California Biotech Insights

Venkataraman Sriram is an accomplished researcher with more than 15 years of biopharmaceutical research experience developing biological and small molecule therapeutics against tumor immunotherapy targets. Prior to joining Max and Michel in starting Foundery Biosciences, Sriram was an early employee at Pionyr Immunotherapeutics. At Pionyr, Sriram played a key role in building the research team. He also led the operational move from the incubator space to an independent facility and served as the nonclinical lead for the PY314 (anti-TREM2) program. Further, Sriram worked with a cross-functional team in filing Pionyr’s Pre-IND and IND regulatory documents. Before his time at Pionyr, Sriram worked at Gilead Sciences. Sriram established and successively led several immuno-oncology programs at Gilead Sciences and Merck. At Merck Research Laboratories (formerly the Schering-Plough Biopharma prior to its acquisition by Merck), Sriram also served as the cross-site pharmacology lead for all the immuno-oncology programs, including the anti-PD-1 antibody, Keytruda. Sriram received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Immunology from the University of Madras, India, and completed his post-doctoral training in immunology at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Dr. Byon has extensive oncology drug development experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. At Genentech, he worked on TecentriqÆ (atezolizumab) in hematological malignancies. For over the past 5 years, he has worked in the cell therapy space. First at Juno as the Global Development Lead for orvacabtagene autoleucel (JCARH-125) in Multiple Myeloma. Then at Lyell, working on next generation cell therapy products for solid tumors. Most recently, he was VP, Clinical Development Hematology at Fate Therapeutics, where he oversaw a portfolio of 5 iPSC-derived cell therapies (CAR-NK and CAR-T) in various hematologic malignancies (AML, MM, B-cell Lymphoma).