# Tom Cirrito

> Tom Cirrito is a St. Louis biotechnology founder, scientist and operator who co-founded and leads Varro Life Sciences. After helping guide a drug program from preclinical development through FDA approval and building several life-sciences ventures, he is now pursuing an uncommon model: open-sourcing Varro's biosensor designs while building a business around specialized development, manufacturing and scale.

- **Role:** Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board at Varro Life Sciences
- **Organizations:** Varro Life Sciences, Filament BioSolutions, Biotagenics, Immunovent, AGelity BioMechanics, Astonishing Labs, Stemline Therapeutics, Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, NYU Metrotech, Piper Jaffray, A.G. Edwards Capital Partners
- **From:** St. Louis, United States
- **Education:** B.A. in Biological Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, Ph.D. in Immunology, Washington University in St. Louis
- **Known for:** Helped lead Stemline Therapeutics from early development to a Nasdaq IPO., Led clinical, manufacturing and toxicology work for the program that became Elzonris from preclinical development through FDA approval, according to Varro's official biography., Co-invented Stemline's SL-701 cancer vaccine technology.

## Career timeline

- **2004** — Completed a Ph.D. in Immunology at Washington University in St. Louis under thesis adviser Emil R. Unanue.
- **2007-2016** — Served on the Business and Advisory Board of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation.
- **Before 2020** — Worked as a life-sciences consultant at A.G. Edwards Capital Partners and as a biopharmaceutical equities analyst at Piper Jaffray.
- **Before 2020** — Joined Stemline Therapeutics as its second employee and held research, development and business-development leadership responsibilities.
- **2013** — Stemline Therapeutics completed its Nasdaq initial public offering.
- **2014-2015** — Taught Bioentrepreneurship at NYU Metrotech.
- **Before 2020** — Founded and led life-sciences startups including Filament BioSolutions, Biotagenics, Immunovent and AGelity BioMechanics, and later served as Managing Partner at Astonishing Labs.
- **2020** — Founded the company that became Varro Life Sciences, originally named Y2X Life Sciences.
- **2024-10** — Returned as CEO and Chairman as Y2X became Varro and announced $20 million in non-dilutive support tied to open-sourcing the platform.
- **2024-11** — Presented Varro's open-source biosensor strategy in a Devcon 7 lightning talk.
- **2025-09** — Varro opened its laboratory and R&D facility in the Cortex Innovation Community in St. Louis.
- **2026-02** — Varro was included in the St. Louis Business Journal's Startups to Watch 2026.
- **2026-07** — Varro appointed Michael Mina and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Andy Weber as advisors.

## Achievements

- Helped lead Stemline Therapeutics from early development to a Nasdaq IPO.
- Led clinical, manufacturing and toxicology work for the program that became Elzonris from preclinical development through FDA approval, according to Varro's official biography.
- Co-invented Stemline's SL-701 cancer vaccine technology.
- Founded or led multiple life-sciences startups before Varro.
- Secured $20 million in non-dilutive support for Varro's biosensor development and open-source program.
- Built Varro around a model combining open-source hardware with specialized biosensor development and manufacturing.
- Named on multiple patents and patent applications and authored peer-reviewed scientific papers.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Varro appointed Michael Mina and Andy Weber as advisors in surveillance, diagnostics, biodefense and preparedness.
- **2026-03** — Cirrito discussed Varro's growth inside the Cortex Innovation District and its vision for simple breath-based devices in a First Alert 4 report.
- **2026-02** — Varro was selected for the St. Louis Business Journal's Startups to Watch 2026 list.
- **2025-09** — Varro opened its new laboratory and R&D facility in St. Louis' Cortex Innovation Community.
- **2025-08** — Cirrito detailed Varro's open-source commercialization and manufacturing strategy in St. Louis Magazine.
- **2024-11** — Cirrito gave a Devcon 7 lightning talk on bringing free and open-source principles to biological testing.
- **2024-10** — Varro announced $20 million in non-dilutive support from Vitalik Buterin's Kanro initiative; Cirrito returned as CEO and Chairman.

## Links

- Website: https://varrobio.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomcirrito

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/tom-cirrito
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-27