O'Shaughnessy Ventures LLC (OSV), a Greenwich-based investment firm, awarded an O'Shaughnessy Fellowship to scientist and entrepreneur Joseph Beyene to advance a skin treatment designed to prevent tick bites amid the spread of tick-borne diseases into new regions.

Most repellents are designed for insects like mosquitoes and stop working once a tick reaches skin, while other pesticides lose effectiveness as ticks develop resistance. Beyene's treatment instead targets a biological process specific to how ticks feed, an approach no current product addresses directly. Over the next 12 months, he plans to complete independent field trials of the lead formulation and build early commercial traction.

Beyene earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree in cell and molecular biology from San Francisco State University. He obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where his doctoral research contributed to the foundational science behind Vesigen Therapeutics, a Harvard spinout that raised a $28.5 million Series A round. He is adjunct faculty in Northeastern University's Graduate Biotechnology Program, teaching drug development and scientific communication.

OSV's founder and CEO, Jim O'Shaughnessy, said, "Joseph's resilience, experience and ambition made awarding him a fellowship an extremely easy decision. We're honored to be backing him."

Launched in 2023, the O'Shaughnessy Fellowships program discovers and empowers creatives, builders, and researchers. Fellows receive a grant of up to $100,000 and gain access to OSV's network of founders, investors, and experts. OSV will award up to 20 fellowships in 2026, and Beyene is the nineteenth fellow announced this year.

"I envision a world where people and animals can live safely, protected from tick-borne diseases," said Beyene. "I am deeply grateful to OSV for believing in this vision."