Discover the right treatment

Dextera Biosciences is pioneering a new class of therapeutics—Synthetic D-Proteins—built entirely from D-amino acids to overcome the key limitations of existing drug modalities.

Unlike traditional biologics, D-Proteins are completely resistant to degradation by the body's natural L-enzymes, yet retain antibody-like specificity at just 1/20th the size. This stable, compact format enables unmatched target engagement and deep tissue penetration, unlocking superior efficacy, safety, durability, and dosing over other therapeutic modalities. When conjugated to therapeutic payloads (e.g., steroids, toxins), D-Proteins act as the first true "magic bullet" delivering payloads with high precision to target cells and sparing healthy tissue.

We are focusing on debilitating diseases where significant unmet need remains due to the limitations of current drugs.


HOW IT WORKS

The following video demonstrates the unique distribution advantages of D-Proteins compared to antibodies and small L-modalities.

Play Video

Data credit: Sophie Hernot and her laboratory team at Vrije Universiteit of Brussels.

Pipeline

 
Target Indication(s) Route
Hit Discovery Lead Optimization IND Enabling Phase 1a,b
Payload Conjugates
HER2-DC Solid Tumors
Nectin-4-DC Solid Tumors
BCMA-DC Liquid Tumors

sTNF-DC

IBD, RA, others
Multi-specifics
PD-1 x VEGF Solid Tumors
IMID multi-specifics Multiple
DC: Drug Conjugate IMID: Immune-mediated Inflammatory Diseases

Our people

Gregory Went, PhD

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
Go to perfil

Kyle Landgraf, PhD

Senior Director of Discovery Research
Go to perfil

Andreea Stuparu, PhD

Associate Director of Pharmacology
Go to perfil

Julia Williams, CPA, ACMA

Senior Director of Finance
Go to perfil

Severin Sigg, PhD

Director of Discovery Chemistry
Go to perfil

April Ruby

VP of Project Management
Go to perfil

board of DIRECTORS

Gregory Went, PhD

Chairman
CuraGen (Co-founder), Adamas (Co-founder)

Richard Van Den Broek

Founding Board Member
HSMR Advisors, Hambrecht & Quist

Richard Murdock

Board Member, Investor
Teneobio, CellPro, Sangstat Medical, OMT, Kyphon

Risa Stack, PhD

Board Member, Investor
BEVC, TPB, Kleiner Perkins, GE Ventures, Menlo Microsystems (Co-founder), Veracyte (Co-founder), PinkDx

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

Dev Sidhu, PhD / Scientific Advisory Board Chair, Co-founder

Protein Engineering
University of Toronto, Genentech

P.J. Utz, MD

Immunology, and Rheumatology Stanford University

Phil Dawson, PhD

Synthetic Peptides
Scripps Institute

Robert Alpern, MD

Nephrology
Yale University, AbbVie (Board of Directors)

David Chernoff, MD/ Medical Advisory Board Chair

Rheumatology
Chiron, Elan, TPG Biotech Ventures, Myriad, Adamas, Setpoint

Hilary Sheevers,
PhD

Nephrology, Toxicology
FDA, Aclairo (Founder), Janssen

Iain McInnes, MD, PhD

Immunology
University of Glasgow

Joel Bader, PhD

AI/ML Modelling, Synthetic Biology
Johns Hopkins

Ed Liu, MD

Oncology, Genomics Jackson Labs

Copyright © 2025. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Gregory Went, PhD

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Dr. Gregory Went currently serves as the CEO and Chairman of Dextera Biosciences. He joined in 2020, first as an investor, then stepped into his current role to drive the development of our platform and programs forward. Prior to Dextera, Greg co-founded Adamas Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ADMS), serving as its CEO and Chairman from 2004 to 2019, where the company discovered, developed and launched three commercial products: Namenda XR and Namzaric (with Allergan) and GOCOVRI. Prior to that, he co-founded CuraGen Corporation (NASDAQ: CRGN), one of the first genomics companies, where he co-led the development of CuraGen’s genomics platform and led the corporate partnering efforts.

Greg completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He has published broadly in the fields of surface science, spectroscopy, DNA analysis, genomics, bioinformatics, infectious disease, neuroscience and neurology, and is an inventor on more than 70 issued patents and pending applications.

Kyle Landgraf, PhD

Senior Director of Discovery Research

Dr. Kyle Landgraf is the Senior Director of Discovery Research with the goal of driving innovation across our Synthetic D-Protein discovery platform and delivering early therapeutic candidates.

Prior to Dextera, Kyle built therapeutic discovery platforms for multiple companies. As a co-founder of Xyphos Biosciences, he developed an antibody-based approach for controlling CAR-T cells, leading to the acquisition of Xyphos by Astellas in 2019. Previously, Kyle trained as a postdoctoral fellow at Genentech where he worked on advanced protein engineering strategies across both peptide and antibody-like drug scaffolds. His work has resulted in multiple patents and peer-reviewed publications. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Andreea Stuparu, PhD

Associate Director of Pharmacology

Dr. Andreea Stuparu is the Associate Director of Pharmacology. Andreea leads Dextera’s nonclinical activities, including in vitro and in vivo pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and nonclinical toxicology studies. Her work bridges discovery through early development.

Andreea has worked across a broad set of modalities, such as antibody-drug conjugates, bispecifics, and radiopharmaceuticals. In her last role, she led preclinical studies at Atreca. Her post-doctoral work at UCLA focused on the development and preclinical characterization of peptide-radionuclide conjugates, including Lutathera and Pluvicto.

Andreea completed her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Chicago and her B.S. in Chemistry at California Institute of Technology.

 

Julia Williams, CPA, ACMA

Senior Director of Finance

Julia Williams joined in 2021 and is the Senior Director of Finance for Dextera Biosciences, where she is responsible for financial strategy and operations.

Julia’s experience spans a range of financial operations and strategy roles across the life science and technology industries. Prior to joining Dextera, Julia was a finance and accounting consultant for startups in the Bay Area with Murdock Martell. She also has past experience in financial planning & analysis at Applied Biosystems.

Julia is a Certified Public Accountant in California and a Chartered Management Accountant. She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from Sheffield Hallam University in England where she originally hails from.

Severin Sigg, PhD

Director of Discovery Chemistry

Dr. Severin Sigg is the Director of Discovery Chemistry at Dextera Biosciences. Severin leads chemistry of synthetic D-Proteins from early discovery to clinical development.

Severin is a cross-functional leader with over 10 years of chemistry experience in industry. In his last role, Severin was Director of Development and Manufacturing at Bachem in Switzerland and the US. His work focused on peptide process chemistry, managing process development and scale-up of peptide-based therapeutics from preclinical stages to commercial supply, including CMC development.

Severin trained as postdoctoral fellow at the University of California Berkeley’s Bioengineering Department and completed his PhD in chemistry from the University of Basel Switzerland.

April Ruby

VP of Project Management

April Ruby is the VP of Project Management at Dextera.
 
April has 30 years of development operations experience across multiple therapeutic areas and all phases of clinical trials. Prior to Dextera, April was VP of Clinical Operations at Adamas Pharmaceuticals, where she led the planning and execution of clinical studies for multiple products in CNS indications. April has also served as Director of Clinical Operations at Verinata until its acquisition by Ilumina and held the same position at OneWorld Health. April’s additional experiences include roles at Cerexa, Interactive Clinical Technologies (now Almac), and Gilead Sciences. She has been directly involved (Phase 1 through launch) with three successful NDAs (Gocovri®, Tamiflu® and Vistide®) and one clinically validated NIPT (Verify®). April has a B.A. in Journalism from Temple University.

Other name

Corporate Strategy

Michael Bruce is CEO of Ohalo Genetics, a technology business providing transformational genomic solutions for the agriculture industry. Ohalo develops and markets breakthrough crop varieties that are designed to improve yield, quality, flavor, and resistance to pests and diseases, and respond to a changing world in a timely manner.

Before becoming Ohalo’s first CEO in June 2023, Bruce served as President and CEO of Exo Therapeutics, a small molecule drug discovery and development company, where he raised more than $100 million in new investments. Before that, Bruce served on the senior leadership team of Kaleido Biosciences, where he led and managed clinical operations, and was a member of the IPO deal roadshow team.