LifEngine Animal Health Laboratories
We engineer living immune cells to fight cancer in pet dogs — and our discoveries are already reshaping the future of human cancer therapy.
Mission
When a pet gets sick, families face limited options. LEAH Labs is changing that. We combine world-class gene editing with novel protein engineering to revolutionize companion animal oncology — while generating the insights that will power the next generation of human CAR-T therapies.
Translational medicine is in our DNA.
Science
Four pillars. One platform.
01
Leveraging breakthroughs in AI and protein design, LEAH Labs designs, builds, and tests novel therapeutic assets that didn't evolve in nature. We're not iterating on legacy biology — we're inventing new biology from first principles.
02
Our founder invented our gene editing platform during their PhD. This platform is a critical enabling technology that allows us to build CAR-T cell therapies at costs affordable to pet parents.
03
The immune system can detect and destroy cancer — but cancer evades it. Gene editing lets us reprogram T cells to become professional cancer-fighting assassins. CAR-T cell therapy is already curative in human blood cancers. We're bringing it their furry family members.
04
Dogs develop the same spontaneous cancers as humans, in a shared environment, with a fully intact immune system. Disease in dogs mirrors disease in people. Every remission in a dog is a data point that accelerates human medicine — compressing timelines that would otherwise take a decade.
Clinical Trial
Our fully-funded clinical trial will be enrolling dogs diagnosed with B cell lymphoma. If you can travel to one of our three partner institutions, we want to hear from you. Treatment is provided at no cost to enrolled families.
University of Minnesota
College of Veterinary Medicine · Minneapolis, MN
Ohio State University
College of Veterinary Medicine · Columbus, OH
University of Missouri
Veterinary Health Center · Columbia, MO
Team
Founders
Wesley A. Wierson, PhD
Founder & CEO
Invented GeneWeld during his PhD. 3x biotech founder, Y Combinator alum. Led the team that achieved the first-ever remissions using CAR-T cell therapy in dogs with cancer.
Alex M. Abel, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Immunologist and gene editor. Built GeneWeld in T cells. Designed and built the CAR-T cells that achieved the first-ever remissions in dogs with cancer.
Amanda Cifuentes-Rieffer, PhD
Research Scientist
Molecular biology and bioinformatics. Built our library-scale plasmid screening and analysis platform powering the discovery engine.
Mekhla Singhania, PhD
Research Scientist
Solid tumor biology. Built our workflow for 3D tumor assays enabling high-throughput evaluation of novel CAR designs.
Scientific Founders
Stephen C. Ekker, PhD
Scientific Founder & Board Director
Serial entrepreneur and visionary scientist. Futurist in translational medicine and gene editing. Accelerating solutions for the health of people and planet.
Saad S. Kenderian, MB/ChB
Scientific Founder
Hematologist at Mayo Clinic. World-leading human CAR-T innovator and clinical translator. Bridges bench-to-bedside across CAR-T development.
Jonathan P. Mochel, PhD/DECVPT
Scientific Founder
Pharmacologist and veterinary applications expert. Deep expertise in veterinary clinical pharmacology and translational medicine.
Veterinary Oncology Advisors
Sarah Gitings, DVM, MS, DACVIM
Veterinary Oncology Advisor
Board-certified veterinary oncologist. Specialist in hematologic malignancies in dogs and translational oncology.
Craig Clifford, DVM, MS, DACVIM
Veterinary Oncology Advisor
Board-certified veterinary oncologist with deep expertise in canine lymphoma and clinical trial design in companion animals.
Contact
Whether you're a pet owner whose dog has been diagnosed, a veterinarian, an investor, or a potential partner — we'd love to hear from you.
info@leahlabs.com