Tom Wandless, Ph.D.

Tom Wandless, Ph.D., is Obsidian’s Scientific Founder and a Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University. Dr. Wandless earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University and his B.S. in biochemistry from Trinity University. Following his undergraduate studies, he worked in the laboratory of Stuart Schreiber where he helped elucidate the molecular mechanisms of the immunosuppressive drugs, FK506 and cyclosporin. Based on those studies, he then developed the first chemical dimerizer system to control specific gene transcription in T cells. He spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow with Chris Walsh at Harvard Medical School before starting his own lab at Stanford in 1995. The Wandless Lab concentrates on the invention of molecules and techniques that enable better studies of biological processes, inventing tools and techniques that provide new experimental windows into mechanisms that cells use to maintain protein homeostasis. In particular, his work over the last 15+ years on the use of small molecules to regulate protein folding and stability serves as the basis for Obsidian’s Drug Responsive Domain technology.