Strand Therapeutics
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The First Autonomous Medicines

Our Mission

Strand is the world’s first programming language for mRNA therapeutics enabling the precise control of therapeutic proteins’ location, timing, intensity, and duration within the patient’s body — resulting in a better safety profile.

This technology enables cell-type-specific expression of proteins by sensing and classifying the unique microRNA expression of signature cells. While traditional mRNA therapies deliver protein instructions to cells, they lack precision, leading to potential side effects and limited control over treatment outcomes.

What Strand is building will be able to be used for delivering drugs into difficult-to-treat conditions not easily addressed today.

The Founders

Jake Becraft, CEO, and Tasuku Kitada, President, crossed paths at MIT’s Synthetic Biology Center. Tasuku, a postdoctoral researcher at the time, became the first scientist to create synthetic gene circuits using synthetic mRNA.

Meanwhile, Jake was looking to fix the fundamental limitations with therapeutic gene transfer therapies through synthetic biology. Jake holds patents crossing numerous spaces in the gene therapy space and has been recognized by numerous awards including the Goldwater Scholarship, a Viterbi Fellowship, and an Amgen Fellowship.