Sam Banister
Co-Founder & Scientific Chief & Officer XYLO Therapeutics
Samuel Banister is cofounder and Chief Scientific Officer at Xylo Bio; a biotech start-up focused on the development of next-generation psychedelic-inspired medicines. Sam has been developing new therapeutics in the fields of psychiatry and neurology for more than 15 years at leading academic institutions (Stanford University, University of Sydney, UNSW) and biotech start-ups (Tranquis Therapeutics, Nalu Bio, Pangea Bio). Prior to cofounding Xylo Bio, he was Team Leader in Medicinal Chemistry at The Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics, and before that was a postdoc at Stanford University developing PET tracers for neuroinflammation, exploring new therapeutic targets for neurodegeneration, and profiling new psychoactive substances (NPS).
Seminars
- How AI driven molecular design accelerates the development of selective 5 HT–modulating neuroplastogens now progressing into first in human evaluation
- Leveraging early PoC data, behavioral readouts, and advanced receptor profiling to refine mechanism driven therapeutic hypotheses
- Integrating computational chemistry, circuit level neuroscience, and PD biomarkers to optimise next generation non hallucinogenic neuroplastogens
- Translating scalable AI workflows into a diversified clinical pipeline spanning depression, pain, and substance use disorders
