Co-founder, Managing Director

Director of External Relations

Director of Finance

Cody is a 3rd year PhD candidate in Chemical & Physical Biology at Vanderbilt University. He received his BA in neuroscience from University of California, Berkeley, and his MS in Biomedicine from Vanderbilt. Before starting his PhD, Cody also did drug discovery research at Stanford.Cody works in the Spraggins lab developing spatial multi-omic tools to understand Alzheimer’s disease.  Cody’s life science investing experience really took off after participating in the Analyst Training Program with Evexia, a student-led investment fund in the Bay Area, CA.  Cody is interested in biotech business development roles after earning his PhD.Outside of research, Cody enjoys exercising and playing pick up basketball. He also enjoys traveling with friends and family — especially to the mountains for skiing.

Shannon is a 4rd year PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering 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 has 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.

Grahame Evans is a 5th year 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 & Operations

Director of Research

Hayden is a 4th 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. 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

TBA

Co-founder, Prev. Managing Director

Co-founder, Prev. Managing Director

Pragun 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 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.

Kavya is a PhD graduate of the Chemical & Physical Biology Program at Vanderbilt University. She received a BA in neuroscience from Vanderbilt University in 2016, where she co-founded the Scientific Immersion & Mentorship (SIM) Program. After graduating, she worked at Vanderbilt’s Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) as a business development coordinator, and then went on to work for MONQ, a startup in Nashville, as a product development scientist. She also worked as a freelance researcher for Seminal, where she created research briefs summarizing findings across broad topics such as artificial intelligence, labor markets, and the molecular basis of learning. She returned to Vanderbilt in 2018 and joined the lab of Dr. Richard Caprioli, where she developed computational techniques for linking complementary imaging modalities such as imaging mass spectrometry and multiplexed immunofluorescence to understand Staphylococcus aureus infection in tissue. Through her varied experiences in industry, academia, healthcare, and informatics, she has focused on developing cross-disciplinary linkages with a focus on bridging the gap between scientific discovery and industry. In her free time, Kavya enjoys exploring the food scene in Nashville, traveling, and cooking. She is currently on a mission to find the best cappuccino in Nashville.