Matt Kane
Chief Executive Officer
Matt Kane is the Chief Executive Officer and Director of Tune Therapeutics.
A veteran biotech leader with deep experience in advanced genetic medicines, Matt was previously the co-founder and CEO of Precision BioSciences – a company focused on developing gene and cell therapies using a novel gene editing platform.
As CEO, he led a team that raised over $400M in equity and debt financing, including an IPO in 2019, formed partnerships with leading biopharmaceutical companies valued at over $4.7B, and advanced four unique genetic medicines into human clinical trials. Matt has nearly twenty years of experience in the life sciences industry and was formerly with Suros Surgical Systems, later acquired by Hologic.
He received his B.S. and M.S. from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and an MBA from Duke University.
Akira Matsuno
Co-Founder, President and Chief Financial Officer
Akira Matsuno is the President, Chief Financial Officer, and Co-Founder of Tune Therapeutics.
An accomplished biotech executive with a background in cell & gene therapies, Akira was previously CFO and Head of Corporate Development at Lyell Immunopharma, where he led multiple private fundraising rounds, strategic alliances, and a global R&D collaboration.
Prior to Lyell, he was the global NEX-T Platform Program Lead at Juno Therapeutics, focused on the development of a next-generation cell therapy manufacturing process and multiple drug candidates. As Vice President of Finance, he led the strategic planning, FP&A and treasury organizations, and led negotiations on multiple executed transactions, including academic partnerships, industry collaborations, and acquisitions. He is also the Co-Founder of JW Therapeutics, a cell therapy company based in China. Across these roles, Akira has executed over $50BN in financing and strategic transactions – including over $2BN in equity-related transactions. Previously, Akira was a late-stage private equity investment professional at Vulcan Capital, and started his career at Lehman Brothers, in its investment banking division.
He received his B.S. in Finance and Management from the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania.
Charles A. Gersbach, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, Acting Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Charles A. Gersbach is the Acting Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Tune Therapeutics.
A renowned academic and genome engineer, Charlie is the John W. Strohbehn Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University, and Director of the Duke Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies.
His research is focused on genome and epigenome editing, cellular engineering, gene therapy, synthetic biology and regenerative medicine. His work has led to entirely new approaches to programming cell biology and the treatment of genetic disease, and has earned him numerous awards, along with induction as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He is also the co-founder of three biotechnology companies, and an advisor to several others.
He received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, and completed postdoctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute.
Heidi Zhang, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President, Technical Operations
Dr. Heidi Zhang is the Executive Vice President and Head of Technical Operations at Tune Therapeutics.
A seasoned scientific executive who has led global teams across a range of biotech and pharma companies, including Juno Therapeutics, Genentech, Novartis, and Amgen. Prior to Tune, Heidi was the Vice President of Cell Therapy Product & Analytical Development at Bristol Myers-Squibb.
Her many accomplishments in science and leadership include commercial launches of numerous life-saving medicines – including recent cell therapies Abecma and Breyanzi.
Blythe Sather, Ph.D.
Vice President, Head of Research
Dr. Blythe Sather is the Vice President and Head of Research at Tune Therapeutics.
Prior to Tune, Blythe was the Senior Director of T Cell Engineering at Lyell Immunopharma, and an Associate Director of Research at Juno Therapeutics. At Lyell, she helped build the pipeline research group from the ground up, and developed several CAR and TCR next-generation products for solid tumors.
At Juno, she was instrumental in building the CAR T cell development platform, and led the multiple myeloma CAR T cell program. She also led the research collaboration with Editas Medicine to bring CRISPR-mediated gene editing to CAR and TCR T cell products.
She received her PhD in Immunology from the University of Washington, where her work focused on the function of regulatory T cells. Her postdoctoral work at Seattle Children’s Research Institute was focused on developing lentiviral gene therapies for a variety of diseases.
Fyodor Urnov, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Fyodor Urnov is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board at Tune Therapeutics.
A pioneering presence in the field, Fyodor is Professor of Genetics, Genomics, and Development at UC Berkeley, and Scientific Director for Technology and Translation at the Innovative Genomics Institute. At the IGI, his focus is on establishing turnkey editability of the human genome and epigenome for clinical use, and on building the first in-human applications of CRISPR-based genome and epigenome editing therapeutics for sickle cell disease, immune system disorders, and neurodegeneration.
In his prior work at Sangamo BioSciences, he co-developed human genome editing with engineered nucleases, and co-led efforts to develop the functional toolbox of human epigenome editing as a disease therapeutic (2000-2003). He was also a key member of the team that developed the first in-human application of genome editing in 2009, and co-led teams developing the first in vivo epigenome editors for Huntington’s Disease and Tau dementia (2010-2016).
He received his Ph.D. in Biology from Brown University, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health in the laboratory of Dr. Alan P. Wolffe.
Matt Kane
Chief Executive Officer
Matt Kane is the Chief Executive Officer and Director of Tune Therapeutics.
A veteran biotech leader with deep experience in advanced genetic medicines, Matt was previously the co-founder and CEO of Precision BioSciences – a company focused on developing gene and cell therapies using a novel gene editing platform.
As CEO, he led a team that raised over $400M in equity and debt financing, including an IPO in 2019, formed partnerships with leading biopharmaceutical companies valued at over $4.7B, and advanced four unique genetic medicines into human clinical trials. Matt has nearly twenty years of experience in the life sciences industry and was formerly with Suros Surgical Systems, later acquired by Hologic.
He received his B.S. and M.S. from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and an MBA from Duke University.
Charles A. Gersbach, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, Acting Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Charles A. Gersbach is the Acting Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Tune Therapeutics.
A renowned academic and genome engineer, Charlie is the John W. Strohbehn Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University, and Director of the Duke Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies.
His research is focused on genome and epigenome editing, cellular engineering, gene therapy, synthetic biology and regenerative medicine. His work has led to entirely new approaches to programming cell biology and the treatment of genetic disease, and has earned him numerous awards, along with induction as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He is also the co-founder of three biotechnology companies, and an advisor to several others.
He received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, and completed postdoctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute.
Ali Behbahani, M.D.
New Enterprise Associates
Dr. Ali Behbahani is a Board Member at Tune Therapeutics, and a General Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA).
He specializes in investments in the biopharmaceutical and medical device sectors. Prior to NEA, he served as a business development consultant at The Medicines Company, as a Venture Associate with Morgan Stanley Venture Partners, and as a Healthcare Investment Banking Analyst with Lehman Brothers. He has been a Board Member at Nevro Corp., and a Member of the Board of Directors at Genocea Biosciences, Oyster Point Pharma, Adaptimmune, Black Diamond, and CRISPR Therapeutics.
Ali received his bachelor’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Chemistry from Duke University; his M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Dan McHugh
Emerson Collective
Dan McHugh is a Board Member at Tune Therapeutics, and a Senior Director at Emerson Collective.
Dan is a Senior Director at Emerson Collective where he has been leading the organization’s life sciences investment efforts since 2016. At Emerson, he supports companies developing novel therapeutics, diagnostics, and other enabling technologies with the potential for impact in oncology.
Prior to Emerson Collective, Dan was a strategy consultant at Bain & Co., working primarily with biopharmaceutical and private equity clients.
He holds a B.S. in Bioengineering and an M.S. in Management Science & Engineering, both from Stanford University.
New Enterprise Associates
Emerson Collective
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Hatteras Venture Partners
Mission BioCapital
Saisei Ventures
Alexandria Ventures
Latest News
Tune Therapeutics Launches with Pioneering Epigenomic Control Platform to Master Gene Networks, Treat Broad Range of Diseases
World-leading researchers and venture-builders found company to mine the new frontier of […]