About Us

Dr. Sandeep Kumar is currently a Distinguished Fellow at Moderna Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA where he leads Molecular Design and Modeling team. Sandeep Kumar obtained a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Delhi, a master’s degree in molecular biology and biotechnology from G. B. Pant University and a Ph.D. degree in Computational Biophysics from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Sandeep Kumar has over 25 years of research experience towards understanding protein structure – Function relationships, primarily via computational means. Sandeep Kumar has so far contributed towards more than 100 research articles, reviews, and book chapters. He has also co-edited a book and is currently working on another one. Sandeep has been contributing towards discovery and development of biotherapeutics after joining biopharmaceutical industry in 2007. Learning from his experiences over the years, Sandeep has come up with a strategic vision of Biopharmaceutical Informatics. It calls for syncretic use of computation and experimentation towards improved productivity biotherapeutic drug discovery and development projects. More recently, he is promoting the concept of DAbI (Discovery of Antibodies in silico) where he sees an opportunity for generative AI to not only accelerate biopharmaceutical drug design but also to expand the antigen space druggable by antibody-based biotherapeutics.

Dr. Maria Pajuelo holds a BSc in Biology from the University of Murcia, Spain, and a PhD in Biotechnology from the Catholic University of Portugal.Her career in antibody research began in 2006 at Ablynx, a Belgian biotech company (acquired by Sanofi in 2018), where she was instrumental in identifying Nanobodies® (single-domain antibodies derived from camelids). As a Scientist-Team Leader at Ablynx, Maria led major research initiatives targeting over 100 different therapeutic targets with several reaching the clinical stage. In 2012, Maria co-founded FairJourney Biologics, a renowned CRO specializing in antibody discovery, engineering, production, and cell line development. As Chief Scientific Officer, she built the company from the ground up, establishing laboratories in discovery & development, assembling and mentoring a top scientific team, developing innovative antibody services and technologies, and expanding the client portfolio. Maria is a co-inventor on multiple patents and patent applications related to antibody technology, and she has co-authored 13 peer-reviewed publications.