Our Company

TargetGene was founded in 2012 by Drs. Dan Weinthal and Yoel Shiboleth following their 2011 invention of RNA-guided nucleases for genome editing. This was in the pre-CRISPR days and potential investors were inclined to dismiss RNA-guided nucleases as unachievable science fiction…

Our first investors were in the agricultural field, Adama and Monsanto, but since those days we have raised funding from a multinational CDMO and have transitioned to therapeutics. TargetGene has licensed some applications of the platform, and is now partnering with a therapeutics company. In 2019 TargetGene has also been the recipient of a grant from the Israel Innovation Authority.

We have just achieved our goal of creating the world’s best working genome editing platform. Our patent has recently been granted in the US following grants in many other jurisdictions. For TargetGene the time is perfect, and competing technologies have paved the way forward in the market.

Meet Our Team

MANAGEMENT

Dr. Yoel Shiboleth

CEO and co-founder

TargetGene CEO since 2012.
Expert in RNA silencing, virology and molecular biology.
Post-doctoral fellow, University of Michigan.
PhD, Hebrew University.
Senior Scientist Rosetta Genomics.
Senior Scientist ViroGene.
Research assistant Quark Biotech Inc. (QBI).
Yoel has published book chapters, various patents and 17 refereed articles.

Dr. Dan Weinthal

COO and co-founder

TargetGene COO since 2012.
Expert in genome editing and pathogen host interactions.
Co-founder of two startups.
Post-doctoral fellow, University of Michigan.
PhD, Tel Aviv University
Dan has published a book chapter, various patents and 14 refereed articles.

Dr. Talya Kunik

VP R&D

TargetGene VP R&D since 2012.
Expert in molecular and cell biology.
Post-doctoral fellow, SUNY Stony Brook and ARO.
PhD, Hebrew University.
COO of FertiSeeds LTD.
Senior Scientist at FertiSeeds LTD.
Lab Manager at the Cancer Prevention Unit, Soraskey Medical Center Tel-Aviv.

SCIENTISTS

Dr. Devin Trudeau

Senior Protein Engineer

Expert in directed evolution, rational protein design, and bioinformatics.
Post-doctoral Fellowship, Weizmann Institute.
PhD with Frances Arnold, 2018 Chemistry Nobel Prize Winner, California Institute of Technology.

Dr. David Steiner

SENIOR IMMUNOLOGIST

CSO, Novamed LTD. Lead CAR-T generation at Tel Aviv Medical Center (Ichilov). Expert in Immunology & Hematopoietic Stem Cell transplantation.

Roey Maor MSc

RESEARCH SCIENTIST

Expert in protein purification and DNA Cloning.
MSc and BSc in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Neta Nudel MSc

Research Scientist

Expertise: molecular biology, cell culture.
MSc in Genetics and Embryonic stem cell research, BSc in Biology. Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Aviv Ovadia MSc

Research Scientist

Expertise in Molecular Biology. Head of QC.
MSc and BSc in Biotechnology, Bar Ilan University.