Zachary Rapp is a biotech entrepreneur and 2× founder with 14+ years of experience in drug discovery, translational research, and startup leadership. Across multiple ventures, including Sigma Genetics and Altoida, he has helped raise $MM in financing and non dilutive funding. He is the CEO and Co Founder of Sigma Genetics, where he leads the discovery and development of nonviral gene delivery platforms and engineered therapeutics that resolve critical bottlenecks in cell and gene therapy manufacturing. Zach is known for data driven, science centric approaches that challenge conventional assumptions to improve patient outcomes. His work is anchored in first principles reasoning, interrogating assumptions, tracing problems to root causes, and using data to identify ground truth that drives strategy and product design.
Sigma’s Magnetoporation™ platform uses pulsed magnetic fields to induce nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF) within cell suspensions, enabling contactless, scalable delivery of DNA, RNA, proteins, and other cargos into primary human cells to engineer therapeutics. In parallel, Sigma is translating next generation fusogenic proteolipid vehicles (PLVs) that deliver DNA via membrane fusion, enabling extrahepatic delivery, repeat dosing, and large genetic payloads for selective in vivo immunotherapies across solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. Sigma partners with leading academic and clinical institutions, including Seattle Children’s Research Institute and City of Hope, as well as public and private biotechnology companies to develop cell and gene therapy assets and advance targeted therapeutics toward commercialization.
Under Zach’s leadership, Sigma has raised over $4M, including non dilutive funding from the Andy Hill CARE Fund and the U.S. Department of Defense, and is partnering with leading translational research institutes and public and private biotechnology and therapeutic companies. Previously, Zach was a member of the founding team and Director of Business Development at Altoida, where he supported FDA and CE regulatory designations, led pharma and healthcare partnerships, and helped expand clinical use of the company’s digital biomarker platform across U.S. Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRCs). He received his graduate degree and scientific training at Columbia University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he was part of the founding team developing a translational variant of PTEN (PTEN Long) as a cancer therapeutic in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
