Senior Director, Research and Development, Slingshot Biosciences
Kanwal Palla, Ph.D., is senior director of research and development at Slingshot Biosciences, where she has scaled the R&D organization, expanded leadership across scientific disciplines, established key technology capabilities and brought revenue-generating products from concept to commercialization. An early employee, Dr. Palla joined Slingshot in 2022 as associate director of biochemistry and has since risen to Senior Director of R&D, taking on multiple functions, shaping product strategy and commercial growth in alignment with customer and patient needs. Dr. Palla has been a driving force behind Slingshot’s technology and product expansion. She was integral to the development of SpectraComp®, Slingshot’s highest-selling product, now offered globally through BD Biosciences. She established the company’s internal protein expression platform and developed unique protein modification technologies that enabled conjugation to cell mimics. With these advancements, Dr. Palla unlocked new product classes, including PhenoCytes™ for immunophenotyping and flow cytometry applications and StimCytes™ activation reagents for CAR-T potency assessment. Dr. Palla leads catalog and custom R&D programs from concept through commercialization, ensuring each product addresses a defined customer pain point and need. Her product-driven approach to R&D translates complex scientific challenges into scalable technologies while keeping patient needs at the center. As the organization has grown, she has built high-performing teams, developed future leaders and fostered a cross-functional culture spanning science and business. With 10 years of industry experience and a doctorate in chemistry from UC Berkeley, Dr. Palla previously led teams at Nektar Therapeutics, working on PEGylated proteins supporting immuno-oncology drug development.
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