Scientific Team at TransDerm

Roger L. Kaspar, Ph.D, is the CEO and scientific founder of TransDerm, a company focused on developing novel therapeutics, including inhibitors based on RNA interference (RNAi) technology, for skin disorders.  Dr. Kaspar received his doctorate from the University of Washington (Seattle) in biochemistry (David Morris) and performed post-doctoral work at M.I.T. (Lee Gehrke), Stanford University (Helen Blau), and Chiba University (Tomohito Kakegawa).  After serving on the faculty at Brigham Young University (Utah) in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, he left academia to work at SomaGenics, prior to founding TransDerm.  Drawing on his expertise in the area of post-transcriptional gene regulation, his current efforts are focused on designing highly potent and selective therapeutic siRNAs that target disease-causing genes in skin disorders, including pachyonychia congenita, and investigating methods to efficiently deliver agents such as siRNAs to appropriate skin cells.

Robyn P. Hickerson, Ph.D., is a senior scientist at TransDerm. Dr. Hickerson received her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at El Paso and performed graduate studies at the University of Utah (Cynthia Burrows), focusing on metal-catalyzed oxidation of nucleic acids, specifically small RNA hairpins and pseudoknots. Following a post-doc at the University of California at Santa Cruz (Harry Noller) investigating ribosome structure and function, she joined Dr. Kaspar at TransDerm in May 2005. Together, Drs. Kaspar and Hickerson have identified a siRNA that targets one of the mutant genes responsible for pachyonychia congenita.

Tycho J. Speaker, Ph.D., works with TransDerm to develop and improve topical skin delivery systems for RNAi and other functional macromolecules. Dr. Speaker received a doctorate from the University of California (Santa Cruz) in physical chemistry (Roger Anderson). After several lectureship positions, Dr. Speaker held a variety of senior engineering positions in semiconductor manufacturing subsidiaries of Applied Materials (Applied Komatsu Technologies) and a Xerox PARC affiliate, dpiX, LLC, prior to founding his R&D formulation company Capsulent. Dr. Speaker draws on a diverse background encompassing physical pharmacy, formulation chemistry, and large-scale manufacturing in his work at TransDerm, in developing real-world, manufacturable delivery systems for active molecules.