Background

The strategy in one page

Evolution already solved the selectivity problem that medicinal chemistry has not. T-Hawk's job is to find where it wrote the answer down, read it accurately, and turn it into drug candidates.

Mission. T-Hawk Life Sciences℠ is a preclinical-stage biotechnology enterprise advancing peptide-based therapeutics derived from the venomous arthropods of Arizona's Sonoran Desert, one of the world's richest and most undercharacterized sources of bioactive compounds. Operating from Tucson, the laboratory has built a proprietary discovery platform that systematically identifies, characterizes, and prioritizes venom-derived peptides with validated mechanisms of action against high-value therapeutic targets, including ion channels implicated in pain, neurological disease, and metabolic disorders. Multiple independent arthropod lineages in the T-Hawk portfolio converge on the same human drug targets: biological proof of concept written in evolutionary time.

Four load-bearing ideas

01 / Where we look

An undercharacterized desert on our doorstep

The Sonoran Desert holds an exceptional density of venomous arthropod lineages, and almost none of them have been characterized at the genome or proteome level. T-Hawk operates inside that biodiversity zone: local access, seasonal knowledge, and collection protocols developed for these specific organisms.

02 / What we look for

Convergence as validation

Four structurally independent peptide families, from four separate arthropod lineages, converge on the same human drug targets. Independent evolutionary origins arriving at the same solution is a biological argument that those targets are druggable by this chemistry, evidence no single screening campaign can produce. Convergence is both our scientific thesis and our narrative anchor.

03 / Why it holds

Structural novelty is defensible

Inhibitor cystine knot (ICK) folds, short cysteine-free peptides, and disulfide-stabilized scaffolds sit outside the chemical space of every approved small molecule. That buys three things at once: composition-of-matter room for patents, a route around existing resistance mechanisms, and, in the case of the ICK fold, intrinsic protease resistance.

04 / How we build

Virtual-first, partner-leveraged

T-Hawk runs field collection and prioritization in-house, and contracts the capital-intensive steps (mass spectrometry, genomics, automated patch clamp, peptide production) to specialist academic and CRO partners. Capital goes into assets and intellectual property, not into a building. The output is a portfolio of characterized, target-validated development candidates positioned for partnership and out-licensing.

From desert to development candidate

Collect under permit → identify peptides by genomics and proteomics → validate against ion channel and antimicrobial targets → optimize leads by single-cell and patch clamp electrophysiology → select development candidates with a credible manufacturing route. Each stage narrows the portfolio against a multi-dimensional scoring framework, so spend follows evidence. The platform is described in detail on the Field / Laboratory Platform page.

Company facts

Jung Life Sciences LLC d/b/a T-Hawk Life Sciences℠

Formed: Arizona, May 2026 · NAICS 541714 (biotechnology R&D)
Base: Tucson, Arizona, inside the Sonoran Desert collection range
Stage: Preclinical, pre-revenue. Discovery through lead identification.
Focus: Chronic and neuropathic pain · antimicrobial resistance · neurological ion channel conditions
Model: Virtual-first laboratory; academic and CRO partnerships for characterization and validation
Trademark: “T-Hawk Life Sciences” application filed June 2026
Membership: AZ Bio, Core Startup member
Contact: tom@thawklifesciences.com