Cajal Neuroscience Inc. 
1616 Eastlake Ave E, Ste 300. 
Seattle, WA 98102.

Cajal Neuroscience is a drug discovery company focused on neurodegenerative disease.

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Cajal is building a research and development team with the passion, drive, and scientific expertise to execute its bold mission of generating novel disease-altering therapies for neurodegeneration.

Our Team

Ignacio (“Nacho”) is Chief Executive Officer at Cajal. Nacho brings over 16 years of dedicated experience in neurodegeneration research and development from his time at Amgen, and the CHDI Foundation, where he was Vice President of Translational Biology. At CHDI, Nacho oversaw the development of numerous programs in Huntington's Disease (HD) across small molecules, antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), protein degraders, and gene therapies. He developed the first small molecule PET imaging ligands for mutant Huntingtin and has extensive experience in biomarker development, including imaging, neurophysiological, and proteomics approaches, which are widely used in current HD clinical trials. At Cajal, Nacho is inspired to build upon his deep commitment and impact in HD and take on the challenges of advancing drug discovery across neurodegeneration.

Nacho founded and currently serves as President of the Factor H Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to improving the quality of life of patients suffering from HD in Latin America where in several communities, the prevalence of HD is high and living conditions and access to healthcare and basic necessities is poor. With Factor H, Nacho works intimately with patients, families, and their communities to provide humanitarian aid, increase access to patient benefits, and enhance disease awareness. 

Nacho received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed his postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University. He has authored over 90 research publications and book chapters and is widely regarded as a leading voice in HD research and advocacy, having been an invited speaker at over 40 national and international conferences and events. 

Ian is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Cajal. Ian is also a Venture Partner at Lux Capital, where he has been involved in the formation and early building of numerous companies (including Cajal and Kallyope). At Cajal, Ian is responsible for guiding and coordinating scientific efforts ranging from platform and technology development to target discovery and validation.

Prior to Cajal, Ian was part of the founding team at Kallyope and was the Head of Platform Biology and Technology, where he built and led a highly integrated team of molecular biologists, neuroscientists, and data scientists in the discovery of new therapeutic targets that harness the gut-brain axis.

Ian completed his PhD at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he developed novel tools for high throughput mapping of brain connectivity using DNA sequencing. These tools have served as the foundation for Cajal’s efforts on in vivo multiplexed assays.

Andrew is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Cajal. Andrew oversees all aspects of company operations and corporate development, including business development, portfolio strategy, finance, and HR. 

Prior to Cajal, Andrew was Senior Director of Business Development at Celgene, where he led the execution of Celgene’s cell therapy partnerships and transactions. He also held previous roles in Translational Medicine at Celgene, focused on leveraging novel single cell sequencing techniques for target discovery in oncology.

Throughout his industry career, Andrew has continued to practice as a clinical geneticist at the University of Washington Medical Center and brings this unique perspective to the challenge of understanding neurodegeneration. Andrew received his MD and MBA degrees from Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business School, before completing his residency and fellowship at University of Washington in internal medicine and medical genetics. 

Kimberly is Chief Development Officer at Cajal. Kimberly leads the strategy and execution of Cajal’s drug discovery pipeline across multiple modalities including small molecules, biologics, and ASOs.

Kimberly brings over 15 years of experience in drug development. Most recently, Kimberly was VP of Translational Sciences at Denali Therapeutics where she built and executed Denali’s biomarker-driven development strategy, enabling rigorous decision-making for more than 8 clinical-stage programs in Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, ALS, frontotemporal dementia, MS and lysosomal storage disorders. Previously, she served as Associate Director of Translational Neuroscience at Genentech. 

Kimberly has over 80 peer reviewed publications exploring disease-related neuroscience and the relationship between specific signaling events and complex changes in brain health and behavior. She received her PhD in neurobiology and behavior from Columbia University and a BA in cognitive science from Harvard University.

Leslie serves as General Counsel at Cajal, where she oversees Cajal’s intellectual property strategy and provides legal counsel across licensing and transactions, contracts, and general corporate matters.

Leslie has over 20 years of experience in the legal and biotech industries. She has managed extensive patent portfolios across a broad range of modalities and therapeutic areas, and has provided legal guidance for matters spanning early research to commercialization. Most recently, Leslie was VP of Intellectual Property and Legal Affairs at Neoleukin Therapeutics. She has held prior legal counsel and intellectual property roles at Seattle Genetics and the Infectious Disease Research Institute.

Since 2015, Leslie has also served as a volunteer mediator with the Dispute Resolution Center of King County. Leslie received a BS in Chemistry from Brown University and her JD from Columbia Law School.

Ben is Vice President of Computational Biology at Cajal. Ben leads a team of geneticists, computational biologists, and software engineers to employ advanced multi-omics methods to support Cajal’s target discovery and validation. Ben’s team is also responsible for building scalable data pipelines to process and analyze massive amounts of 3D imaging and sequencing data generated from Cajal’s platform.

Previously, Ben was Director of Neurodegenerative Research at Sage Bionetworks, where he led a team of researchers to integrate and analyze large-scale multi-omics data obtained from the AMP-AD (Accelerating Medicine Partnership - Alzheimer’s Disease) consortium. Ben also led Sage’s efforts in variant prioritization for generation of new mouse models of late onset Alzheimer’s disease and characterization of robust and reproducible transcriptomic signatures of disease. 

Ben started his career in research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and later the University of Washington, developing new computational methods to identify causal rare variants and disease drivers. Ben received a B.S. in biochemistry from Washington State University and completed his Ph.D. in computational biology from Cornell University.

Valerie is Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at Cajal. Valerie is responsible for leading business development, portfolio strategy, competitive intelligence, and investor relations efforts. 

Previously, Valerie was at ClearView Healthcare Partners, a life sciences strategy consulting firm that specializes in working with biotech and pharmaceutical companies. At ClearView, Valerie led engagements on corporate strategy, portfolio strategy, and business development, with a particular focus on neuroscience, rare diseases, and emerging technology platforms. She has also worked as an independent consultant for early-stage biotech companies and venture firms.

Valerie received her MBA degree from MIT Sloan School of Management and a BA in economics from Yale University.

Rob has over 25 years of experience as a physician, scientist, and entrepreneur. He is a Venture Partner at Frazier Life Sciences, where he co-founded and currently serves as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of HilleVax. 

Rob recently was Executive Vice President and Head of Business Development and Alliances at Celgene until the acquisition of Celgene by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2019. Rob joined Celgene in 2014 to lead their efforts in immuno-oncology and was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer in 2016.

Prior to Celgene, Rob co-founded VentiRx Pharmaceuticals as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Frazier and served as President and Chief Executive Officer. He has also held roles as Chief Medical Officer of Dendreon and Vice President of Medical Genetics at Corixa (acquired by GlaxoSmithKline). Rob completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles and received his Ph.D. at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Susan Hockfield is President Emerita and Professor of Neuroscience at MIT. As the sixteenth president (2004 - 2012), she was the first woman and the first life scientist to lead the Institute. At MIT, Susan drove several new initiatives, including the founding of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and the MIT Energy Initiative. Susan continues to champion causes for which she has a long-standing passion: the convergence of the life, physical, and engineering sciences, advancement of women in science and technology, and support for the national research agenda.

As a neuroscientist, Susan pioneered the use of monoclonal antibody technology in brain research, identifying proteins through which neural activity early in life affects brain development. She was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco before joining Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory as an investigator. In 1985, Susan became a faculty member at Yale University, where she was later the William Edward Gilbert Professor of Neurobiology and served as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (1998 - 2002) and Provost (2003 - 2004).

Susan is the past President and Chairman of AAAS and currently is a Director at Pfizer, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Mass General Brigham, the Lasker Foundation, and Repertoire Immune Medicines.

Josh is co-founder and Managing Partner of Lux Capital, a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage science and technology investments. Josh is a Director at Kallyope, Variant Bio, Gandeeva Therapeutics, and Strateos, and helped lead the firm’s investment in Resilience. Josh also serves as a Director at several other companies across the physical sciences and technology industries, including Shapeways, Varda, Kymeta, and Kurion. Before founding Lux Capital in 2000, Josh worked in investment banking at Salomon Smith Barney and in capital markets at Merril Lynch. 

Josh is a columnist with Forbes and Editor for the Forbes/Wolfe Emerging Tech Report. He has been invited to The White House and Capitol Hill to advise on nanotechnology and emerging technologies, and a lecturer at MIT, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia and NYU. He is a term member at The Council on Foreign Relations and Chairman of Coney Island Prep charter school, where he grew up in Brooklyn. Josh graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in Economics and Finance.

Tim is a Managing Partner of The Column Group. Since joining the firm in 2007, Tim has contributed to the conception, formation, and management of more than a dozen portfolio companies. Tim serves on the board of Carmot Therapeutics, Surrozen, Neurona Therapeutics, Nura Bio, Kallyope, Plexium, and Synthekine. He was previously the founding CEO at Peloton Therapeutics and also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nurix Therapeutics.

Prior to joining The Column Group, Tim was a scientist at KAI Pharmaceuticals, where he focused on the discovery and development of selective protein kinase C inhibitors. Before KAI, Tim worked at UC Berkeley as a graduate student and postdoc in the lab of Dr. Robert Tjian. Tim received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and completed his Ph.D. and postdoc at UC Berkeley in the lab of Dr. Robert Tjian.

Dr. Huda Zoghbi is Professor of Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetics, Neurology, and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine, an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the founding Director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital. 

Zoghbi’s interests range from neurodevelopment to neurodegeneration. Her discovery that Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 1 (SCA1) is caused by expansion of a polyglutamine tract in the ATAXIN1 gene led to critical advances in understanding disease mechanisms and potential therapeutic interventions for SCA1. Her subsequent findings, that such expansion of the mutant protein leads to neuronal dysfunction and death, have had profound implications on other diseases, including in late-onset neurodegenerative diseases that involve similar accumulation of disease-associated proteins. Zoghbi’s work in neurodevelopment also led to the discovery that mutations in MECP2 cause the postnatal neurological disorder Rett syndrome.

Zoghbi has been widely recognized for her contributions to neuroscience and neurological diseases. She has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her honors include the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience, the Brain Prize, the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the Canada Gairdner International Award, the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine, and the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize from Rockefeller University, among numerous others. 

Dr. Anthony Zador is the Alle Davis Harris Professor of Biology and Chair of Neuroscience at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. 

The goal of Zador’s research is to understand how brain circuitry gives rise to complex behavior. His laboratory has developed a revolutionary new approach to map the connectivity of the mouse brain at single-resolution (the “connectome”) using high throughput DNA sequencing. His laboratory has also pioneered the use of rodents in complex sensory decision tasks, to help understand the neural circuits underlying cortical processing and how that is disrupted in diseases such as autism.

Zador is founder of the annual Computational and Systems Neuroscience (COSYNE) meeting, which now draws over 900 participants. He has been named a Gill Symposium Transformative Investigator for his work on sequencing-based brain mapping, and previously received an NIH Transformative Research Award, granted to “exceptionally innovative and unconventional research projects.”. He has also been recognized as one of the “Top 100 Leading Global Thinkers “ in Foreign Policy for his contributions to neuroscience. 

Dr. Charles Zuker is a Professor of Biochemistry; Professor of Molecular Biophysics; and Professor of Neuroscience in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. He is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator (HHMI) and spent six years as a Senior Fellow at the HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus. 

Zuker studies how the brain represents our sensory experiences and how it transforms reception into perception. Zuker and his lab have integrated molecular biology, genetics, and physiology to study the biology of photoreception, mechanoreception, and more recently taste reception. His lab has discovered mammalian taste receptors for the five tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salt, and “umami”), and made significant advances in the understanding of sight and hearing.

Zuker has received numerous awards for his work, including an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the W. Alden Spencer Award, the Cogan Award, and the International Flavor and Fragrances Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in addition to his American Academy of Arts and Sciences Membership. 

Dr. Richard Hargreaves is Senior Vice President and Head of Neuroscience Research and Early Development at Bristol Myers Squibb. 

In his current role, Hargreaves is responsible for building and expanding Bristol Myers Squibb’s neuroscience pipeline, collaborating with biotech and academic partners across the neuroscience field, and partnering with key advocacy organizations. Prior to Bristol Myers Squibb, Hargreawves was Corporate Vice President and Head of Neuroscience and Imaging Research at Celgene, and held senior scientific leadership positions in neuroscience research and development at both Biogen and Merck. 

Hargreaves has led teams that have advanced numerous novel CNS PET imaging agents and contributed to the successful registration of numerous drug candidates across neuroscience, including Maxalt® for migraine, Belsomra® for insomnia, Ajovy® for prevention of migraine, Ubrelvy® for acute migraine, and Zeposia® for relapsing multiple sclerosis. 

Hargreaves is a board member for Target ALS and on the scientific advisory board for the Silverstein Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. He has published >200 journal articles and been recognized by awards from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics for his work on CNS discovery imaging and the British Pharmacological Society.

Dr. Jay Shendure is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Professor of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington, and Director of the Allen Discovery Center for Cell Lineage Tracing. 

Shendure’s doctoral research was one of the first demonstrations of massively parallel or next-generation DNA sequencing. Since then, Shendure’s research has greatly advanced the application and technology development of next-generation DNA sequencing. His research group in Seattle pioneered exome sequencing and its earliest applications to gene discovery for Mendelian disorders (e.g. Miller and Kabuki syndrome) and autism, cell-free DNA diagnostics for cancer and reproductive medicine, massively parallel reporter assays and saturation genome editing, whole organism lineage tracing, and massively parallel molecular profiling of single cells. 

Shendure is the recipient of the Curt Stern Award from the American Society of Human Genetics, the FEDERAprijs from the Federation of Dutch Medical Scientific Societies, a NIH Director's Pioneer Award, and the HudsonAlpha Life Sciences Prize. He serves or has served on the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director, its Working Group on the US Precision Medicine Initiative, and the National Human Genome Research Advisory Council. 

Dr. David Holtzman is currently Professor of Neurology, Scientific Director of the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, and Associate Director of the Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis.

Holtzman and his lab have made foundational contributions to understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease. His work has focused on studying Aβ metabolism and how it is regulated by synaptic activity, sleep, and other factors. He has also extensively studied the role of tau in Alzheimer’s disease and how ApoE, TREM2, and microglia impact tau-mediated neurodegeneration. Holtzman has been deeply involved in the development of biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease and the advancement of numerous drug candidates for Alzheimer’s disease targeting Aβ, tau, and ApoE.

Holtzman’s honors include the Potamkin Prize, the MetLife Award, the Rainwater Prize, and from Washington University, the Chancellor’s Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Carl and Gerty Cori Award. Holtzman has previously served as President of the American Neurological Association, and he has been elected to the AAAS as a Fellow, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, and the National Advisory Council of the NINDS and NIA.

Dr. Martin Kampmann is an Associate Professor in the UCSF Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases. 

Kampmann and his lab have pioneered the use of CRISPR-based functional genomics in iPSC-derived neurons, glia, and 3D assembloids to conduct genome-wide screens for modifiers of disease-relevant cell biology. His lab uses biochemistry, biophysics, and cell biology to test mechanistic hypotheses identified from their functional genomics screens. Currently, his work focuses on elucidating critical mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration, including selective vulnerability, protein aggregation, and the contribution of different cellular processes (e.g., autophagy, endolysosomal trafficking, mitochondria).

Kampmann has received several highly prestigious awards, including the Rainwater Prize, the Chan Zuckerberg Institute Ben Barres Early Career Acceleration Award, the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation’s Allen Distinguished Investigator Award, and the NIH Pathway to Independence Award. 

Niranjan Bose is the Managing Director of Health & Life Sciences at Gates Ventures, where he serves as the Science Advisor to Mr. Bill Gates.

Prior to this, he was the Chief of Staff to the President of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. During his time with the Global Health Program, Bose was responsible for managing a portfolio of investments, which included clinical development of enteric vaccines (rotavirus, cholera, enterotoxigenic E. coli and shigella).

Niranjan holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Dartmouth College and an MS in biological sciences and BS in pharmaceutical sciences from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India. He also received the Business Bridge Diploma from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Dr. Martin Burke is the May and Ving Lee Professor for Chemical Innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the founding Director of the Molecule Maker Lab and co-Founder of the Molecule Maker Lab Institute at UIUC. He also helped launch the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, serving as its inaugural Associate Dean for Research.

Burke’s lab pioneered the development of molecular prosthetics for neurodegeneration, anemia, cystic fibrosis and other difficult to treat diseases caused by loss of protein function. His group also illuminated how the inherent robustness of living systems can interface with imperfect molecular prosthetics to restore physiology. These advances were driven by his lab’s iterative lego-like platform for small molecule synthesis. This new modular brand of organic chemistry has been automated and used by hundreds of labs worldwide to produce many different natural products, pharmaceuticals and materials. It has also been coupled to artificial intelligence to enable closed-loop discovery of a wide range of new molecular functions and is beginning to democratize molecular innovation.

Burke is a scientific founder of four biotechnology companies which have yielded six drug candidates in clinical trials. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and American Society for Clinical Investigation, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also a winner of the ACS Cope Scholar Award, Hirata Gold Medal, Mukaiyama Award, and Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry.

We are proud to be backed by a set of world-class investors

A passionate team of scientists.

Leadership Team

Ignacio Munoz-Sanjuan, PhD

Chief Executive Officer

Ian Peikon, PhD

Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer

Andrew Dervan, MD, MBA

Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer

Kimberly Scearce-Levie, PhD

Chief Development Officer

Leslie Aberman, JD

General Counsel

Ben Logsdon, PhD

Vice President, Computational Biology

Valerie Huang, MBA

Vice President, Strategy & Corporate Development

Team

Adebola Enikanolaiye

Translational Models

Aishwarya Gogate

Computational Biology

Anatoly Buchin

Computational Biology

Anna Frolova

Finance

Anna Minkina

Computational Biology

Arsenii Pavlenko

Technology Development

Arvis Sulovari

Computational Biology

Ashley Bockman

Administration

Beatriz Saldana

Engineering

Bruno Grande

Engineering

Christian Gaetano

Engineering

Christina Sanford

Drug Discovery

David Moore

Facilities, EHS, & Operations

Devany Shikiar

High Throughput Imaging

Drew Friedmann

High Throughput Imaging

Eva Nachmanson

Finance

Hannah Hawks-Mayer

High Throughput Imaging

Ignas Cerniauskas

Target Validation

Jake Gockley

Computational Biology

Jen Whitesell

Translational Models

Jennifer Luyapan

Computational Biology

Jeremy Capalungan

Drug Discovery

Johnny Goforth

Target Validation

Karla Hirokawa

Translational Models

Kat Korvas

In Vivo Sciences

Kayla Hardwick

Computational Biology

Kyla Berry

Technology Development

Luke Funk

In Vitro Screens

Madison Baird

Viral Tools

Marcella Cline

Drug Discovery

Michael Kuranty

In Vivo Sciences

Molly Lindbo