Leadership
Igor Khandros, Ph.D.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
Igor Khandros co-founded Nutcracker Therapeutics, Inc. and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. In founding Nutcracker Therapeutics, Igor is driven by his belief that high technology engineering, coupled with winning biochemistry, will make RNA immuno-therapies a critical component in emerging standard of care for a wide variety of human diseases. Prior to Nutcracker, Igor was the founding CEO of Berkeley Lights, Inc. and presently serves on its Board of Directors. Prior to Berkeley Lights, Igor founded two publicly traded companies: FormFactor, Inc, where he was the founding CEO and later Executive Chairman and Tessera Technologies, Inc, where he served in the role of Vice President of Development. Earlier in his career, Igor served as Manager at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY. Igor holds over 200 US patents.
Benjamin Eldridge
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer
Ben Eldridge co-founded Nutcracker Therapeutics, Inc. and serves as its Chief Technology Officer. As Nutcracker’s systems architect, Ben leads the development of a device-based platform for large scale synthesis of nucleic acids. Prior to Nutcracker, Ben served in executive management roles at FormFactor, Inc., most recently as Chief Information Officer, previously as Chief Technology Officer. Prior to joining FormFactor, Ben held engineering positions at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY. Ben was awarded a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Union College and an M.S. in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Ben holds over 200 US patents covering inventions in Electrical, Mechanical and Micro Systems Engineering.
Angela Peters
Chief Human Resources Officer
As chief human resources officer, Angela oversees employee engagement, workplace culture
along with the growing need for meaningful retention and recruitment.
Prior to Nutcracker, she was chief human resources officer for Standard BioTools (formerly
Fluidigm). During her 5+ year tenure at the company, Angela led major initiatives that included
the global, digital transformation of HR services and functions, as well as significant cultural
programs reinforcing organizational values related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Earlier in
her career, Angela held senior HR roles at such companies as Pfizer (previously Medivation),
Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Life Technologies.
Angela holds a bachelor’s in marketing and management from Notre Dame de Namur
University, and completed a continuing education certificate program at the University of
California Berkeley Extension for the development of chief HR officers. Her volunteer work has
included service as an advisor to Art in Action, a national Bay Area-based nonprofit dedicated to
empowering children through visual arts education.
Samuel Deutsch, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer
Sam Deutsch is Chief Scientific Officer at Nutcracker Therapeutics, leading biological research and development. Sam orchestrates the advancements of Nutcracker’s therapeutics pipeline through close interactions between internal R&D, scientific advisors and clinical collaborators. Prior to Nutcracker, Sam led the DNA synthesis platform at the Joint Genome Institute part of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Sam’s experience also includes research in molecular hematology at the Geneva University Hospital, and cancer genomics at the World Health Organization.
Sam was awarded a B.Sc. in Genetics from University of Nottingham and received his Ph.D. from the University of Geneva. Sam is the author of over 75 peer reviewed papers.
Ian Wiener, J.D.
Executive Vice President, General Counsel
As Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Ian Wiener leads Nutcracker’s legal function and advises the board and management on legal, business and policy matters. Prior to joining Nutcracker, Ian was a partner at the law firm of Irell & Manella LLP, representing corporate, private equity and other clients in a wide variety of business law matters and complex business transactions. Ian was awarded a B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
Chuck Sholtz, J.D., Ph.D.
VICE PRESIDENT, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Chuck joins Nutcracker Therapeutics with nearly 30 years of IP experience representing clients in both law firm and corporate settings. Prior to Nutcracker, Chuck was a Director at Genentech, leading a team of IP agents/attorneys supporting Genentech’s manufacturing organization. Before Genentech, Chuck served as Vice President, Intellectual Property at Coherus Biosciences, a biosimilars company. Chuck also spent 8 years as an IP attorney at Amgen in a number of roles, including Neuroscience Therapeutic Area IP Team Lead. Chuck earned B.S. and B.S.E. degrees from the University of Michigan, an M.A. degree from Yale University, a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Stanford University, and a J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law.
Medical Advisory Board
Peter Carroll, M.D., MPH
Chair, Medical Advisory Board
Dr. Peter Carroll is Professor and former Chair of Urology at UCSF, consistently ranked as one of the top urology Departments in the country by U.S. News and World Report and the NIH. He is a member of the UCSF – Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Carroll received his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and MD degree from Georgetown University, followed by his general surgery training and urology residency at UCSF. He completed a fellowship in urologic oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center before joining the faculty of the UCSF Department of Urology. Dr. Carroll holds The Ken and Donna Derr-Chevron and Taube Family Distinguished Professorships and added an MPH from UC Berkeley to his academic credentials in 2008.
Lawrence Fong, M.D.
Medical Advisor
Medical Advisor, Dr. Lawrence Fong is Professor of Medicine and Leader of the Cancer Immunotherapy Program at the UCSF Medical Center where he pursues interests in tumor immunology and developing immune-based treatments of cancer. Dr. Fong was awarded his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and his medical degree from Stanford University. After completing an oncology fellowship at Stanford, he joined their medical staff in 1999. He later joined the UCSF Medical Center in 2001. Currently, he is Co-Leader, Cancer Immunity Program in the UCSF Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and holds The Efim Guzik Distinguished Professorship in Cancer Biology.
W. Martin Kast, Ph.D.
Medical Advisor
W. Martin Kast, PhD, is a Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Urology and Otolaryngology at the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (NCCC) of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA. He holds the Walter A. Richter Cancer Research Chair and is the co-director of the NCCC Tumor Micro-environment program, the Director of the USC Medical Biology and Infectious Diseases, Immunology & Pathogenesis PhD Graduate Programs, the Director of the Beckman Center for Immune Monitoring, the Director of the K-12 Cancer Education Program for underrepresented minorities and the Associate Dean of Academic Integrity.
A native of the Netherlands, he earned his BS, MS, and PhD summa cum laude, from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He has and is serving on multiple Study Sections including the National Institute of Health and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. His research involves the design of therapeutic cancer vaccines directed against human papilloma virus (HPV) and prostate cancer. Several of his therapeutic HPV vaccines have or are currently been tried out in clinical trials. He studies how HPV enters cells and also studies the interaction of HPV with the human immune system to find out how HPV escapes immune detection and how to reverse that. He has published over 280 articles that have been quoted almost 25,000 times and lead to a publication h-index of 83. He is also the inventor on 18 patents. His research is supported by NIH grants. He is an associate editor for the Journal of Translational Medicine, Cancers, and Papillomavirus research. He also served as the secretary/treasurer of the International Papillomavirus Society from 2012-2019 and serves on the advisory board of 6 biotechnology companies. In his free time he is a Scoutmaster and an actor.
Scientific Advisory Board
Adam Arkin, Ph.D.
Chair, Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Adam Arkin is Dean A. Richard Newton Memorial Professor, Bioengineering, UC Berkeley, Senior Faculty Scientist, Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Director, Berkeley Synthetic Biology Institute. CEO/CSO DOE Systems Biology Knowledgebase. PI and Co-Director, ENIGMA SFA. Dr. Arkin was awarded his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Carleton College and his Ph.D in Physical Chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Phil Baran, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Phil Baran is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute and Member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology. He received his BS in chemistry in 1997 (NYU), his PhD at The Scripps Research Institute in 2001, and from 2001-2003 he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard.
Dr. Baran has published over 220 scientific articles, several patents, and has been the recipient of several ACS awards such as the Corey (2015), Pure Chemistry (2010), Fresenius (2006), and Nobel Laureate Signature (2003), and several international distinctions such as the Hirata Gold Medal and Mukaiyama Prize (Japan), the RSC award in Synthesis (UK), the Sackler Prize (Israel), and the Janssen Prize (Belgium). In 2013 he was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, in 2015 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 2016 he was awarded the Blavatnik National Award, and in 2017, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, USA.
CMC Advisory Board
Marc Better, Ph.D.
CMC Advisor
Dr. Better is a biotechnology professional with more than 25 years’ experience in cell therapy and biologics CMC. He is currently a principal consultant at Pharmefex Biopharma Consulting. Prior to Pharmefex, Dr. Better was Senior Vice President, Product Sciences at Kite, a Gilead Company, where he led process and analytical development, process characterization and process validation activities leading to the successful US licensure of Yescarta®, a first in class anti-CD19 CAR T cell therapy. Prior to Kite, Dr. Better held leadership roles in biologics process development and manufacturing at Boehringer Ingelheim, Amgen/Abgenix, and Xoma.
Board of Directors
Igor Khandros, Ph.D.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
Igor Khandros co-founded Nutcracker Therapeutics, Inc. and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. In founding Nutcracker Therapeutics, Igor is driven by his belief that high technology engineering, coupled with winning biochemistry, will make RNA immuno-therapies a critical component in emerging standard of care for a wide variety of human diseases. Prior to Nutcracker, Igor was the founding CEO of Berkeley Lights, Inc. and presently serves on its Board of Directors. Prior to Berkeley Lights, Igor founded two publicly traded companies: FormFactor, Inc, where he was the founding CEO and later Executive Chairman and Tessera Technologies, Inc, where he served in the role of Vice President of Development. Earlier in his career, Igor served as Manager at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY. Igor holds over 200 US patents.
Robert Nelsen
Director
Robert Nelsen is a Director of ARCH Venture Partners. He joined ARCH at its founding and played a significant role in the early sourcing, financing and development of more than 100 companies, including nineteen which have reached valuations exceeding $1 billion. His seed and early-stage investments include Illumina (ILMN); Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY); Juno Therapeutics (JUNO); Unity Biotechnology (UBX); Vir Biotechnology, Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO); Sage Therapeutics (SAGE); GRAIL, Ikaria; Kythera Biopharmaceuticals (KYTH); Receptos (RCPT); Aviron (AVIR); Denali Therapeutics (DNLI); Rubius Therapeutics; KSQ Therapeutics; Beam Therapeutics; NetBot; Bluebird Bio (BLUE); R2 Technology; XenoPort (XNPT); Caliper Life Sciences (CALP); Trubion Pharmaceuticals (TRBN); Adolor (ADLR); deCODE Genetics; Array BioPharma (ARRY); Editas (EDIT), IDUN Pharmaceuticals; Classmates.com; Hua Medicine; Fate Therapeutics (FATE); WuxiNextCODE; and Everyday Learning Corporation.
Mr. Nelsen is a director of Vir Bio, GRAIL, Beam Therapeutics, Unity Biotechnology, Denali Therapeutics, Arivale and serves as Chairman of Hua Medicine, among others. He previously served as a Trustee of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, the Institute for Systems Biology, and was a director of the National Venture Capital Association. Mr. Nelsen holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.S. from the University of Puget Sound with majors in Economics and Biology.
Michael F. Bigham
Director
Michael F. Bigham joined Nutcracker Therapeutics board of directors in December 2021.
Mr. Bigham has more than 25 years of senior leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. From January 2003 to November 2015, he was a general partner at Abingworth LLP, a leading international investment group dedicated to life sciences and healthcare. From November 2015 to December 2018, he served as part-time Executive Partner at Abingworth LLP. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Frazier Life Sciences Acquisition Corporation as well as Executive Chairman of the board of directors at Paratek Pharmaceuticals.
Mr. Bigham has previously served on the boards of Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc., AvilaTherapeutics (where he was also the founding Chairman and Chief Executive Officer), Inmediata, Magellan Biosciences, Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Avedro and Valeritas.
He was formerly Vice Chairman of Corixa Corporation, a publicly traded biotechnology company, and was President and Chief Executive of Coulter Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded oncology company, until it merged into Corixa Corporation. Previously, he was an early employee at Gilead Sciences where he served in various capacities, including Executive Vice President of Operations and Chief Financial Officer. Before joining Gilead Sciences, Mr. Bigham was a Partner at Hambrecht & Quist where he became Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking.
Mr. Bigham received his B.S. from the University of Virginia and qualified as a C.P.A. before completing his M.B.A. at Stanford University.
Dr. Tom Dietz
Director
Dr. Tom Dietz joined Nutcracker’s board of directors in February 2023, bringing nearly 30 years of investment banking and pharmaceutical industry experience. He currently serves as the Chairman and CEO of Waypoint Holdings, a financial holdings and services firm. Additionally, Dr. Dietz is chairman of the board for Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, and is a board member of Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Leap Therapeutics, and several other private biotechnology companies.
Beginning his career at the University of California, San Francisco’s Department of Medicine as a research faculty member, Dr. Dietz transitioned into investment banking with Pacific
Growth Equities, serving in various roles before becoming co-CEO. After Pacific Growth was later acquired by Wedbush Securities, he assumed the head role of the latter’s investment banking division.
Previously, Dr. Dietz was a member of the research faculty in the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, and the VA Medical Center. Dr. Dietz earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Washington University in St. Louis and was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow.
Cindy Collins
Director
Cynthia Collins joined the Nutcracker board of directors in April 2023.
Ms. Collins has more than four decades of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Most recently she was the CEO of Editas Medicine from 2019 to 2021, where the first clinical trial administration of an in vivo CRISPR gene editing therapy took place under her leadership.
Her previous executive roles in biopharma include CEO of Human Longevity; CEO/general manager of various life science businesses at GE Healthcare; president and CEO of GenVec; group vice president at Beckman Coulter; CEO and president of Sequoia Pharmaceuticals; and president of Global Oncology at Baxter Healthcare.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Collins served as President of Clinical Micro Sensors, Inc., then a subsidiary of Motorola. She began her career in various operating roles with Abbott Laboratories.
She is a board member of Poseida Therapeutics (PSTX), Certara (CERT), DermTech (DMTK), Panavance Therapeutics, Draper Laboratories and Triumvira Immunologics.
Ms. Collins received her B.S. degree in microbiology from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and earned an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.