Burkin
Dr. Dean J. Burkin, Founder and CEO is a world expert on the role integrins and laminin play in muscle disease. Dr. Burkin was the first to show the alpha7beta1 integrin can serve as a surrogate for the loss of dystrophin in DMD. Dr. Burkin led pioneering studies to show laminin-111 protein can substitute for the loss of merosin in Laminin-α2 congenital muscular dystrophy . Dr. Burkin has identified protein and small molecule therapeutics which have been patented for the treatment of muscular dystrophy.

Dean received his B.Sc. (1st class Hons) in Developmental Biology and Genetics from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Genetics from the University of Colorado, USA. Dr. Burkin completed postdoctoral training in Genetics, Cell and Molecular Biology at Cambridge University, England and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.


Wuebbles
Dr. Ryan D. Wuebbles, Co-Founder and CSO is responsible for overseeing the Research and Development (R&D) at Strykagen. He has been an integral part of developing Strykagen’s core technologies and is co-inventor on the patented technologies licensed by Strykagen. He has research experience across a broad range of topics including biochemistry, drug development, molecular biology, genetic analysis, DNA engineering, and animal model development.

Ryan received his B.Sc. in Chemistry and later a Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His thesis research focused mainly on developmental muscle biology and its relation to FacioScapuloHumeral Dystrophy (FSHD).

Maine
David A. Maine, Co-Founder and CFO oversees the business operations of Strykagen’s suite of therapeutic products for the treatment of the muscular dystrophies. With more than 15 years of managerial experience, Mr. Maine is involved in the commercialization of Strykagen’s technologies. Mr. Maine has experience with Federal grants contracts, governmental accounting practices, community relations, economic development, market research, business planning, and policy analysis.

David received his BS in Environmental Resource Economics at the University of Nevada, Reno and will graduate with his MA in Economics from the College of Business in 2015. Mr. Maine is involved in the commercialization of technologies developed by researchers at UNR.