Creyon Bio has appointed two prominent venture capitalists, Serge Messerlian, operating partner at DCVC Bio, and Shaquille Vayda, principal at Lux Capital, to its board.
“We are excited to welcome Serge and Shaq officially to our board of directors, and their extensive experience in life sciences and technology aligns with Creyon’s mission to reimagine drug development through AI-enabled engineering of oligonucleotide-based medicines,” said Chris Hart, Ph.D., co-founder, CEO, and president of Creyon Bio. “Their insight and strategic guidance have been immensely valuable to date as observers and will be instrumental as Creyon advances best-in-class clinical assets created with its pioneering platform of oligonucleotide-based medicines.”
Mr. Messerlian, who brings extensive executive leadership experience in life sciences to the board, currently serves on the boards of Auron Therapeutics and Plexium. He was previously CEO of Teon Therapeutics and, prior to that, president of J&J’s Janssen Oncology. Mr. Messerlian holds a B.S. in Physiology & Biotechnology and an M.S. in Molecular Genetics from McGill University, as well as an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
With diverse experience spanning technology, aerospace, and life sciences, Mr. Vayda serves on multiple boards, including Anagenex, Atavistik, Enveda Biosciences, Gandeeva Therapeutics, LabGenius, Nomic Bio, and Rivet. Prior to joining Lux Capital, Mr. Vayda served at Parthenon in San Francisco, where he advised private equity and growth equity firms on enterprise technology and healthcare investments. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida.