Unlocking the full potential of molecular glues to develop precision medicines and transform patient lives
Who We Are and What We Do
TRIANA Biomedicines is a venture-backed biopharmaceutical company leading a transformative approach to discover and develop novel therapeutics to treat diseases. Our technology identifies small molecules that promote the interaction between two proteins which alters the fate or function of the disease target protein. One such application aims to activate the innate protein degradation machinery to destroy the disease target. These innovative “molecular glues” allow us to treat diseases in entirely new ways, by pursuing highly relevant disease targets that have long been considered undruggable or are inadequately addressed.
Our target-first and rational approach to molecular glue discovery empowers us to consider a wide-range of therapeutic applications for our products. Our drug discovery efforts are accelerated with emphasis on known disease-causing protein targets. Our initial focus on targeted protein degradation (TPD) is driven by our desire to discover and develop groundbreaking new cancer medicines.
Our Science
It is estimated that roughly 85% of disease targets are undruggable. Molecular glues are a new validated wave of medicines that render undruggable targets druggable.
Molecular glue degraders were serendipitously identified for their preferential cancer-cell killing properties. Later it was discovered that these drugs induce protein:protein interactions between disease targets and a component of the cell’s ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). Specifically, the mechanism involves E3 ligase enzymes, which tag target proteins with ubiquitin molecules to be recognized and degraded by the proteasome. This discovery prompted the search for other compounds that could promote degradation of disease targets by “gluing” them onto components of the cell’s UPS.
TRIANA is harnessing the full potential of molecular glues. Our approach is to start with challenging disease targets and leverage our proprietary protein:protein pairing engine to identify E3 ligases that are potential matches. We then initiate a comprehensive glue discovery campaign covering diverse chemical spaces to identify new molecular glues using a target-first and rational approach.
Our Team
Our Culture
Our Team is our greatest asset at TRIANA. We are proud to work with an integrated group of individuals from various backgrounds and experiences. At TRIANA we are empowered to act. We dare to create transformative medicines for patients. Our creativity and dedication are the glue that unites us in pursuit of our mission.
Leadership
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Dr. Trojer joined TRIANA Biomedicines in November of 2021 as CEO and Board member after a successful career at Constellation Pharmaceuticals where he served as the company’s CSO. Dr. Trojer co-founded Constellation in 2008 and as member of the company’s executive team he materially contributed to several successful financing rounds and deals, including a $100M crossover round, a $65M IPO and the ultimate acquisition of Constellation in 2021 for $1.7b. Under his leadership, Constellation built a robust discovery platform, established a portfolio of competitive clinical candidates and drove the maturation of the company‘s development efforts, leading to one PhIII and two PhII assets and three additional clinical candidates. Dr. Trojer brings 20+ years of experience in transcription and chromatin regulation and 15+ years of drug discovery and oncology experience to TRIANA. He completed his post-doctoral fellowship at NYU, Medical School in the laboratory of Dr. Danny Reinberg and received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck, Austria.
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Dr. Palombella joined TRIANA Biomedicines in September of 2023. He brings to TRIANA over 30 years of scientific leadership and experience advancing first-in-class therapeutic programs, as well as a successful track record of building drug discovery and development organizations. Prior to joining TRIANA, he was the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at Surface Oncology, where he led the non-clinical research and development organization. Prior to that, Dr. Palombella was EVP and CSO at Infinity Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for drug discovery and preclinical development. He held roles of increasing scientific responsibility at Syntonix Pharmaceuticals, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, LeukoSite Inc, and ProScript. Dr. Palombella was involved in the discovery and development of bortezomib and duvelisib, both for cancer therapy. Dr. Palombella holds a PhD in Viral Oncology and Immunology from the New York University Medical Center and completed his postdoctoral studies at Harvard University.
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Dr. Chen joined TRIANA Biomedicines in January of 2021. He has more than a decade of discovery research and management experience, from early discovery through preclinical development. Dr. Chen joined RA Capital Management in 2019 as an entrepreneur-in-residence and co-founded TRIANA Biomedicines and Avilar Therapeutics. Prior to joining RA Capital, he was the Senior Director of Discovery at Kymera Therapeutics, responsible for building the company’s industry-leading targeted protein degradation platform and pipeline. Dr. Chen held roles of increasing responsibility at Moderna Therapeutics and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Chen received his Ph.D. from MIT and completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School.
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Dr. Mazhari joined TRIANA Biomedicines in June of 2023. He brings to TRIANA more than twenty years of drug discovery and development as well as business development experience. Prior to joining TRIANA, he was the Head of Search and Evaluations for oncology at Novartis, where he led numerous successful in-licensing deals that contributed to the early-stage oncology pipeline and expanded the portfolio of enabling technologies, while also leading out-licensing efforts for early-stage programs. Previously, Dr. Mazhari was the Vice President of Translational Medicine and Head of Business Development and Licensing at Rexahn Pharmaceuticals. At Cerecor, he was Vice President of Drug Discovery and Early Development, and led business development. Dr. Mazhari was the co-founder and Vice President of Research and Pharmacology at Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb for $1.8b. He began his career as a faculty member at the School of Medicine in The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Mazhari holds a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from University of California at San Diego and a post-doctoral research fellowship in Cardiovascular Medicine from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
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Ms. Sousa joined the TRIANA Biomedicines’ team in November 2021 as a people and culture advisor. She brings to TRIANA decades of people, culture and human resources experience in early stage biotechnology organizations. Prior to joining TRIANA, she was the Chief Human Resources Officer at Constellation Pharmaceuticals, where she led the organization through multiple stages of growth from an early research focus to a publicly traded, pre-commercial business and subsequent successful acquisition. Previously, Ms. Sousa was the Vice President of Human Resources and Operations at EPIX Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Sousa held positions of increasing responsibility at RKS Health Ventures concluding with an acquisition by Partners Healthcare. Ms. Sousa received her BS from the University of Massachusetts.
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Ms. Valentine joined the TRIANA Biomedicines team in November 2022 as a legal and strategic advisor. She brings to TRIANA over two decades of biotechnology industry experience as a senior business executive and lawyer. Ms. Valentine is the Founder of KHV Advisory, LLC. Prior to her advisory activity, she was the Chief Legal Officer at Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she joined pre-IPO and worked with other members of senior management to build the organization, raise additional capital, advance the programs, and close a successful M&A transaction. Previously, Ms. Valentine served as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Agenus Inc. She also worked in the biotech practice group of Palmer & Dodge law firm, representing private and public companies. Karen received her B.A. in neuroscience from Colgate University and her J.D. from Boston University School of Law.
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Dr. Seyb joined TRIANA Biomedicines in September of 2021 to build and lead the biology and translational sciences team. Previously, she served as VP of Research at Ohana Biosciences, focused on developing novel treatments to improve reproductive health. Dr Seyb held positions of increasing responsibly at Ra Pharmaceuticals, inclusive of leading the biology function from discovery through Phase 2 clinical development, as well as the company’s collaboration with Merck that yielded an orally bioavailable tricyclic peptide inhibitor of PCSK9 currently in clinical development. Dr. Seyb received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Kansas.
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Dr. La joined TRIANA Biomedicines in November 2021. He has more than twenty years of drug discovery experience. Prior to joining the company, he was Head of Medicinal Chemistry and Structural Biology at Fog Pharma, where he was the scientific program lead for the company’s flagship oncology program. Previously, he was at Sage Therapeutics and Amgen Inc. where he held roles of increasing responsibility on program teams that ranged from early discovery to development candidate delivery. He is an inventor on 28 patents. Dr. La holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Boston College and a post-doctoral research fellowship from Harvard University.
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Dr. Wigle joined TRIANA Biomedicines in March 2022. He has over a decade of drug discovery experience. Prior to joining the company, he was Senior Director of Molecular Discovery at Ribon Therapeutics, where he helped deliver three assets into clinical trials. Previously, he was Associate Director of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Warp Drive Bio, where he oversaw a team of scientists responsible for identifying small molecules that induce ternary complexes. He held roles of increasing responsibility and scientific scope at Epizyme and was a key member of the team that discovered Tazemetostat, an FDA approved EZH2 inhibitor for the treatment of patients with follicular lymphoma and epithelioid sarcoma. Dr. Wigle holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Center for Integrative Chemical Biology & Drug Discovery at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Ms. Ndiaye joined TRIANA Biomedicines in August 2022 to build and lead a fully integrated finance organization. She brings to TRIANA over 18 years of financial expertise in the life science industry, driving operational and strategic initiatives across global pharmaceutical organizations as well as early to mid stage biotech companies. Prior to joining TRIANA, she worked as a senior consultant with Danforth Advisors, leading and optimizing their FP&A practice. Previously, Ms. Ndiaye was Sr. Director of Finance at Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, where she led the R&D Clinical Finance team through change management, with a focus on developing and optimizing the planning, analysis and reporting for both Sunovion US and global clinical development business units. As the Sr. Director Finance and Operations at IFM Therapeutics, she built the company’s FP&A capability. Ms. Ndiaye held positions of increasing responsibilities at Aileron Therapeutics, Genocea Biosciences and Takeda / Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Ndiaye received her Masters in Finance from Boston College.
Scientific Advisory Board
Robert Copeland, PhD
Accent Therapeutics
Danny Huang, PhD
Cancer Research UK
Brian Jones, PhD
Independent Consultant
John Karanicolas, PhD
Fox Chase Cancer Center
Michele Pagano, MD
NYU HHMI
Adrian Senderowicz, MD
Oncology Drug Development, LLC
Directors
Jigar Raythatha
Chair of the Board, Independent Board Director
Shelley Chu, MD, PhD
Lightspeed Venture Partners
David Grayzel, MD
Atlas Venture
Christopher O’Donnell, PhD
Pfizer Ventures
Josh Resnick, MD
RA Capital Management
Patrick Trojer, PhD
President & CEO, TRIANA Biomedicines
Join Us
TRIANA Biomedicines is building the leading molecular glue discovery platform to fundamentally change the paradigm of small molecule drug discovery and bring significant therapeutic benefits to patients.
With our commitment to pioneering science and the people driving it, TRIANA is expanding its team.
Come change the future of medicine with us!
