The Pulse Podcast

Dr. Tasuku Kitada is the co-founder, President, Head of R&D, and a board director at Strand Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing programmable mRNA therapeutics for cancer, autoimmune disease, and in vivo cell engineering.
Tasuku received his B.S. in Biophysics and Biochemistry from the University of Tokyo, earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from UCLA, and completed postdoctoral training at MIT, where his work helped pioneer synthetic gene circuits built from mRNA. He later earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and worked as a senior biotechnology analyst at Candriam Investors Group before returning to science and company-building through Strand.
At Strand, Tasuku and his team are developing technologies such as self-replicating RNA, circular RNA, and logic-gated mRNA circuits to engineer the next generation of RNA medicines. Strand’s lead program, STX-001, is designed to express IL-12 locally in tumors and has already entered clinical testing in patients with advanced solid tumors.
Tasuku’s career sits at the intersection of molecular biology, synthetic biology, RNA therapeutics, and biotech entrepreneurship. His work has helped push the field beyond the idea of mRNA as a simple protein-expression vehicle and toward mRNA as a programmable therapeutic system — one that can sense cellular context, control expression, and potentially deliver potent medicines with greater precision.
In this episode, we discuss:
* Tasuku’s childhood between the United States and Japan, and how experiencing both cultures shaped his independence, discipline, and approach to science.
* His decision to leave Japan for graduate school at UCLA and later pursue postdoctoral research at MIT, where he helped develop programmable mRNA gene circuits.
* His unconventional transition from academic science into biotech investing, and what working as a public-market biotech analyst taught him about drug development, competition, and evaluating scientific ideas.
* How the rise of the first generation of mRNA companies helped create the right moment to turn technology developed years earlier at MIT into Strand Therapeutics.
* Strand’s programmable RNA platform, its clinical work using self-replicating RNA to express IL-12 in tumors, and the striking responses observed in some heavily pretreated cancer patients.
* The next generation of Strand’s technology: systemically delivered RNA medicines that use molecular sensing to restrict therapeutic protein expression to specific tissues and cell states.
* The potential to use in vivo RNA engineering to create CAR T-like cells directly inside patients, with the goal of making powerful immune-resetting approaches for autoimmune disease more scalable.
* Tasuku’s lessons for young scientists and entrepreneurs: work hard enough to create opportunities, build a combination of experiences that makes you different, and don’t automatically talk yourself out of taking risks.


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Ryan Flynn is pioneering a brand new field of biology. His seminal report of glycosylated RNA (glycoRNA) in 2021 reimagined the way we think about the cell surface and intercell communication. The discovery of glycoRNA revealed that cells intentionally express RNA on their surfaces and these RNAs interact powerfully with the immune system with potential implications in autoimmune disease and cancer immunology. Some of Ryan’s early work in these areas was adopted by Orna Therapeutics which was ultimately acquired by Eli Lilly for $2.4 billion.
Ryan is no stranger to the wonderful world of RNA. He began his scientific career as an undergraduate at MIT in the lab of Nobel Prize laureate Phil Sharp, who won the prize for his work on RNA splicing. Ryan went on to complete an MD and PhD at Stanford in the lab of renowned RNA biologist Howard Chang, the discoverer of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) before receiving post doc training from Carolyn Bertozi known for her Nobel prize winning work on bioorthogonal chemistry. Now, Ryan is spearheading the glycoRNA field as a member of the Boston Children’s Hospital Stem Cell Institute at Harvard.
In this episode:
* Ryan talks about his upbringing and his families background in medicine as well as his path from medical school to academia
* Ryan explains his fascination with RNA as the molecule of life
* Ryan walks us through how he discovered glycoRNA
* Ryan touches on his translational work and his philosophy on the interaction between academia and industry
* Ryan talks about his approach toward challenges in science and in life
This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Tanner Baldwin with help from Fang Xie.


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Chuan He is a world-renowned epigeneticist, a Wolf Prize laureate, and a recent inductee of the National Academy of Sciences. Chuan’s lab at the University of Chicago has spun out numerous companies including Ellis Bio (DNA methylation detection technologies) and Aferna Bio (plant biology). His discovery of the first RNA demethylase introduced a new layer of transcriptional regulation, and his subsequent work resulted in epigenetic based tools for detecting biomarkers of cancer, created super-crops that are more productive and resistant to drought, identified novel therapeutic targets, and enabled countless other discoveries in epitranscriptomics.
In this episode:
* Chuan talks about his experience growing up in China and his dreams of becoming a scientist.
* Chuan describes his pathway to tenure at the University of Chicago and shares advice for those wanting to follow in his footsteps.
* Chuan explains why his discovery of the first RNA demethylase (FTO) was so important, and why the rise of epitranscriptomics has been such an exciting journey.
* Chuan shares some advice for trainees and expounds upon his philosophy towards the separation between academia and industry
This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Tanner Baldwin with help from Fang Xie.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hbcpulse.substack.com

Mark Namchuk is the Executive Director of Therapeutics Translation at Harvard Medical School. Before he joined Harvard, Mark had a 24-year research and development career in the biotech industry, working in a number of areas, including drug discovery, translational science and pharmaceutical development. Mark began his industry career at Cubist Pharmaceuticals as head of the enzymology group. Then Mark spent 17 years at Vertex, holding a number of senior research positions, including senior vice president of North American research and interim global head of research. In 2015, Mark joined Alkermes as senior vice president.
In this episode:
* He talks about how he fell in love with science after being inspired by the Star Trek character Spock and watching science programs on TV with his father.
* He talks about his transition from academia to industry, including the moment he received his first job offer and ultimately describing the exciting energy at Vertex in its early days.
* He comments on the wisdom he’s gained while serving in senior leadership positions at Vertex and other companies and expounds on he belief that “Biotech is an argument between science, management, and business… part of the art is knowing who’s turn it is to win.”
* He talks about his philosophy on the differences between academic science and industry science and how to bridge the two.
* He describes the premise and structure behind the Harvard Medical School Therapeutics Initiative and the Harvard Life Labs.
* He provides actionable advice for PhD graduates and post docs trying to navigate a down job market
Co-hosts: Tanner Baldwin and Fang Xie



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Dr Vicki Sato is a pioneering biotech leader who helped shape the modern biotech industry. She currently serves on the board or in the advisory role for several biotech companies, including Vir Biotechnology, Denali Therapeutics, Allogene Therapeutics, and as a venture partner at ARCH Venture Partners.
Vicki started her career as an academic scientist. She was a professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Harvard. She later made a bold leap into biotech industry, initially joining Biogen and ultimately becoming Chief Scientific Officer and then President of Vertex Pharmaceuticals. At Vertex, she helped drive some of the company’s most transformative scientific bets. After decades leading at the highest levels of biotech, Vicki came back to Harvard to teach courses on drug discovery and the commercialization of science, and to help launch the Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship. Vicki was also a member of the President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology (PCAST) for President Joe Biden.
In this episode,
* She talks about her early life from Chicago public schools, to attending Harvard, later becoming a professor.
* She reflects on the “pull and push” factors that led her to make a bold transition from academia into biotech Industry (early years of Biogen, then Vertex) at a time when such move was far from typical.
* She discusses the limitations of the simplified approach in drug discovery, stressing the need for a more holistic/systemic approach to tackle complex diseases.
* She recalls how she navigated tough times and made tough decisions when she was leading Vertex. She stresses how important a clear and audacious vision is for attracting and retaining talent.
* She suggests young scientists and entrepreneurs focus on identifying and addressing meaningful problems.
* She shares her experience serving on PCAST under President Biden and discusses the importance of having a science policy and the challenges of driving federal policy.
* In the end, she shares her hobbies (ballroom dancing, reading and cooking).

Co-Hosts: Yossef Baidi & Fang Xie
Question planning: Malvika Dua, Fang Xie, Yossef Baidi



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hbcpulse.substack.com