate Scientist in Strand Therapeutics’ mRNA Programming Department who started in November 2021. Aidan graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2021 with a B.S. in Biological Engineering and Business Management. During his undergrad at MIT, Aidan interned in the Weiss Lab and the Del Vecchio Lab, both of which focus on synthetic biology. He is currently supporting drug discovery at Strand by performing cell-based assays and molecular biology experiments.
Akshay Mavani is a Senior Associate Scientist for the mRNA process development department at Strand Therapeutics. Prior to working at Strand, he started out his career in biotech as a Manufacturing associate at Moderna Therapeutics supporting Intermediate mRNA upstream and downstream processes in large scale commercial mRNA covid vaccine team in 2021. He also worked at Tessera Therapeutics as Research Associate II within gene writing rewriting space manufacturing small scale RNA, supported process development, and early scale up activities to drive preclinical stage in vivo and ex vivo programs in 2022. He received a M.S. in Industrial Engineering at Wayne State University in Michigan with certification in lean sigma green belt and a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering.
Alex is Scientist, Analytical Development at Strand Therapeutics. He brings analytical expertise from the world of large, GMP pharmaceutical companies as well as from smaller biologics-based startup environments, where he has developed and validated novel phase-dependent analytical methods, advancing human and animal health as well as environmental science. Before joining Strand, Alex was at Invaio, Synlogic, Amgen, NCSU CVM, and Mead Johnson Nutrition. Alex received his M.S. in Biomedical and Integrative Physiology from Penn State.
Alexander Lemaire is an experienced process and analytical development associate in Strand’s Process Development group. He’s tasked with building Strand’s mRNA production and analytical platform. Alexander has experience in developing robust analytical assays and release strategies for regulatory interactions and IND enabling activities. Additionally, Alexander prides himself on making processes and analytics higher throughput and scalable through the use of automation and robotics. Previously, Alexander was at bluebird bio, where he developed, qualified and implemented novel release assays to evaluate clinical grade mRNA. Alexander graduated with a B.S. in Biology.
Alicia earned her B.S. in Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cellular Biology, from the University of New Hampshire. Prior to joining Strand, she worked at Orna Therapeutics developing methods to evaluate circular RNAs and proprietary lipid nano particles in the CMC Analytical team. In addition to CMC, she has also worked in: Quality Control, Manufacturing, and R&D.
Alison Duhamel is the Senior Director of Clinical Operations at Strand Therapeutics. She brings 25 years of pharmaceutical and biotech experience, which includes data management, project management, site contract/budget negotiations, vendor selection, oversight and management, and GCP Quality. She builds strong collaborative teams across vendor and sponsor companies and uses her education in organizational development to promote solid working relationships that bring safe and effective products to patients. Alison has worked in both large (Wyeth, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck KGaA) and smaller (Vertex, Agios, Surface Oncology) pharma/biotech companies and has received multiple commendations for her work and her devotion to her teams throughout her career. She has continued to build her industry knowledge by taking on challenges, completing coursework beyond Clinical Operations, and being an active member of consortiums that provide pharmaceutical and biotech executives a forum to collaborate and share insights and experiences. Alison earned her Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology at the University of New Hampshire and her Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology at William James College.
Wen Allen Tseng is a Principal Scientist in Synthetic Biology at Strand Therapeutics. Prior to joining Strand, he was in the Research and Development group at Solid Biosciences, a company focused on developing gene therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Before working in industry, Allen was a postdoctoral associate at the MIT Synthetic Biology Center, where he engineered mammalian cells with genetic circuits to control cellular processes such as antibody glycosylation. He obtained his B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Delaware and earned his Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology from Harvard University, where he studied the involvement of an innate immune danger-sensing pathway in age-related macular degeneration.
Andrea Banks is the Associate Director of Quality Assurance Operations at Strand Therapeutics. She has more than 20 years of industry experience with the majority of her career working in a quality role including quality oversight, quality operations, and quality product strategy. She is experienced in working in all areas of product lifecycle from pre-clinical through commercial product. Andrea is a graduate of the University of Delaware where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry.
Angelena Simms is a Senior Associate Scientist in the mRNA Process Development Department at Strand Therapeutics. She graduated in 2018 from Hofstra University where she received her B.S. degree in Biology. Prior to joining Strand, Angelena worked as a Senior Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Associate at GSK where she developed downstream protein purification skills in a GMP environment.
Anita Huang is an Associate Scientist II for the mRNA Process Development team. She is working on mRNA production and process optimization. Prior to joining Strand, she focused on protein purification for pharmaceutical development and production. Most recently, she worked as a manufacturing associate for enzyme and oligonucleotide production at Cepheid. She received her B.S. in molecular biology and M.S. in Biotechnology from Northwestern University.
