Meet Our Team
World-leading Expertise in Mechanobiology
Founder & CEO
David Lagares, Ph.D, MBA
David Lagares, Ph.D, MBA is a serial scientist-entrepreneur, company builder, and operator with +18 years of experience translating breakthrough science into therapeutic innovation. His former laboratory at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital pioneered first-in-class “mechano-therapeutics” and “senolytics,” uncovering novel mechanisms involved in fibro-inflammation, aging, fibrosis, and cancer and identifying new therapeutic approaches to regenerate chronically damaged organs. These discoveries, published in leading journals including Nature and Science, led to patented therapeutic platforms and the creation of two Boston-based biotech companies, Zenon Biotech and Mediar Therapeutics. His innovative research and strategic vision about the future treatment of human diseases have been supported with multi-million dollar investment from VCs, federal funding, industry-sponsored research, and non-profit Foundation grants. These innovations have advanced programs from target discovery to Phase 2 clinical trials. Today, Dr. Lagares serves as Founder, CEO, and President of Zenon Biotech, where he leads the development of first-in-class therapeutics targeting mechanobiology-driven diseases. His career sits at the intersection of scientific discovery and entrepreneurship: translating pioneering science into medicines for patients.
A native of Madrid, Spain, Dr. Lagares earned his Ph.D. in Medical Research from the Autonomous University of Madrid and completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School. He previously served as Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and founding Director of the Matrix and Mechanobiology Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Lagares also holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Finance from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Scientific Advisory Board
Daniel Tschumperlin, Ph.D.
Dan Tschumperlin, PhD is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Physiology at the Mayo Clinic. His laboratory studies diseases of the respiratory system with a focus on mechanisms of fibrosis and repair. Lung injury, aging and chronic disease disturb the tissue architecture, mechanical forces, and cellular states that are normally present in the healthy lung. By understanding how cells of the lung sense, respond to and shape the microstructure and mechanical environment of the lung, his lab seeks to develop new approaches to promote tissue repair and reverse fibrosis.
Boris Hinz, PhD is Keenan Research Chair in Fibrosis Research at St. Michael’s Hospital and University of Toronto Distinguished Professor in Tissue Repair and Regeneration. He has >20 years experience in studying and publishing on the role of contractile myofibroblasts in physiological tissue repair and in causing pathological tissue fibrosis. Seminal findings and novel concepts from his laboratory helped shape the myofibroblast focus of anti-fibrosis strategies, for instance the development of specific inhibitors to target myofibroblast integrins.
Boris Hinz, Ph.D.
Adam J. Engler, PhD is a Professor and Chair of the Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering at UC San Diego. Dr. Engler has published more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and his seminal work has shown how physical and chemical properties of the extracellular matrix influence or misregulate cell function and modify genetic mechanisms of disease. His lab currently studies this phenomenon in the context of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Dr. Engler has received numerous awards from the International Society for Matrix Biology and the American Societies of Matrix Biology and Mechanical Engineering.
Adam Engler, Ph.D.
Our Programs
Zenon’s Drug Discovery Programs target Cellular Mechano-Sensors in Inflammation, Aging Cancer and Fibrosis. These Novel Disease Intervention Points were Identified by Zenon’s Founder and CEO, David Lagares, at Harvard Medical School