Nicole Lykens
Chief Technology Officer Valaya Bio
Nicole Lykens is the CTO and Co-Founder of Valaya Bio and an expert in the discovery, development, and targeted delivery of oligonucleotide therapeutics (ASO, RNAi). With over 15 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, she has advanced therapeutic platforms across CNS, metabolic, and rare disease indications.
Prior to founding Valaya, Nicole held leadership positions at Novo Nordisk, Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, and LifeSplice, where she led discovery teams, defined delivery strategies, and established cross-sector scientific collaborations. At Valaya, she leads the development of next-generation RNA modalities and delivery platforms, focusing on integrating emerging technologies to transition innovative therapeutics from concept to clinical application for diseases of aging.
Seminars
- Evaluating whether IT delivery can achieve significant exposure in deep brain structures implicated in Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease
- Examining emerging chemistry-driven distribution strategies such as C16-siRNA conjugates and modified ASOs, and interrogating non-human primate data to understand current depth and dose limitations
- Comparing IT optimization strategies against systemic BBB shuttle approaches to determine which modality is better suited for specific diseases requiring deep brain penetration
