Our Team

The award-winning Engimata team has experience in all stages of drug development. 

Founding Team

Mitra Mosharraf, PhD, MBA

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Mosharraf brings 24 years of experience across all stages of biotech drug development.  During her tenure at Pfizer/ Pharmacia (Sweden), she contributed to development of lyophilized combination products Genotripoin® (Somatropin) Pen, Somavert® (Pegvisomant) and Cimzia® (CDP-870).  In 2005, her entrepreneurial spirit brought her to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she joined HTD Biosystems as Chief Scientific Officer. At HTD, she contributed to pre-IND development of several products such as RGI-2001 and a pentavalent vaccine against botulism. In 2017, she joined Santen as the director of drug product development, biologics. At Santen, she led the development of ophthalmic biologic products (e.g. DE-122/ Carotoximab) for intravitreal injections to treat retinal diseases. 
Dr. Mosharraf's innovative research has led to six patents and over 15 peer-reviewed scientific publications. She is an active member of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), where she has held various leadership roles including serving as the 2024 vice chair of the AAPS Nanotechnology Community.
 Dr. Mosharraf's academic foundation is built upon a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Pharmaceutical Sciences and a Master of Science (MS) in Pharmacy, both from Uppsala University. Complementing her scientific expertise, she holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from MIT Sloan School of Management, where she also acquired certificates in Business Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Biotech and Pharma. As a licensed pharmacist certified by the Swedish National Board of Health & Welfare since June 2005, Dr. Mosharraf's proficiency extends beyond her scientific achievements. She is trilingual and has enriched her global perspective through living and working across Asia, Europe, and the United States.

Rajiv Nayar, PhD 

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Nayar brings an extensive 35-year career in biotechnology drug development in vaccines and liposomal drug delivery systems. Previously, he was involved in pioneering work at the Canadian Liposome Company on developing liposomal drug delivery systems in oncology.  His contributions led to the development of liposomal doxorubicin (Caelyx®, Myocet®) and vincristine (Marquibo®) as marketed products addressing unmet needs in cancer treatment. 
At Bayer, Dr. Nayar established the Center of Excellence for formulation and drug delivery in the biotechnology division and was responsible for managing the formulation and drug delivery activities within the global Bayer network on protein/peptide-based drugs.  He was a recipient of 3 consecutive Presidential Achievement Awards at Bayer for implementing Continuous Improvement Processes in pharmaceutical development.

As Founder and President of HTD Biosystems, Dr. Nayar has led the development of numerous drug products from inception to clinical trials, specializing in lyophilization, vaccine development, and innovative drug delivery systems, particularly focusing on liposomes and lipid nanoparticles (LNPs).

Dr. Nayar received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of British Columbia and was a postdoctoral fellowship at the M.D. Anderson Tumor Institute as a Medical Research Council fellow where he was involved in pioneering work in immunotherapy by macrophage/monocyte activation using liposomal immunomodulators against cancer metastasis in vivo.  Dr. Nayar holds 28 patents and has co-authored over 70 publications. He is notably credited with inventing Bayer's albumin-free Factor VIII formulation, Kogenate® FS, marking a significant advancement in hemophilia treatment.

Aryo Sorayya, BSc, MD 

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Sorayya received his Bachelor of Science degree with honors in Biology from Stanford University in 2017, followed by a Doctor of Medicine from the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in 2022. Currently, Dr. Sorayya is honing his expertise in patient care through a residency in family medicine at John Muir Health.
Dr. Sorayya is a co-inventor of 3 patents on Engimata’s adjuvant technology. He has conducted research at variuos prominent institutions such as  the NASA Ames in the lab of Dr. Lynn Rothschild (as a member of the Stanford iGEM team), and at the School of Medicine Department of Cardiology at the Joe Wu lab, where he worked with stem cells and gene editing technology. In this role he also conducted part of his studies at the Palo Alto VA hospital. After graduation from Stanford, he served as a life science professional at the Laura Attardi lab in Stanford University, where he worked on developmental biology. He continued his research endeavors at the Virginia Tech Medical School by conducting cancer research at the Lamouille Lab. Dr. Sorayya's scholarly contributions include authoring three publications and holding three issued US patents. Additionally, Dr. Sorayya is fluent in five languages, which enhances his ability to connect with diverse populations and colleagues globally, further enriching his professional and personal interactions in the field of medicine.