Talus Bio announces new Head of Biology to advance transcription factor therapeutics

Talus Bioscience Announces New Head of Biology to Expand its Pipeline of Transcription Factor Therapeutics

SEATTLE, WA – Talus Bioscience, a drug discovery company founded by a world class team of scientific leaders in proteomics, biochemistry, and machine learning, today announced its new head of biology, Gaelle Mercenne, PhD. Her expertise at the intersection of artificial intelligence and biology will guide lead optimization for Talus Bio’s pipeline of transcription factor therapeutics.

“We’re welcoming a true pioneer from the forefront of AI-accelerated drug discovery. Dr. Mercenne constantly pushes the boundaries of technology to drive true innovation in drug discovery, especially for cancers with significant unmet need. She is the ideal person to leverage the unique platform we’ve built and the massive database that powers our AI engine,” said Alex Federation, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Talus Bio. “Bringing Gaelle aboard allows us to accelerate new molecules from hits identified by the MARMOT platform to fully optimized, first-in-class drugs to address diseases driven by transcription factor dysregulation.”

Mercenne will oversee preclinical development at Talus Bio, leveraging the MARMOT platform to identify novel targets and optimize transcription factor modulators. She will also spearhead pre-market studies analyzing the scientific, clinical and commercial viability of targets arising from discovery efforts across cancer, inflammatory, cardiometabolic, and rare diseases. 

Talus Bio is deploying funds from its recent $11.2M seed extension financing to grow the company’s team of scientists focused on novel target validation and drug discovery.

“Talus Bio has built a dream team to fill a massive gap in drug discovery. I’m exceptionally excited to join in and accelerate therapeutic discovery for transcription factors implicated in the largest indications in oncology, and also in many rare and pediatric cancers like neuroblastoma,” said new head of biology Gaelle Mercenne, PhD. “I am honored to join the team and advance my commitment to fill the critical need for new, durable treatments for intractable cancers.”

Prior to joining Talus Bio, Mercenne served as associate director of research innovation at Sumitomo Pharma America. She also serves as chairperson of the board for the Salt Lake City chapter of CureSearch, a nonprofit research organization addressing the urgent, critical need for new childhood cancer treatments. Prior to her time at Sumitomo, Mercenne was a pivotal early hire at Recursion Pharmaceuticals ($RXRX) following its spin-out from the University of Utah.

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About Talus Bioscience

Founded in 2020 by Alex Federation, PhD, and Lindsay Pino, PhD, Talus Bio is a drug discovery and development company focused on therapeutics that target previously undruggable transcription factors. The Seattle-based company’s proprietary therapeutics discovery platform, MARMOT (Multiplexed Assays for the Rational Modulation Of Transcription Factors), integrates AI, next-gen proteomics, synthetic chemistry, and computational biology to engineer and interrogate drugs, proteins, and genomics at unprecedented scale. Talus Bio employs a growing team of more than a dozen world-leading experts in proteomics, biochemistry, computational biology, and machine learning.