Pauling Biotech Symposium Speakers
MIT Faculty Club, Cambridge, MA, USA
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This is a preliminary list of speakers from Private Biotech Companies. More will be added soon.
Reinhard Ebner, PhDReinhard Ebner PhD, Director of Research, Avalon Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Ebner is a Scientific Director at Avalon Pharmaceuticals. He received his undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Regensburg and his doctorate in Microbiology and Genetics from the University of OsnabrŸck, Germany, where he then served on the faculty of the Genetics department. In 1989, he identified and cloned the type I TGF-b receptor at Genentech. He has made a series of substantial contributions to the fields of cytokine biology, receptor-ligand interactions and intracellular trafficking, cell differentiation, early development and tissue repair, first at Genentech and then at the University of California, San Francisco and at Stanford University Medical School. He has discovered several proteins now in preclinical and clinical development, including such molecules as LIGHT, IL-17B and its receptor, BlyS and TR6. In 2000, he joined Avalon Pharmaceuticals where he was instrumental in the initiation of intramural and external research programs and contributed to corporate and scientific infrastructure development. Dr. Ebner is a frequently invited plenary speaker at national and international conferences and member of scientific advisory panels. He is the author of 37 original research publications, including several articles in Science magazine, and is the primary inventor on more than 100 patent applications.Back to Top
Brent L. Kreider, PhDBrent L. Kreider PhD, Senior Vice President, Technology, Akceli
Dr. Kreider is Akceli’s Senior Vice President, Technology. Previously a vice president of biological research at Phylos, Inc., his responsibilities included scientific and business efforts across five corporate divisions including Bioinformatics, Cell Biology, Core Technology, Proteomics and Selections.Prior to Phylos, Dr. Kreider served as a cell biologist and Associate Director of high-throughput biological screening at Human Genome Sciences, Inc. With over 40 publications, he holds a BS in Microbiology from Penn State University and a PhD in Molecular/Microbiology from the University of Pennsylvania. His 10 years of research experience in cell biology, proteomics and high-throughput screening are well-suited to Akceli’s plan to further develop and exploit its patent-pending reverse transfection technology.
Kenneth C. Carter, PhDKenneth C. Carter PhD, President & CEO of Avalon Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Carter is a co-founder of Avalon has an extensive background in both cytological (chromosomes) and molecular (genes) genetics, including database mining and gene-array design and analysis. He has more than 50 scientific publications and multiple patents. In 1993 Dr. Carter became one of the first scientists at Human Genome Sciences (HGSI), where he developed and directed the Company's gene mapping initiative. In this capacity he has played a direct role in the discovery, cloning, and chromosomal mapping of dozens of new human genes. Among these were several disease genes including a family of genes involved in colon cancer, whose elucidation was named the 1994 "Discovery of the Year" by Science. Dr. Carter received his Ph.D. in Human Genetics and Cell Biology from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1989, and was honored with the University's distinguished alumnus award in 1999. Dr. Carter also completed four years of postdoctoral research at the University of Massachusetts while receiving research fellowships from the Human Genome Center (NIH) and the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation. He was a scientist and group leader at Human Genome Sciences from 1993-1999.Back to Top
James Strickler, PhDJames Strickler PhD, Director of Biochemistry, Suntory Pharma. Research Labs, LLC
Dr. Strickler has 19 years' experience in the biotech industry in four companies in different therapeutic areas (Cetus, SmithKline Beecham, Serono and Suntory Pharmaceutical ). He received his PhD from Yale University and did his postdoctoral work at the Yale University School of Medicine. After briefly working as an associate scientist at the Cetus Corporation in Emeryville, California, Dr. Strickler joined SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (Smith, Kline and French Laboratories) in 1984 as an associate senior investigator and became Assistant Director in 1989. Dr. Strickler joined Ares Advanced Technology, Inc (now called Serono SRBI) in 1994 as Director of Protein Chemistry. Dr. Strickler left Serono in 2000 to become the Director of Biochemistry at Suntory Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Strickler has authored more than 40 scientific publications and is the co-inventor on five US patents. He is an expert in protein chemistry.Back to Top Yat Sun Or PhD, Senior Vice President, Drug Discovery, Enanta Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Or is well known as an expert chemist and has 17 years' experience in small molecule drug discovery in both biotech and pharmaceutical companies. He holds a PhD from the Department of Organic Chemistry of the University of Chicago. He did his postdoctoral work at Ohio State and Indiana Universities with Professor P. Magnus. In 1983 he joined Schering-Plough as senior scientist and in 1985 moved to Abbot Laboratories where he worked for 14 years in increasingly important positions. He left Abbot in 1999 to join Enanta Pharmaceuticals as Vice President in drug discovery. He has filed over 30 patents and has authored 25 scientific publications. Dr. Or invented three drugs in different therapeutic areas which have entered clinical trials. He established a record at Abbot for the time from inception of a drug discovery project to clinical development less than two years. He received two Chairman's Awards at Abbott for outstanding achievement in drug discovery.Back to Top
Pat Gray, PhDPat Gray PhD, Vice President of Research, MacroGenics.
Dr. Gray is well known for his cloning of interferon-gamma (ActiMune) which was approved by FDA to treat chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) in children in 1990 (InterMune acquires this drug from Genentech). In addition to IFN-gamma, significant accomplishments include the first cloning of hepatitis B surface antigen, multiple interferon-alpha genes, Lymphotoxin (TNF-beta), bactericidal permeability increasing protein, LPS binding protein, platelet activating factor Acetylhydrolase, and macrophage derived chemokine. Five of these proteins are approved human pharmaceuticals or are in clinical trials. Twelve of his 118 publications are in Nature, Science and Cell covering these important therapeutic proteins. He has published over 50 patents with over 30 US patents issued on 20 different technologies. He was a senior scientist working with Dr. David Goeddel cloning IFN-alpha and IFN-gamma at Genentech from 1980 to 1989. Dr. Gray worked with Dr. Marc Feldmann at the Charing Cross Sunley Research Center, London, UK from 1989 to 1990. He worked at ICOS Corporation in Seattle from 1990 to 2001 as the Director of Leukocyte Biochemistry and then promoted to various VP positions. He retired from ICOS to join MacroGenics as the VP of Research. He serves also as a consultant for Arch Venture Partners and Ceptyr, Inc. He obtained his BS from the University of Oregon and a PhD from the University of Colorado. He is frequently invited to give international seminars and is a member of ten professional societies. He has served on the editorial boards of several journals, currently that of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.Back to Top Andrew Mazar PhD, CSO Attenuon LLC
Dr. Mazar received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Illinois College of Medicine. He is a veteran of drug discovery and development and is recognized internationally for his research on the role of the urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) system in tumor progression and angiogenesis.
Dr. Mazar established and directed pre-clinical research for Ångstrom Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he was Vice President, Biology. He is the inventor of both the anti-angiogenic peptide Å6 and a novel uPA receptor-targeting peptide.
Prior to Ångstrom, Dr. Mazar spent seven years at Abbott Laboratories, where he initiated anti-angiogenesis projects and was involved in the pre-clinical development of two biological agents that are currently in Phase III trials. Dr. Mazar was recently a Co-Chair forof the subcommittee on Tumor Metastasis, Invasion, and Progression for the AACR Annual Meeting and is currently an organizer for the International Society for Fibrinolysis and Proteolysis conference to be held in 2006 in San Diego.
Dr Mazar has co-authored of five issued patents, eight pending patents and 54 scientific papers on the uPA system, mouse tumor models and the therapeutic targeting of integrins. He is a frequent member of various grant-review study sections.Back to Top
Jeffrey PetersonJeffrey Peterson CEO, Target Discovery Inc
Presentation Title: From Omics to Knowmics - Achieving Effectiveness in Discovery Biology
Mr. Peterson brings broad executive general management, multi-functional, multi-business and international experience to Target Discovery. His diverse cross-functional experience includes roles in general management, strategic planning, business development, technology licensing, marketing/sales, operations/quality and R&D.
Following an 11 year career in General Electric's Engineered Materials and Plastics businesses, he spent 9 years in key management roles in Abbott Laboratories' Diagnostics and International (Pharmaceuticals, Hospital Products, Nutritionals, Consumer) businesses. Most recently he served as CEO and General Manager of Abbott South Africa, doubling the sales and tripling the income of this 50 year-old business in 3.5 years, during the tumult of South Africa's political transition. He played an earlier pivotal management role in Abbott's successful introduction and support of multiple new diagnostics instrument and reagent systems in the history-making X-System series, including the IMx (the highest global sales diagnostic system in history).
While in South Africa, Mr. Peterson also served as Chairman of the Board of the American International School of Johannesburg.
Mr. Peterson holds BSChE and MSChE (Chemical Engineering) degrees from MIT.Back to Top Lynn Doucette-Stamm PhD, Vice President, Agencourt Bioscience
Dr. Doucette-Stamm has over 16 years of post-graduate experience in molecular biology, human genetics, genome sequencing and genotyping in relation to human disease and development. She received her PhD in Genetics from Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in 1987. Her Postdoctoral research at MIT focused on the identification of the gene responsible for Huntington’s Disease. Dr. Doucette-Stamm joined Genome Therapeutics Corporation (Nasdaq: GENE) in 1992 as a Senior Scientist responsible for developing genomics based technologies in support of Human Genetics Programs. At GENE she was most recently Vice President and General Manager of the GenomeVision™ Services Unit. Under her leadership the Unit developed a strong service business prior to its divestiture to Agencourt Bioscience. Dr. Doucette-Stamm is currently head of Business Development at Agencourt Biosciences. She is currently an active member of numerous professional societies and has a strong publication record.Back to Top
Martin A. Wasserman, PhDMartin A. Wasserman, PhD, Vice President of Discovery Research and Chief Scientific Officer, AtheroGenics, Inc.
Presentation Title: AGI-1067: A Novel, Orally Effective Anti-Inflammatory Drug to Treat Atherosclerosis
Dr. Wasserman is an accomplished pharmacologist with more than 31 years of research experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He presently serves as Vice President of Discovery Research and Chief Scientific Officer at AtheroGenics. Prior to joining AtheroGenics, Dr. Wasserman was Vice President and Senior Distinguished Scientist in the Respiratory and Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Group at Aventis Pharmaceuticals (1995-2001), and before Aventis, he spent productive years with Pharmacia (1972-1981), GlaxoSmithKline (1981-1988), Bristol-Myers Squibb (1989-1991) and Hoffmann-La Roche (1992-1995).
Dr. Wasserman has a BS degree in pharmacy from Rutgers University, NJ, and MA and PhD degrees in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of Texas, Galveston (also honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1986). His expertise encompasses a broad range of therapeutic disciplines, including respiratory, inflammation, cardiovascular, immunology, renal and gastrointestinal research.
Dr. Wasserman is presently Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Emory University and he formerly held three additional Adjunct Professorships: The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Rutgers University College of Pharmacy and Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Sciences. He has also been a Visiting Professor at Boston University (1985) and Vanderbilt University (1986, 1987) Schools of Medicine. He is on the editorial board of several journals, e.g., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Therap. and the Yearbook of Pharmacology. He has published 77 research papers, over 100 abstracts, and 22 book chapters/review articles.Back to Top
Karoly Nikolich, PhDKaroly Nikolich, PhD, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, AGY Therapeutics, Inc.
Dr. Karoly Nikolich founded AGY Therapeutics with Robert Swanson in 1998. Dr. Nikolich has over 17 years of biotechnology industry experience and is an expert in corporate research and development in the therapeutic area of central nervous system disease. Prior to founding AGY Therapeutics, Dr. Nikolich served as Vice President of Research at Lynx Therapeutics, Inc., a technology-based genomics company. From early 1984, he worked in the research division of Genentech, Inc. for 12 years, where he initiated, established and directed Genentech's neuroscience research program. Dr. Nikolich graduated from Eotvos University in Budapest, Hungary, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Tulane University as well as a visiting scholarship at the University of California, San Francisco.Back to Top Steven R Gullans, PhD, CSO, US Genomics & Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Gullans joined US Genomics in 2002 from his faculty position at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Gullans is considered a leader in the field of functional genomics, having co-authored more than 100 publications, received more than 20 research grants from the NIH and other agencies, and been awarded a number of patents.
He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has served as advisor to many corporate and academic entities. Dr. Gullans has lectured widely on his work characterizing patterns of gene expression in human and mouse systems including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Gullans received his PhD from Duke University and postgraduate training at Yale School of Medicine.Back to Top Jennifer Shore, New England Account Manager, StemCell Technologies
Title: Hematopoietic Progenitor Assays: Assays for colony forming cells
Jennifer Shore joined StemCell Technologies (Vancouver, Canada) in 1998, and provided technical support to researchers throughout the United States. Ms. Shore became the Account Manager for New England in 2001, and in this role has organized several scientific seminars on hematopoieitic stem cell differentiation for pharmaceutical and biotech companies plus academic institutions.
StemCell Technologies had its genesis as the Media Preparation Service of The Terry Fox Laboratory which is renowned for its hematopoiesis research. StemCell was founded in July of 1993, has over 100 employees, offers products for basic research in hematopoiesis and mesengenesis and more recently products for the study of neural, endothelial and murine embryonic stem cells plus a comprehensive range of cell separation products. In addition StemCell offers hematopoietic contract services to the biopharmaceutical industry.Back to Top
Frank Y. Xie, PhDFrank Y. Xie, PhD, Director, Intradigm Corporation
Title: siRNA-mediated gene silencing and efficacy in a xenograft tumor model: determination of gene function and promising therapeutic modality
Dr. Frank Xie is Director of Genomics & Drug Discovery at Intradigm Corporation in Rockville, Maryland. Intradigm is a leader in RNAi (RNA interference) delivery in vivo, enabling rapid and efficient discovery and validation of targets that relate specifically to therapeutic efficacy. Dr. Xie and his fellow scientists at Intradigm are among the first to achieve anti-tumor efficacy with RNAi in animal models. The company is uniquely positioned to combine validated targets with its delivery technology to enable development of new RNAi-based cancer therapeutics. Dr. Xie was previously Senior Scientist and Lab Head at Genetic Therapy, Inc., a Novartis company (1998-2001).
Dr. Xie earned his bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Science and Technology of China (1984), an MS in Genetics at the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, China (1989), and a PhD in Biotechnology at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio (1998). He has extensive experience with transgenic fish, ribozyme technology, human gene therapy and functional genomics research.Back to Top
David Merberg, PhDDavid Merberg PhD, Director of Informatics, Cell Signaling Technology
David Merberg PhD, Director of Informatics, Cell Signaling Technology Dr. Merberg has been applying bioinformatics methods within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries for more than 15 years. He founded and led the Research Computing group at Genetics Institute, now a unit of the pharmaceutical company, Wyeth. There, his group assembled the bioinformatics infrastructure for the DiscoverEase program, which generated a library of over 800 novel genes that encode secreted proteins. Dr. Merberg later joined AstraZeneca, where he was a founding member of the company's global bioinformatics resource. In this capacity, he led the development of enterprise systems for managing and analyzing molecular sequence and microarray data and implemented them at AstraZeneca sites around the world.Dr. Merberg then became Director of Bioinformatics at Phylos, Inc, where he led the development of systems to manage and analyze data from the company's mRNA display pipeline. In 2003, he joined Cell Signaling Technology, where he is responsible for all aspects of information and informatics within the scientific and business domains. Dr. Merberg holds a BS in mathematics from Stony Brook University and a PhD in molecular biology from The University of Michigan.
Back to Top John Maraganore PhD, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Alnylam
Title: RNA Interference: Potential Therapeutics in different diseases
John Maraganore joined Alnylam in December 2002 after having served as Senior Vice President, Strategic Product Development for Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He was previously Vice President, Strategic Planning and M&A and prior to that he was general manager of Millennium BioTherapeutics, Inc., a former subsidiary of Millennium. Before Millenium he served as Director of Molecular Biology and Director of Market and Business Development at Biogen, Inc. Dr. Maraganore received his M.S. and Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Chicago.Back to Top
Jeffrey Hillman, DMD, PhDJeffrey Hillman PhD, President, Chief Scientific Officer, IviGene
Dr. Hillman is a full Professor in the University of Florida College of Dentistry (on leave) and a co-inventor of IVIAT (In Vivo Induced Antigen Technology). He is the author of numerous seminal papers on identification of microbial virulence factors and molecular genetics of pathogenic microorganisms. He peer-reviews papers for a number of key journals, is the author of over 100 peer reviewed papers and is the holder of six published US patents. He is the founder of Oragenics, a company that has developed a novel bacterial replacement therapy for preventing tooth decay. Dr. Hillman was Chairman of the Department of Molecular Genetics at The Forsyth Institute (affiliate of Harvard Medical School), and on the faculty of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Dr. Hillman was a Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Chicago, received his DMD cum laude from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and his PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from the Harvard Medical School.Back to Top Randall K. Wetzel PhD, Dept of Clinical Applications, Cell Signaling Technology
Presentation Title: Aberrant Cell Signaling in Cancer
Dr Wetzel received his MS from Purdue University and his PhD from Boston University, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow and Instructor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He joined Cell Signaling Technology in 2002 and is currently the manager of the Flow Cytometry facility in the Department of Clinical Applications. Cell Signaling Technology (www.cellsignal.com) is the leading provider of activation state-specific (e.g. phospho-specific) antibodies. These antibodies have become important tools in the field of cancer research where genetic alterations of signaling proteins like Ras, p53 or receptor tyrosine kinases are commonly involved. Such alterations lead to abnormal gene expression, increased cell proliferation and lack of apoptotic death in cancer cells. Specific kinase inhibitors like Gleevec, Herceptin and Rapamycin effectively treat cancer by ablating the abnormal signaling. The focus of Dr Wetzel's research involves the examination of leukemic cell lines and patient samples to define the abnormal signaling and to identify diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets.Back to Top
Jeff Brockman, PhDJeff Brockman PhD, Group Leader of Microarray Technologies, Psychiatric Genomics
Dr. Brockman is the Group Leader of Microarray Technologies at Psychiatric Genomics, Inc. He manages the gene expression profiling and quantitative PCR validation experiments on human tissues, cell culture models, and animal models for the identification of disease and drug gene signatures. Dr. Brockman established the PGI biorepository, and integrated Laser Capture Microdissection technologies into the company. He is currently serving as Schizophrenia project team leader, is a central figure in multiple project teams, and collaborates with the drug discovery group developing high through put genomic based screening technologies, and lead hit conformation. Prior to joining Psychiatric Genomics, Inc. Dr. Brockman was a scientist at Research Genetics\Invitrogen where he developed gene expression profiling protocols, Molecular Beacon based quantitative Real Time PCR assays, and established and managed external academic collaborations. Dr. Brockman received his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in Microbiology and Immunology. He was a Howard Hughes Fellow at Vanderbilt University where he studied signal transduction pathways leading to the activation of NF-kB, and the role of NF-kB in immunoglobulin gene rearrangement and T cell development. This position was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Medicine\GI at Vanderbilt where he worked on a number of projects directed primarily toward the identification of potential chemopreventive and/or chemotherapeutic agents effective against colon cancer.Back to Top Gordon Vehar PhD, VP of Research, Raven Biotechnologies
Dr. Vehar received his PhD from the University of Cincinnati Medical School and did his postdoctoral work with Dr. Earl Davie at the University of Washington, Seattle. He joined Genentech, Inc. in 1980. During his 20 years at Genentech, Dr. Vehar served various leadership functions, including Director, Cardiovascular Research, and project team leader for the Factor VIII (Kogenate, tPA (Activase, TNKase (TNKase, and Lymphotoxin Projects, as well as Staff Scientist in the Cardiovascular Research and Protein Chemistry Departments. Dr. Vehar is co-inventor on 36 issued U.S. patents and has authored more than 35 scientific publications. He has been awarded the Murray Thelin Award for Outstanding Research (1987) presented by the National Hemophilia Foundation, the Inventor of the Year Award from the Intellectual Property Owners, Inc. (1989) for the recombinant tissue plasminogen activator patent and the Distinguished Inventor of the Year Award from the Intellectual Property Owners, Inc (1999) for the recombinant factor VIII patent. He served on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Oklahoma Center for Molecular Medicine (1992-1996). Dr. Vehar joined Raven Biotechnologies in 2000, as Vice President, Research and Development. Raven Biotechnologies utilizes tissue specific progenitor cells and high throughput antibody production/screening to identify, validate, and develop tumor specific monoclonal antibody therapeutics.Back to Top
Arnon Rosenthal, PhDArnon Rosenthal PhD, Arnon Rosenthal, Ph.D. Co-founder, President, and Chief Scientific Officer Rinat Neuroscience
Dr. Rosenthal is a leader in the field of neurological disease, publishing over 70 articles on the topic. He holds 13 patents for neuronal factors and receptors. Prior to co-founding Rinat Neuroscience in October 2001, Dr. Rosenthal was a staff scientist at Genentech, Inc. for 16 years where he led a neuroscience team. He is a member of the NIH Advisory Committee on Parkinson's Disease and Neuronal Repair. Dr. Rosenthal received his Ph.D. at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.Back to Top
Frank Striggow, PhDFrank Striggow PhD, CEO of KeyNeurotek , Germany
Title: Tissue-based, functional screening–bridging the gap between high-throughput screening and preclinical drug development
Dr. Striggow was one of the co-founders of KeyNeurotek AG in 1999 and is the CEO since that time. KeyNeurotek is positioned at the interface between neuroscience and CNS drug development and combines scientific expertise and technological uniqueness. The company uses efficient platform technologies for a tissue-based and disease-related functional screening in situ and in vivo (using functional imaging and spectroscopy). Clinical indications of interest are stroke, traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer and epilepsy. Dr. Striggow did his post-doctoral training at the Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Germany, the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT and the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the Magdeburg University in 1995. Dr. Striggow published several papers in the fields of signal transduction, calcium signaling and neuronal degeneration and protection, among them publications in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (USA), FASEB Journal and the Journal of General Physiology. Recently, he received the innovation award of the government of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.Back to Top
Mark A. Tepper, PhDMark A. Tepper PhD, President Araios
Dr. Tepper has over 25 years of experience in biomedical research with most of the last 15 years spent leading small molecule and protein therapeutic discovery and development projects in large pharma and biotech. Dr. Tepper has contributed to the discovery and development of a number of protein and small molecule drug candidates and marketed drugs including: Deoxyspergualin, Taxol, Esperamycin, BR96-PE, BR96-Dox, TGF-b, CD40L mAb, CTLA4Ig, CD4, LAG-3Ig, sIFNAR2, FSH, LH, and Antide. He has authored over 40 scientific publications and holds 6 patents. In January 2003, Dr.Tepper joined Thermogenic Imaging Inc. as Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to that he was President and CEO of Arradial. From 1995 -2002, Dr. Tepper served in a number of senior management roles at the Serono in Rockland most recently as Vice President, Research and Operations and Head of Lead Discovery. At Serono, Dr. Tepper was responsible for early lead discovery, biological evaluation for both small molecule and protein therapeutics, and overall operation of the Institute. He also served as Worldwide Project Leader for the 2nd generation Interferon based MS drug InferceptTM (rec. Interferon a/b Receptor/Interferon Complex) which he advanced from discovery to phase II clinical development over 1999-2002. From 1988-1995, Dr. Tepper was Sr. Research Investigator at the Bristol Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute in Wallingford, CT and Seattle, where he worked on the discovery and development of drugs in the area of Oncology and Immunology. Dr. Tepper was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (1985-1988) in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Czech, and received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from Columbia University in 1985, and a B.A. in Chemistry from Clark University with highest honors in 1979.Back to Top
Raul Krauss, PhDRaul Krauss PhD, Director of CNS, ActoKine Therapeutics
Dr. Krauss received his PhD in neurobiology from Harvard, where he studied the extracellular signaling mechanisms that regulate the expression of neurotransmitter receptors in the CNS, in the laboratory of Dr. Gerald Fischbach. After completing postdoctoral work in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, he joined the Department of Tissue Growth and Repair at Genetics Institute in Cambridge, MA (now part of Wyeth). At GI, he designed and implemented a program to study the role of Bone Morphogenetic Proteins in neural stem cell differentiation.
From Genetics Institute, Dr. Krauss has moved into positions of increasing responsibility in the biotech industry, first as Director of Neurosciences at AlphaGene, where he developed the strategic scientific research plan for the company, and subsequently as Director of Discovery Research and Cell Biology at Linden Bioscience. Dr. Krauss has broad experience in neuroscience and oncology and has served on study sections at the NIH to review grants in spinal cord trauma and brain cancer. He has published a chapter in the standard textbook in the field, Culturing Nerve Cells (Banker and Goslin, Eds, MIT Press), several publications and two patents.Back to Top Jim Dasch PhD, CTO of ActoKine Therapeutics
Dr. Dasch has worked for Collagen Corporation, Celtrix, Serono, CytoTherapeutics and Alkermes, conducting cytokine research in a variety of therapeutic areas, including autoimmune, inflammatory and neurological diseases. Dr. Dasch holds a BA from Kenyon College, a PhD from Case Western Reserve University and he did a Postdoc with Dr. Patricia Jones at Stanford.
In 1987 at Collagen Corporation, he identified TGF-b as an important immunoregulatory cytokine and created the first monoclonal antibodies that blocked the function of TGF-b in fibrotic disease. In 1993, he joined Serono as Associate Director of Pharmacology, focusing on inhibiting the pro-inflammatory cytokine, TNF-a.
In 1995, he joined CytoTherapeutics as Associate Director of Development, and managed four teams working on encapsulated cell therapies. From 1997 to 2002 at Alkermes, he examined the interplay between polymers used for drug delivery and the local inflammatory response that these polymers evoke. In his 20 years of biotechnology experience, Dr. Dasch has shown consistent leadership and strong intellectual focus. He has published more than 30 papers and filed nine US patents (seven issued in the US).Back to Top
Catherine Laplace, PhDCatherine Laplace , PhD, ActoKine Therapeutics
Dr. Laplace has professional research experience in the field of molecular and cellular biology and has also studied graphic design at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
She received her PhD from the University of Bordeaux in France where she cloned the genes encoding two mouse adenine nucleotide carriers and demonstrated the role of each isoform during cardiac differentiation. She joined the New England Baptist Bone and Joint Institute as a postdoctoral fellow where she conducteding research experiments leading to new discoveries in the field of osteoclast function and arthritis. Her scientific expertise is complemented by experience in graphic design concentrated on layout, design and editing, skills utilized in the realm of web technology pertaining to biomedicine and biotechnology. Dr. Laplace also has professional experience encompassing market analysis, research proposal writing and product marketing.Back to Top Sunkwei Huang PhD, Director of Analytical Chemistry, ActivBiotics
Prior to joining ActivBiotics, Dr. Huang, was a Senior Research Investigator at TAP Pharmaceutical Products, where he worked on new oral formulations for Prevacid and inhalational formulations for Lupron. From 1997 to 1999, he was an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and the Director of the Core MS labs at the Baylor College of Medicine. Before that, he was a Senior Research Associate and Section Head at Hoechst Corporation. Dr. Huang began his pharmaceutical career in 1986 at Affinity Biotechnology where he was a Scientist and Group Leader. He was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Michael Gross at the Midwest Center for Mass Spec/NIH, University of Nebraska.
Dr. Huang received his Master’s degree in organic synthesis from National Taiwan University in 1977, and his PhD in analytical instrumentation from Michigan State University in 1983. His responsibilities at ActivBiotics include supervision of analytical techniques and formulation of drug products. He has been responsible for setting up both GMP pharmaceutical and GLP bioanalytical laboratories. His lab developed a lipid formulation for ActivBiotic’s lead compound. He developed a stability assessment program to assure the drug’s safety for human clinical trials.Back to Top
Amy L. Rubinstein, PhDAmy L. Rubinstein PhD, Director Zygogen
Dr. Amy Rubinstein is Director of Research at Zygogen, LLC in Atlanta, Georgia. Zygogen uses transgenic zebrafish technology to design disease models that will be used for drug target discovery, target validation and drug screening. Dr. Rubinstein was previously Senior Scientist at Zygogen (2000-2001).
Dr. Rubinstein received her bacheloràs degree in chemistry at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts (1988) and her Ph.D. in biology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (1995). She was trained in zebrafish developmental biology as a postdoctoral fellow at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Baltimore, Maryland (1996-2000).Back to Top
Kathy HehirKathy Hehir, Director of Technology Development & Regulatory Affairs, TranXenoGen Inc.
Ms. Hehir joined the Company in July 2000 and has over twenty years' experience in biotechnology, with particular expertise in Molecular Biology and Gene Therapy. Prior to joining TranXenoGen, Ms. Hehir was with Genzyme Corporation, where she was responsible for the manufacture, process development, quality control and distribution for all of the Adenovirus gene therapy products in various stages of development.She was also responsible for the appropriate regulatory submissions to support the gene therapy programs and for regulatory submissions on the cell line characterization of several recombinant protein therapeutics which are currently marketed products. Ms. Hehir holds a BS in Chemistry and BioPsychology from Tufts University. She obtained Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC) in 2000.
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Erdogan Memili, DVM, MS, PhDErdogan Memili DVM, MS, PhD, GTC Biotherapeutics
Title: Career Planning: Progress in Confidence
Dr. Erdogan Memili is a molecular embryologist with extensive experience in key areas of biology including molecular/cellular biology, epigenetics and embryology/developmental biology. Having completed graduate study in control of gene expression at the onset of bovine embryonic development in the laboratory of Dr. Neal L. First at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Memili defined the structure of the Xist (X inactivation specific transcript) RNA molecule in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells during his postdoctoral studies at the Harvard Institute of Human Genetics, Harvard Medical School. This finding is an important step in better understanding the molecular details of how exactly X chromosome inactivation (an epigenetic event) occurs during early development in female mammals. Currently Dr. Memili is working on elucidating molecular details of reprogramming events taking place in early mammalian embryos derived by IVF and nuclear transfer. Expertise in both in molecular biology and embryology enables him to target areas crucial to our understanding of nuclear reprogramming with advanced molecular tools.Back to Top
Daniel Hu, PhDDaniel Hu, PhD, CEO, Bonature
Title: Developing a novel protein with bioactivity to increase cytokine production for anti-microbial infection and anti-allergy therapyDr. Hu is a co-founder of Bonature. He received his PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Warwick, UK, and did postdoctoral work at Heriot-Watt University in the UK. After working as a research scientist at TerraGen Discovery, Inc. in Vancouver, Canada, Dr. Hu joined the Biomedical Engineering Center (BMEC) at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan in 2000. In 2001, Dr. Hu became a department manager at BMEC, supervising projects in recombinant DNA expression systems and establishing drug screening methods. Recently, he and a group of scientists from McGill University (Canada) and National Taiwan University founded Bonature in Montreal.
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James Yingjian Wang, PhDJames Yingjian Wang, PhD, Hypromatrix
James Yingjian Wang, Ph.D., is the Chief Scientific Officer at Hypromatrix, where he has worked since 2000. Dr. Wang received an B.S. in Biology from the Peking University and his Ph.D. in Physiology from Miami University. Dr. Wang was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Pathology at Yale University. There he identified a novel red cell protein (SLP-2) and studied its function using molecular and cellular techniques.Prior to his postdoctoral work at Yale, Dr. Wang was also a post-doc at Woods Hole for one year. At Hypromatrix, Dr. Wang is the inventor of several protein microarray technologies, including Interactive Protein Array Technology, DNA Transfection Array Technology, and most recently, Dissociable Protein Microarray technology.
He is in charge of research and development of new genomic and proteomic technologies and manufacturing of related products. Dr. Wang has published 10 original papers in important journals such as the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology and Journal of Cell Science.
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See other speakers:If you would like to be involved with the 2006 Pauling Symposium please email Dr. Grace Wong at gw@studentvision.org.
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