About.

Our team of scientists and advocates work for patients before profits.

Established in 2018

Formed as a spin-out from Massey Cancer Center at Virginia Commonwealth University, our team is working hard to develop the first photoactivated chemotherapy on the market. We aim to minimize the risks of pharmaceuticals with laser-precision technologies for everyone, starting with patients.​

Our Vision of Success

• For patients and payors, effective therapies with minimal risk of pharmaceutical or financial toxicity.
• For healthcare providers, minimal risk of moral injury or scope creep derived from drug toxicity or complex procedures.
• For pharma developers, revived marketability of effective drugs that failed or were underutilized due to toxicity.​

Our Team

Alex Ratti, MS
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer

Inspired by the struggles of his mother with an ultra-rare skin disease, Pityriasis Rubra Pilaris, Alex is dedicated to health equity, R&D and patient advocacy. He holds a B.S. and M.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he focused on regenerative medicines and mathematical models.

Then aiming for a PhD, he earned progressive training in preclinical research at Massey Cancer Center, where he learned of IR-Platin's potential then met Dr Hartman to launch LSB. He has since grown LSB in several programs, along with his skills in entrepreneurship, therapeutic development and machine learning. As CEO he has led LSB to be a finalist for several awards, a winner of the VA Beach Bio Innovation Challenge with the Center for Advancing Innovation in 2019, and to 3rd place in the VCU Alumni Pitch Competition in 2021.​

Andrew Poklepovic, MD
Medical Oncology Manager

As a medical oncologist and Associate Professor of Medicine at the VCU Massey Cancer Center, Dr Poklepovic has authored over 70 publications, found here, and currently serves as the Medical Director for the Massey Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office.  As a member of the Developmental Therapeutics program at Massey, he has developed, initiated, and successfully completed multiple phase 1 oncology clinical trials across multiple tumor types. He now also serves as a senior advisor to C19 Therapeutics, a startup pharmaceutical company developing a novel oral therapeutic for Covid-19.

Matthew Hartman, PhD
Co-Founder, Chief Science Officer

An expert in photoactivated chemotherapies, mRNA display and the biochemistry of cancer, Dr. Hartman's work has resulted in two patents, including the work behind IR-Platin, and the publication of over 44 articles spanning 2 decades, found here. He has also been recognized as an outstanding mentor and trained several scientists to launch successful research careers.

Dr. Hartman holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Wheaton College and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Michigan. He received further postdoctoral training at Harvard and Massachussets General Hospital for in vitro selection technologies with Nobel Laureate Jack Szostak, where his work led to the launch of Ra Pharmaceuticals, where he trained an initial employee and served as a consultant.
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Joff Masukawa
Biopharma Commercialization Manager

Joff is the President and CEO of Diligentia Strategy, a consultancy specialized in the commercialization of specialty pharmaceuticals following over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceuticals and life science industry where he served in senior leadership for companies (e.g. Shire, Genzyme, Labcorp) and led multiple first-in-class products to market, including stakeholder engagement, marketing and sales.  Also an advocate for health equity and patients with orphan diseases, Joff has a wide-ranging network and serves on the board of the Center for Healthcare Innovation, ICORD and Caregiver Action Network.

Our Collaborators