Co-founder & CeO
Matthew is a neuroscientist with a three-decade-plus career that includes data science, preclinical pharmacology, genomics, clinical trials, and drug development. Matthew started his career in the first lab to study the long-term effects of MDMA on the brain. He next moved to a psychopharmacology lab at UCSF that focused on clinical trials for substance use disorder pharmacotherapies. Matthew later consulted with MAPS, drafting regulatory documents to help them gain FDA permission to start Phase 2 trials with MDMA. Other career highlights include work to develop the formulation for Suboxone, conducting the first federally funded clinical studies of MDMA, and conducting the first modern clinical study of the related compound MDA. Before starting Tactogen, Matthew was a Director of Data Science and Engineering at Genentech (the company that started the biotech industry, now a subsidiary of Hoffmann-La Roche).
Co-founder & COO
Luke is an operations executive with over fifteen years of experience leading mental health, neurotech and climate tech companies. He started Tactogen to help commercialize affordable medicines that can improve lives. Before co-founding Tactogen, Luke was COO of Delta Separations (acquired by Gibraltar Industries) and CEO of Curian. Prior to focusing on mental health and neuro-related innovations, he concentrated on climate tech. Luke was Director of Business Development at View, and Director of Sales and Marketing at Calera, both backed by Khosla Ventures. He worked as an Analyst and Associate at Boston-based Echelon Ventures and Saturn Capital. Luke concentrates on fundraising and grants, cash flow, corp dev/partnerships, marketing, ops, team building, and culture.
