Layoff
Jan 2024Strand reportedly reduced its workforce by approximately 18% to prioritize clinical development plans.
SourceCompany research
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Updated Aug 16, 2026
Overview
Strand Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company founded by MIT biological engineers. It develops programmable mRNA medicines that use engineered RNA circuits and targeted delivery systems to control where, when, and how strongly therapeutic proteins are expressed. Its lead focus is cancer, with expansion into autoimmune disease and in vivo cell therapy.
Primary product
STX-001, an investigational self-replicating mRNA therapy encoding IL-12 for intratumoral treatment of advanced solid tumors. The broader platform includes SignalPath LNPs, SignalLock RNA, SignalScript RNA, and pipeline programs STX-003 and STX-005.
Founded
2017
Headquarters
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Team size
51–200
Work style
Flexible
Industry
Biotechnology
Sub-industry
RNA therapeutics, synthetic biology, genetic medicine, and oncology
Offices
21–27 Burlington Avenue, Boston, MA 02215
20 Overland Street, Suite A, Boston, MA 02215
237 Putnam Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Business model
Proprietary drug development
Platform technology development
Potential biopharma partnerships, licensing, and collaborations
Funding
Stage
Series B
Total raised
$256.7M
Latest round
Series B · Aug 2025
Latest amount
$153M
Aug 2025 · Kinnevik
Nov 2022
Nov 2021 · National Cancer Institute
Jun 2021
Apr 2020
Jun 2019 · Playground Global
People & investors
Leadership
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Tasuku Kitada
Co-Founder, President, and Head of R&D
Chief Medical Officer
Chief Operating Officer
Colleen Wilson
Chief People Officer
Prashant Nambiar
Chief Scientific Officer
Kunal Bhatia
Chief Financial Officer
Joseph Barberio
Vice President, Technical Operations
Ethan Cash
Senior Vice President, Head of Portfolio Management and Program Development
Founders
Darrell Irvine
Reported co-founder / MIT-origin contributor
Ron Weiss
Co-Founder
Work & culture
The company describes its culture as fast-paced, entrepreneurial, interdisciplinary, team-focused, and oriented toward professional development. Its careers materials emphasize a small-team environment, shared goals, and work/life integration.
Work style
Flexible
Visa sponsorship
Limited
Compensation
Public job postings show salary ranges including $74,000–$88,000 annually for one role and $120,000–$142,000 for scientist/process-development roles, generally plus bonus and equity incentives. Public H-1B/PERM records indicate historical sponsorship activity; one FY2025 H-1B filing listed a $70,470 offered salary, while third-party compilations report higher averages across multiple filings. Actual compensation varies by role.
Benefits
Health insurance
Dental insurance
Life insurance
Open or flexible paid time off
401(k)
Commuter support
Onsite lunch catering
Professional development support
Work/life flexibility and integration
Company outings
Paid sick leave and holidays
Product & market
Differentiators
- —Programmable mRNA circuits designed to sense cellular conditions and control therapeutic protein expression
- —Combination of tissue-targeted LNP delivery with intracellular SignalLock RNA logic
- —Self-replicating and circular RNA formats intended to improve potency and durability
- —Platform spans cancer, autoimmune disease, and potential in vivo CAR-T applications
- —Lead clinical program has generated early human response and pharmacodynamic data in treatment-resistant solid tumors
Technology
Programmable mRNA genetic circuits
Synthetic biology
mRNA programming language
SignalPath LNP targeted delivery
SignalLock RNA microRNA-sensing and tissue-selective encryption
SignalScript self-replicating and circular RNA
AI/ML-assisted RNA sequence and circuit design
Computational biology and high-throughput screening
Intratumoral and systemic mRNA delivery
In vivo CAR-T mRNA engineering
GMP mRNA manufacturing
Customers
BeiGene, through a 2020 agreement to develop solid-tumor immuno-oncology therapeutics based on Strand’s mRNA technology
Competitors
Moderna
Arcturus Therapeutics
Capstan Therapeutics
Generation Bio
select precision RNA and programmable-cell-therapy companies
Scale & contact
Estimated revenue
$1M–$10M annually; one third-party estimate is approximately $2.3M
Estimated monthly visits
7.2K
Traffic estimate as of Jun 2026
Signals & risks
Other
May 2025The company remains clinical-stage and its lead products are investigational; reported Phase 1 results are preliminary and do not establish approval or commercial revenue.
SourceLatest news
Business Wire · Nov 2025
Prashant Nambiar was promoted to Chief Scientific Officer and Ethan Cash was appointed SVP and Head of Portfolio Management and Program Development as Strand expanded its scientific and development leadership.
Business Wire · Aug 2025
Jason J. Luke joined as Chief Medical Officer to lead clinical development, pipeline advancement, and medical affairs, with an immediate focus on STX-001.
Business Wire · Aug 2025
Strand raised $153 million in a Kinnevik-led Series B, bringing publicly reported cumulative funding to more than $250 million. New investors included Regeneron Ventures, ICONIQ, Amgen Ventures, Alderline Group, JIC-VGI, LG Technology Ventures, and Gradiant.
Business Wire · May 2025
The company reported preliminary Phase 1 data from 22 patients with advanced solid tumors, including a confirmed complete response, multiple partial responses, prolonged disease stabilization, dose-dependent pharmacodynamic activity, and tolerability up to 300 micrograms.
Business Wire · Apr 2025
Strand announced preclinical data supporting STX-003, a systemically administered programmable mRNA therapy designed to express IL-12 in tumor tissue while limiting off-target expression.
Jobs and careers at Strand Therapeutics
3 jobs at Strand Therapeutics
Senior Associate Scientist, Cellular Analytical Development
On-site
Technical Operations
Boston, Massachusetts; Overland
5d ago
On-site
Full-time
Senior Vice President of Regulatory Sciences
On-site
Regulatory Sciences
Boston, Massachusetts; Overland
1mo ago
On-site
Full-time
Scientist / Senior Scientist, Process Sciences and Innovation
On-site
Technical Operations
Boston, Massachusetts; Overland
2mo ago
On-site
Full-time