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About Tinker Therapeutics
Pioneering Multi-Targeting RNA Medicines
Tinker was founded in 2024 by Claes Wahlestedt, Ph.D. (h-factor over 110), Jack Stahl, Ph.D., and Arthur Polk based on the research at the Wahlestedt Lab and Center for Therapeutic Innovation at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. Wahlestedt/Scripps gene up-regulation spinout, CuRNA,, was acquired by OPKO in 2011. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed scientific publications, notably pioneering antisense oligonucleotide delivery to the living (rodent) brain, the use of locked nucleic acids (LNA) and other oligo chemistries, and strategies to up-regulate gene expression. Tinker's co-founders were recognized as winners of the 2024 Eli Lilly and Company Genetic Medicine Grand Challenge for novel therapeutic strategy to treat brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and Dravet syndrome.
Timeline
A Scientific Roadmap Built On Decades of Expertise
Tinker Milestones
Select Industry Milestones
January 1993
Intracerebroventricular (ICV) (Wahlestedt et al., Science 1993; Nature 1993)
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March 1992
First antisense drug (ISIS 2105) enters human trials
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January 1994
Intrathecal (IT) (Standifer et al., Neuron 1994)
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May 2000
ASO (Wahlestedt et al., PNAS 2000)
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May 2002
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals founded to pioneer RNAi drugs
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January 2005
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CNS siRNA (Elmen et al., NAR 2005)
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AntagoNAT oligonucleotides (Katayama et al., Science, 2005
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February 2004
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals issued the Fundamental Tuschl II family – Fire & Mello dsRNA RNAi patents
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January 2006
​​AntagoNAT oligonucleotidesAntagoNAT therapeutic potential (Wahlestedt, Drug Discovery Today 2006)
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January 2007
Ribo Life Sciences founded in China by Dr. Zicai Liang (an alum of Dr. Wahlestedt lab)
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February 2011 / January 2013
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Wahlestedt/Scripps gene up-regulation spinout, CuRNA,, was acquired by Opko.
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AntagoNATs reviewed (Wahlestedt, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 2013)
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October / November 2006
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Craig Mello and Andrew Fire won the 2006 Nobel Prize for their discovery of RNAi.
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Merck acquires Sirna Therapeutics for $1.1B
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July 2007
​​Roche and Alnylam ink major RNAi licensing deal ($331M upfront)
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January 2012
Alnylam issued the (Manoharan / Gemini) GalNac patents and files dual-target (disulfide linker) patents
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May 2016
AntagoNAT upregulates SCN1A in Dravet (Hsiao, Khorkova, Wahlestedt, Natural antisense transcripts. Hum Mol Genet.)
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May 2016
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AntagoNAT upregulates SCN1A in Dravet (Hsiao, Khorkova, Wahlestedt, Natural antisense transcripts. Hum Mol Genet.)
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CuRNA/Wahlestedt noncoding RNA portfolio was taken over by Camp4 Inc.
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December 2016
FDA approves Spinraza (nusinersen) for SMA
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August 2017 and August / October 2018
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FDA approves Onpattro (patisiran) (first RNAi Tx)
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FDA approves Tegsedi (inotersen)
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Translate Bio - Subramanian and Krieg Patent Family
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January / November 2021
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Atalanta Therapeutics founded with Biogen and Genentech
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Novo Nordisk acquires Dicerna for $3.3B
FDA approves Leqvio (inclisiran)
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January 2023
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Amplifying gene expression with RNA (Stahl J, et al. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2023)
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AntagoNAT oligonucleotides (Khorkova et al., Nature Rev. Drug Discovery 2023)
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January 2023
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Atalanta first-in-human clinical trial demonstrating durable gene knockdown in the CNS via IT
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April / December 2023
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FDA approves Qalsody (tofersen) for SOD1 ALS
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FDA approves Wainua (eplontersen)
Alnylam ALN‑APP IV phase 1 POC data demonstrates efficacy in human brain
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October 2024
Tinker Therapeutics launches winning Eli Lilly Genetic Medicine Competition based on Dr. Stahl dissertation work
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June / July 2025
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Tinker files fundamental FORGE method and structure IP
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IC approval from the ADDF for $1.56M of funding for TNK-001
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January / May 2024
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​​FDA approves Tryngolza (olezarsen)
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Atalanta first-in-human clinical trial demonstrating durable gene knockdown in the CNS via IT
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October / December 2024
City Therapeutics launches with $135M
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Our Team
Leaders in Oligonucleotide Therapeutic Development
Claes Wahlestedt
Chief Executive Officer
Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (UM)
Director, Center for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) (UM)
Founding Professor / Director, Scripps Research Institute
Department Chair, Genome Center - Karolinska Institute
Multiple, AstraZeneca and Pharmacia/Pfizer
Advisor, Sylentis (PharmaMar), Ribo Life Sciences
Jack Stahl, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
PhD - Biochemical Neuroscience,
University of Miami Center for Therapeutic Innovation
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2024 Winner - Tinker Therapeutics
Nucleate - Eli Lilly Company Grand Challenge Award
Arthur Polk
Chief Financial and Business Officer
Corp Dev (Biopharma), Pacific Biosciences
Chief Financial Officer, Galatea Bio
Consultant, Syntax Bio, Trio Pharmaceuticals
Co- Founder, Chief Financial Officer, PetDx
Interim COO, Torigen Pharmaceuticals
Venture Partner, Vetted Capital
Jan Lundberg, MD, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Leadership roles at Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Karolinska Institute
Zicai Liang, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Leadership roles at Suzhou Ribo, Peking University, and Karolinska Institute
Olga Khorkova, PhD
Scientific Advisor
R&D roles at Wyeth, Regeneron, Sanofi, Rutgers, NJIT, OPKO & CAMP4
Henrik Zetterberg, MD, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Leadership roles at University of Gothenburg, UCL, UW−Madison, ADDF
Mark Gurney, PhD, MBA
Scientific Advisor
Leadership roles at Tetra Therapeutics (Shionogi), NIH, DeCODE
R&D Capabilities
For early R&D activities, we perform in-house wet lab early R&D in partnership with ExpressGene, a CLIA certified high- complexity laboratory (EUA200432) and CAP accredited facility.
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Brand new automated machinery for high throughput screening
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Multi-omics analysis equipment, including targeted proteomics, single-cell sequencing (NGS), and immunoassay instrumentation
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Biosafety cabinet/cell culture hoods
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Dr. Mohammad Faghihi, M.D., Ph.D., a High Complexity Laboratory Director (HCLD), leads the site
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Multiple PhD level research staff
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