Person attributes
Yusuf Erkul is the co-founder and president of Kernal Biologics, a Cambridge-based biotech startup developing next generation messenger RNAs for cancer immunotherapy. As a member of MIT Startup Exchange, Kernal received two Golden Ticket awards from Amgen and a "Technology in Space" prize from CASIS/NASA and Boeing. Dr. Erkul co-invented Kernal's proprietary stealth mRNA and onco-selective mRNA technologies. With his expertise in nucleic acid therapeutics, innate immunity and cancer biology, Dr. Erkul is currently leading Kernal's drug discovery and development efforts in immuno-oncology. Previously, he was a Director at Sentegen's R&D division and prior to that he worked at Merck's Oncology department, where he received Merck's Award of Excellence, twice. Dr. Erkul obtained his M.D. degree from Hacettepe University and his B.S. degree in Biology from MIT.