Scientific Co-Founder
Scientific Co-Founder
Scientific Co-Founder
Duojia (DJ) Pan is a Co-founder of Tasca Therapeutics Corp. As a faculty member at UT Southwestern Medical Center (1998-2004 and 2016-present) and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (2004- 2016), his laboratory uses a combination of Drosophila and mouse genetics, biochemistry and cell biology to elucidate molecular mechanisms of tissue growth and homeostasis. He is best known for pioneering discoveries on the Hippo pathway, a central mechanism that regulates tissue growth in animals ranging from insects to humans.Using the fruit fly Drosophila as a model, his laboratory systematically decodedmany key components of the Hippo pathway, including its core kinase cascade, the downstream transcriptional machinery, and multiple upstream regulators.His laboratoryfurther established a conserved role for Hippo signaling in mammalian tissue growth, regeneration and tumorigenesis, and elucidated the molecular mechanism by which the classic tumor suppressor and human disease gene NF2/Merlin controls tissue growth. These discoveries paved the way for ongoing efforts to target the Hippo pathway in cancer and regenerative medicine.
Dr. Pan is currently Bashour Distinguished Chair of Physiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He receivedBachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Peking University, PhD in Biological Chemistryat UCLA and postdoctoral training in Genetics at UC Berkeley. He is a recipient of the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research (2013) and the Passano Award (2022). Prior to Tasca, he has served on the scientific advisory board of Peloton Therapeutics, an oncology drug discovery and development company that was acquired by Merck & Co.
Dr. Cicmil (Milenko) has over 20 years of experience in drug discovery and development, leading multi-disciplinary scientific/project teams, portfolio strategy, and business development. His deep understanding of biology, especially in inflammation/autoimmunity and oncology matched with his drug development experience across small molecules, biologics and peptides enables him to find creative solutions for challenges faced by early-stage biotechnology startups. He spent much of his career in R&D positions of increasing responsibility within companies such as Ipsen, Fog Pharma, Merck & Co., AstraZeneca, and GE Healthcare contributing to development of multiple drugs such as: Brilinta, Symbicort, and Keytruda.
Milenko is Co-founder of Tasca Therapeutics Corp., one of the Cure Ventures portfolio companies where he currently serves as the CEO and Board member. Most recently Milenko was Vice President and Head of Global External Innovation at Ipsen, responsible for developing and leading effort generating a high-value pipeline. Prior to joining Ipsen, Milenko was Vice President, Biology at Fog Pharma, where he was responsible for scientific, strategic, and operational leadership of the Biology Department as well as contributing efforts towards the company’s financing. During his career at Merck & Co., in addition to his R&D role Milenko also served as a Director at Merck’s Innovation Hub where he led search & evaluation efforts for in-licensing/partnership opportunities in Immuno-Oncology, Immunology and Ophthalmology. Milenko’s early R&D career at AstraZeneca spanned a variety of roles including managing teams of scientists and projects within immunology and inflammation therapy areas delivering over 20 clinical development candidate drugs.
Milenko is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at University of Reading, UK where he completed a PhD. in Molecular Pharmacology. Milenko received BSc in Molecular Biology from Kings College, London, UK. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Milenko was a postdoctoral fellow at the Cancer Research UK.
Dr. Xu Wu is co-founder and a Director of Tasca Therapeutics Corp. He has more than 16 years of experiences in biomedical research and drug discovery in both industry and academia. He is currently an Associate Professor at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. His lab pioneered in chemical biology of protein autopalmitoylation and developmental signaling pathways (Hedgehog, Wnt and Hippo pathways), and used novel chemical tools to identify functions of protein lipidation in cell signaling and diseases. He has also rich experiences and expertise in cancer drug discovery, stem cell biology and cell signaling. His lab discovered metabolic and lipid regulators of Hippo signaling, and revealed autopalmitoylation of TEAD protein, opening a new door to "drug the undraggable proteins". Prior to joining the faculty of MGH/HMS, he was a Director of Biological Chemistry at Genomics Institute of Novartis Research Foundation (GNF)/Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR). He supervised multiple preclinical and clinical programs, and was responsible for chemical biology and medicinal chemistry discovery programs with multiple programs advanced into clinicaltrials. He directly discovered and developed FDA-approved Odomzo® (sonidegib).
Dr. Wu completed his PhD. in Chemistry from the Scripps Research Institute, and his B.S. in Chemistry from Peking University, China. He is a recipient of many awards, including American Cancer Society Research Scholar award, and the Sam Fisher Memorial–Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) Established Investigator award.
David E. Fisher, MD, PhD is an internationally known researcher, clinician and academic, who is Chief of the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts (USA). He also serves as Director of the MGH Cutaneous Biology Research Center and Director of the Melanoma Center at MGH. A Professor of Dermatology and of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Fisher came to the MGH from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he previously Directed the Melanoma Program. Dr. Fisher's research has focused on understanding the molecular and genetic events which underlie formation of melanoma as well as skin pigmentation. As a clinician, he has worked to translate these understandings into advances in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of human diseases related to the skin and associated disorders. A graduate of Swarthmore College with a degree in Biology and Chemistry, Dr. Fisher is also an accomplished concert cellist and received a degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He received his PhD under Nobel Laureate Gunter Blobel at Rockefeller University and Dr. Henry Kunkel. After obtaining an MD from Cornell Univ Medical College, Fisher carried out specialty training in Medicine, Pediatrics, and Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He served as President of the Society for Melanoma Research, the largest international society dedicated to the study of melanoma and was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine in 2020. Dr. Fisher is co-founder of Tasca Therapeutics and Soltégo Inc.
