Founders
Ananya Zutshi, MS, MBA
Karolina Palucka, MD, PhD
Ananya Zutshi, MS, MBA
Co-Founder
CEO
Ananya is passionate about using exciting science to bring life-changing therapies to market for patients.
Her experiences in the contract manufacturing and development side of the pharma/biotech industry in roles across Operations, Engineering, Business Development, and Project Management, have given her a holistic view of a
Co-Founder
CEO
Ananya is passionate about using exciting science to bring life-changing therapies to market for patients.
Her experiences in the contract manufacturing and development side of the pharma/biotech industry in roles across Operations, Engineering, Business Development, and Project Management, have given her a holistic view of a complex industry.
Ananya has earned a BSE in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University, a MS in Engineering Sciences and an MBA from Harvard. Prior to founding Guardian Bio, she was a Blavatnik Fellow at Harvard Business School.
Richard Barrett, PhD
Karolina Palucka, MD, PhD
Ananya Zutshi, MS, MBA
Co-Founder
CSO
Driven by a love of science and the ocean, Ricky started his career as a marine biologist and research diver at Florida Atlantic University with a focus on marine natural products and drug discovery.
Increasingly interested in therapeutic applications, he pursued a PhD at University of Central Florida, focused on immunology
Co-Founder
CSO
Driven by a love of science and the ocean, Ricky started his career as a marine biologist and research diver at Florida Atlantic University with a focus on marine natural products and drug discovery.
Increasingly interested in therapeutic applications, he pursued a PhD at University of Central Florida, focused on immunology. During his postdoctoral fellowship in cancer immunology and tumor microenvironment at the University of Pennsylvania, he worked on academic/industry partnerships , published papers, and was awarded academic grants including the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (T32).
Ricky is a prolific science communicator and frequently appears on podcasts and creates educational science content for an audience of over a quarter million followers across various social media platforms.
Karolina Palucka, MD, PhD
Karolina Palucka, MD, PhD
Karolina Palucka, MD, PhD
Academic Co-Founder
Chair, Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Palucka is a world-renowned clinical oncologist and cancer immunologist. Her group pioneered the development of dendritic cell-based therapy for cancer and HIV patients.
Dr. Palucka is Professor and Edison T. Liu Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at The Jackson Laboratory, and is the Di
Academic Co-Founder
Chair, Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Palucka is a world-renowned clinical oncologist and cancer immunologist. Her group pioneered the development of dendritic cell-based therapy for cancer and HIV patients.
Dr. Palucka is Professor and Edison T. Liu Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at The Jackson Laboratory, and is the Director of the JAX Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center. Her lab is focused in understanding how vaccines work and precisely defining the immune mechanisms that underpin successful vaccination.
Dr. Palucka previously served as the director of the Ralph M. Steinman Center for Cancer Vaccines and was the Michael A.E. Ramsay Chair for Cancer Immunology Research at the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research. She has authored 100+ papers on dendritic cells.
Advisors & Consultants
Tony Polverino, PhD
Jessica Fletchner, PhD
Tony Polverino, PhD
Former CSO, Kite Pharma
Rachel Humphrey, MD
Jessica Fletchner, PhD
Tony Polverino, PhD
CEO Normunity
Jessica Fletchner, PhD
Jessica Fletchner, PhD
Jessica Fletchner, PhD
Former CSO, Genocea
Scott Antonia, MD, PhD
Lisa Coussens, MD (hc), PhD
Jessica Fletchner, PhD
Director, Center for Cancer Immunotherapy at Duke University
Lisa Coussens, MD (hc), PhD
Lisa Coussens, MD (hc), PhD
Lisa Coussens, MD (hc), PhD
Former AACR President
Deputy Director for Basic & Translational Research, Knight Cancer Institute
Max Krummel, PhD
Lisa Coussens, MD (hc), PhD
Lisa Coussens, MD (hc), PhD
UCSF Professor, Founder and Partner at Foundery LP
Our Technology
Problem
Solution
Solution
Cancer immunity and therapy rely on antigen presentation from rare dendritic cells called cDC1s. These cells are some of the first immune cells disabled by cancer as it takes hold, creating a bottleneck for clinical responses.
Previous dendritic cell approaches were never able to fully reconstitute this cell population, limiting their clinical success.
Solution
Solution
Solution
Guardian Bio has developed a proprietary process to generate true cDC1s from a patient’s own stem cells. We call these Guard-cDC1s.
Guard-cDC1s are capable of restoring dysfunctional antigen presentation in late stage cancer patients. They can stimulate against multiple targets simultaneously, and activate various effector cells.
Our Supporters
