Paola Marcato, PhD
Marie-Claire Wasson, PhD
Marie-Claire Wasson, PhD
CEO & Co-Founder
Paola brings over 25 years of experience as a cancer biologist and academic leader with expertise in molecular biology, tumor progression, cancer immunology, translational oncology, and breast cancer research. She brings deep scientific insight into cancer biology and therapeutic development at Oncolinc Therapeutics.
Marie-Claire Wasson, PhD
Marie-Claire Wasson, PhD
Marie-Claire Wasson, PhD
Co-President & Co-Founder
Marie-Claire is a cancer biologist and computational scientist specializing in long non-coding RNAs and bioinformatics-driven target discovery. At Oncolinc Therapeutics, she leads strategy and commercialization efforts.
Jaganthan Venkatesh, PhD
Marie-Claire Wasson, PhD
Jaganthan Venkatesh, PhD
Co-President & Founder
Jaganathan is a biotechnology and translational scientist focused on advancing early-stage therapeutic innovations toward clinical and commercial development. He leads the preclinical studies.
Our Story
The founding team first came together in the Marcato Lab at Dalhousie University in January 2021. Under the mentorship of Dr. Marcato, then-postdoctoral fellow Dr. Venkatesh and then-PhD student Dr. Wasson began investigating whether long non-coding RNAs could play a role in enabling cancer cells to evade the immune system. Dr. Wasson applied bioinformatic analysis to large patient tumour databases, narrowing a field of over 12,000 candidate lncRNAs to a shortlist of the most promising targets. Dr. Venkatesh then applied molecular biology to test each candidate in the laboratory, assessing their functional roles. After years of research, the team identified LINC01929, a previously uncharacterized lncRNA that gives cancer cells a critical advantage: the ability to hide from T cells.
With an oligonucleotide drug designed, a US patent application filed, and a peer-reviewed publication, the team founded Oncolinc Therapeutics to bring this discovery to patients.
Our Partners
