Dr. Sugiyama received his Ph.D. in Engineering from the Graduate School of Engineering at Kyoto University in 1984, specializing in synthetic chemistry. He conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Virginia in the United States, and held academic positions as an Assistant and Associate Professor at Kyoto University. In 1996, he was an appointed Professor at the Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Tokyo Medical and Dental University. In 2003, he joined the Graduate School of Science at Kyoto University as a Professor, and became Professor Emeritus in 2022. Currently he serves as a Specially Appointed Professor at the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), Kyoto University. Throughout his career, Dr. Sugiyama has consistently pursued research in chemical biology, with a focus on nucleic acids. He has received numerous honors, including the Chemical Society of Japan Award (2018), the Ikehara Award from the Japanese Society of Nucleic Acids Chemistry (2021), and the Photobiological Society of Japan Award (2022).

Dr Tanigawa co-founded StapleBio in 2021 and has served as CEO since the establishment. He has over 28 years of business experience in the pharma industry and venture investment. Prior to founding StapleBio, he established Taiho Innovations, the corporate venture capital arm of Taiho Pharma, where he led biotech investments and venture creation based on innovative academic seeds in Japan. Additionally, he was a venture partner at Remiges Ventures, a US-Japan cross-border venture capital firm investing in therapeutics. He also has extensive experience in drug discovery, clinical development, corporate strategy, product portfolio management, market forecast, and new business development at a pharmaceutical company. He received his Ph.D. from Kyushu University.

Dr Katsuda co-founded StapleBio in 2021 and has served as CSO since establishment. He is an associate professor at Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Kumamoto University. Prior to that, he conducted research as a specially appointed researcher at the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), Kyoto University, focusing on the exploration of unique RNA structures. He also served concurrently as a part-time lecturer at the Department of Medical Informatics, Faculty of Life Sciences, Doshisha University, and a Visiting Associate Professor at iCeMS. He received his Ph.D. from the graduate school of Kyoto University. 

Dr. Shimomura has served as President and Managing Partner of Taiho Innovations since July 2023. He began his career in 1999 at a global pharmaceutical company, working on the creation of oncology drug candidates. After joining Taiho Pharmaceutical in 2009, he focused on oncology drug discovery and early-stage clinical development. From 2016, he spent several years at Taiho Ventures, LLC, Taiho’s corporate venture capital arm in the U.S., where he was involved in investments in biotech startups and supported spinouts from Taiho’s internal pipeline. Since returning to Japan in 2019, he has held leadership roles in drug discovery and corporate planning, promoting collaborations with academia and industry and contributing to portfolio strategy. Dr. Shimomura holds a Ph.D. in Science from Nagoya University.

Dr. Saya Graduated from Kobe University School of Medicine in 1981. After gaining clinical experience as a neurosurgeon and completing a postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF, he was appointed Assistant Professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center in 1988. He became a Professor at Kumamoto University School of Medicine in 1994, and Professor at Keio University School of Medicine in 2007, where he also served as Vice Director of Keio University Hospital and President of the Japanese Cancer Association. Since 2022, he has been leading the Oncology Innovation Center at Fujita Health University. His research focuses on cancer biology and drug discovery for treatment-resistant cancers. He has been a Board Member of Diamond Medino Capital since its founding in 2022, and a Board Member of StapleBio Inc. since 2024. He holds a Ph.D. in Medical Science from the Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe University.