Serna Bio - Lecture Series #6
The Serna Bio lecture series will spotlight bold, creative operators and founders working across the spectrum of AI and biology, showcasing the many different paths shaping the future of this rapidly evolving field.
This lecture features Joey Azofeifa, the CEO & co-founder of Arpeggio Bio, a biotech fighting drug resistance in cancer. Arpeggio's lead program is a molecular glue degrader of the famous oncogene NRF2 that leads to rapid tumor growth inhibition in multiple animal models of non-small cell lung cancer. Arpeggio has raised $60M in venture funding from leading life sciences investors and is bringing their lead NRF2 program to an IND. Before Arpeggio, Joey Azofeifa completed his PhD Computational Genetics at the University of Colorado - Boulder and worked in small molecule discovery groups at FORMA Therapeutics and Merck.
The Serna Bio Discovery Platform integrates target discovery, generative chemical design, and in-cell screening to identify and optimize selective RNA-binding molecules.
Our foundation includes:
* The world’s largest atlas of experimentally validated RNA structures
* A generative chemistry engine that outperforms state-of-the-art methods such as NVIDIA MolMIMM.
This technology has enabled the creation of an entirely new class of small molecules—translational enhancers—that modulate RNA to restore or increase protein expression, offering novel therapeutic paths in neurodegeneration and cardiometabolic disease.