Meet Chandra Vargeese

Chandra has spent more than 30 years advancing oligonucleotide chemistry and RNA-targeted therapeutics. As Chief Technology Officer at Wave Life Sciences, she leads the company’s PRISM platform, which combines oligonucleotide chemistry, multiple RNA-targeting modalities, and human genetic insights to support Wave’s discovery and development programs. Her earlier career included leadership roles at Novartis, Merck, and Sirna Therapeutics, as well as co-invention of Macugen, an approved aptamer therapy for wet age-related macular degeneration.

Under Chandra’s leadership, Wave has delivered several important clinical milestones. In June 2024, WVE-003 showed the first clinical demonstration of allele-selective mutant huntingtin lowering in Huntington’s disease. In October 2024, Wave then reported positive proof-of-mechanism data for WVE-006, representing the first clinical demonstration of RNA editing in humans. She is now helping push Wave’s platform further, including work on bifunctional constructs designed to combine RNA editing and RNAi in a single therapeutic approach.