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MANAGING DIRECTOR, CO-FOUNDER

Pragun Tuladhar is a PhD candidate in the Department of Chemistry at Vanderbilt University. An international student from Nepal, he received his BS in Biochemistry from Ramapo College of New Jersey in 2018. At Vanderbilt, Pragun is a member of the Cliffel research lab, where he is developing techniques to instrument microphysiological systems (organs- on-chips) with a multiplexed electrochemical detection platform to gain a broader understanding of cellular metabolic and ds physiological changes in response to toxins, infections, and therapeutics. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of his research, Pragun is familiar with concepts and techniques spanning several fields, including electrochemistry, cellular biology, immunology, neurology, toxicology, biomedical engineering, and material sciences. Outside the lab, Pragun enjoys learning about entrepreneurship and how scientific discoveries can be commercialized. At the BioTN Scipreneur Challenge Nashville held in spring 2021, his team pitched a commercialization plan for a novel nerve visualization technology and won 2nd place. He also volunteers as consultant in the Wond’ry Innovation Consulting Program at Vanderbilt. Pragun enjoys traveling, watching English football, cooking, and collecting trivia in his spare time. 

DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, CO-FOUNDER

Cody Marshall is a 2nd year biomedical science PhD candidate at Vanderbilt University. He received his BA in molecular cell biology with an emphasis in molecular neurobiology at University of California, Berkeley. He went on to gain his MS while helping discover a neural circuit associated with stress behavior under guidance from Dr. Danny Winder. To further develop his research experience, Cody worked at Stanford University where he learned computational and chemical methods of drug discovery with Dr. James Chen. Now as a PhD student, Cody is rotating through chemical and physical biology research labs at Vanderbilt that apply new technology to neuroscience drug discovery. Cody first developed a passion for investing and the business side of life science when he enrolled in “The Business of Biotechnology”, an interactive online course taught by Peter Kolchinsky, managing director at RA Capital. Cody also volunteers virtually as an analyst for Evexia, a similar student-led biotechnology fund consisting of biology graduate students located mainly throughout the Bay Area, CA. Outside of research, Cody enjoys exercising, reading, playing (but primarily still learning) the electric piano, and enjoying Nashville’s live music scene. His favorite summer vacations are traveling to new places with family and friends, and during the winter, you can usually count on him finding time to make ski trips.

DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Shannon Taylor is a 3rd year biomedical engineering PhD student at Vanderbilt University. She received her BS in bioengineering with a focus on bioelectronics and minored in business at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. Now at Vanderbilt, Shannon studies non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging techniques under the direction of Dr. Rachelle Crescenzi to investigate the interplay of tissue structure and lymphatic vascular function. Her interdisciplinary work incorporates image processing, physics, and translational physiology. She also serves as a General Body Member of the Vanderbilt Innovation Council. Shannon’s excitement for the role of science in the business landscape began during her undergraduate engineering capstone project while working with her team to conduct market research for their prototyped point-of-care device. Since then, she’s grown a passion for biotechnology startups and advocating for the translatable skills that graduate-level researchers can add to analytical teams in industry. Outside of research, Shannon enjoys traversing Nashville’s many coffee shops, doing the New York Times crossword, and playing tennis.

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Hayden Pagendarm is a 3rd year PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University. He received his BS in Bioengineering with a biomaterials concentration as well as a minor in Economics from Clemson University in 2020. While at Clemson, he completed his Departmental Honors thesis under the guidance of Dr. Jeoung Soo Lee by helping develop a targeted drug delivery platform to reduce inflammation following spinal cord injury. He then joined the lab of Dr. John Wilson at Vanderbilt, where he is working on multiple projects aimed at modulating the immune system to achieve a therapeutic outcome. He is developing a scalable formulation pipeline to produce polymeric nanoparticles capable of delivering innate immune agonists to the cytosol, where they can activate their respective receptors and reinvigorate exhausted T cells to fight cancer. He is also developing an extracellular vesicle-based platform to co-deliver autoantigens and immunosuppressive cues to reprogram antigen-presenting cells to present autoantigens in a non-inflammatory context, subsequently inducing peripheral tolerance among autoreactive T and B lymphocytes. Outside of the lab, Hayden enjoys following the markets, trying new foods, traveling, cooking, exercising, and watching a variety of sports. He also enjoys volunteering at various local public schools by teaching STEM classes.

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE

Grahame Evans is a PhD candidate in the Department of Human Genetics at Vanderbilt Univiersity. He received his BS in Biology with Distinction from Duke University in May 2019 before matriculating through the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program at Vanderbilt in August 2019. A fourth-year PhD candidate and third-year student in the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Grahame’s work involves applying computational genetics, bioinformatics, and software development to investigate novel approaches to large-scale genetic relatedness and mapping analyses in the lab of Jennifer Below, PhD. Outside of lab work, Grahame enjoys playing tennis, skiing, traveling, web scraping and automation, and cooking.

DIRECTOR OF STRATEGY

Matthew Dungan is a 3rd year biomedical sciences Ph.D. candidate in the  Department of Molecular Pathology and Immunology at Vanderbilt  University. Matthew graduated Phi Beta Kappa from William & Mary with  Departmental Honors in Biology and Finance in 2020. Following graduation,  he matriculated into the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program at Vanderbilt  University and joined the lab of Dr. Amanda Doran. Matthew studies the role  of the immune system in heart disease. Specifically, he is interested in a 

druggable receptor thought to play a critical role in immune cell activation.  As the son of a businessman, Matthew has always had an interest in  entrepreneurship and innovation. After discovering his love for biology in  undergrad while studying Alzheimer’s disease in the lab of Dr. Helen Murphy, Matthew was inspired to marry his two passions into a career. His search for 

the perfect combination of business and biology led him to a passion in life  science investing. Outside the lab, Matthew loves to run, travel as much as possible, and make pottery (if you have a studio in Nashville you love, please let him know). 

Josh has spent his career in the life science industry in senior leadership roles of operating companies as well as on the investment side in equity research and portfolio management.
Prior to co-founding CUREX in 2019, Josh was a buy-side research analyst covering the biotech and medtech sectors for a firm with approximately $3 billion in assets during his tenure. Josh has previously led pre-clinical drug development for a NASDAQ-listed biopharmaceutical company and co-founded a clinical stage company developing companion diagnostics for cancer immunotherapy. Earlier in his career, Josh worked as a senior biomedical engineer in the medical device industry where he oversaw the development and commercialization of devices that treat life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. Josh attained his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees in biomedical engineering from Vanderbilt University and his MBA from Emory University. He is co-author on papers published in peer-reviewed biomedical journals and is a co-inventor on multiple patents. Josh also currently holds a part-time adjunct appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University.