Samuel Hasson

Since 2013, Sam has worked across multiple drug discovery modalities in biotech and pharma settings. Heading up labs focused on early-stage drug discovery and target validation, his work has focused on emerging therapeutic opportunities in the CNS. Throughout his graduate and postdoc training, Sam has incorporated assay development, automation, genome editing, high-throughput screening, and functional genomics into his biochemistry and molecular biology explorations.

Joining Pfizer Neuroscience after a Parkinson's disease-centric NIH postdoc in Richard Youle's and Jim Inglese's labs, Sam pursued human genetics-driven neuroimmune targets for Alzheimer's disease. With the prospect of small molecule-mediated pre-mRNA splicing modulation, his lab pioneered approaches to target CD33 in the brain. After moving to Amgen, he continued to drive discovery programs in the neuroimmune space, particularly in large and small molecule approaches to stimulate microglial TREM2 receptors in the brain. Wanting to explore gene therapy, Sam spearheaded efforts at Voyager Neuroscience to develop treatments for brain cancers using engineered AAV vectors to produce vectorized antibodies behind the blood-brain barrier.  Sam is now driving Rgenta's RSwitch platform for gene therapy transgene regulation in addition to the company's early discovery efforts. Throughout his industry career, Sam has pursued novel methods to engage challenging and "undruggable" targets for therapeutics.