Pauling Biotech Symposium Speakers MIT Faculty Club, Cambridge, MA, USA Click here to register This is a preliminary list of speakers from Publicly Held Biotech Companies. More will be added soon. Publicly Held Biotech Companies David Leung, PhD Cell Therapeutics Tomi Sawyer, PhD ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Kevin Foley, PhD Millennium David White, PhD Millennium Keith Robison, PhD Millennium Zhenping Zhu, MD, PhD ImClone Systems Irina Agoulnik, PhD Millennium Tarif A. Awad, PhD Affymetrix Brian Zambrowicz, PhD Lexicon Genetics Timothy Hoey, PhD Tularik Roy Pollock, PhD ARIAD Pharmaceuticals John Randle, PhD Vertex Pharmaceuticals Mark Namchuk, PhD Vertex Pharmaceuticals Juan A. Ruiz, PhD, MBA Transkaryotic Therapies Richard Gregory, PhD Genzyme Alex Harris, PhD Chiron Michael Kinch, PhD MedImmune David W. Leung PhD, Director of Molecular Biology, Cell Therapeutics. Dr. Leung is a noted molecular biologist with 20 years' experience in the biotech industry. He has authored 56 publications and holds 16 issued patents. Dr. Leung is currently the Chief Scientist of Molecular Biology at Cell Therapeutics where he is responsible for cloning all proteins for Cell Therapeutics Inc. He was one of the key directors responsible for technical developments since the very early stage of this biotech startup. Prior to joining Cell Therapeutics Inc, Dr. Leung spent 12 years at Genentech where he worked on the cloning and expression of many cytokines, including human IFNs (working with Dr. David Goeddel) which are now marketed drugs. He holds a BA in chemistry from Whittier College and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Illinois. Back to Top Tomi Sawyer, PhD Tomi Sawyer PhD, Vice President of Drug Discovery, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Presentation Title: Protein Kinase Inhibitors: Novel Ligands to Breakthrough Medicines Dr. Sawyer has broad scientific and management experience in both large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and is currently responsible for small-molecule drug discovery at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals. He has expertise in nonpeptide, peptidomimetic and peptide-based therapeutics, and has championed R&D teams that have brought forth several clinical candidates for cancer, immune diseases, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Noteworthy has been Dr. Sawyer's work on protein kinase inhibitors (Src, Abl), protease inhibitors (ICE, HIV protease, renin), and G protein coupled receptors (MCR1, MCR4). Prior to joining ARIAD Pharmaceuticals in 1997, he worked at Parke-Davis/Warner-Lambert and Upjohn/Pharmacia (now both Pfizer Global Research and Development). Dr. Sawyer is Adjunct Professor of Chemistry as well as Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He is credited with more than 200 scientific publications and patents, and serves on the editorial boards of more than ten journals, including Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs, Targets: Innovations in Genomics and Proteomics, Current Organic Synthesis, and Peptide Science. Back to Top Kevin P. Foley PhD, Senior Scientist, Millennium Pharmaceuticals Dr. Foley is currently a Senior Scientist at Millennium Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, where he directs a group involved in in vivo drug target validation and the development of mouse models of human disease. Prior to this, he was a Staff Scientist at ZymoGenetics in Seattle, where he developed a new model of systemic lupus erythematosus, leading to the discovery of the cytokine BLyS as a key regulator of B cell function in auto-immune diseases. He received his Ph.D. in J. Douglas Engel's laboratory at Northwestern University in Chicago, where he studied the transcriptional regulation of globin genes, and he was a postdoctoral fellow with Robert N. Eisenman at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, where he studied the function of the Myc oncogene. Back to Top David W. White, PhD David W. White PhD, Senior Scientist, Millennium Pharmaceuticals David W. White, PhD is a Senior Scientist and head of new target discovery and validation for central obesity research at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He received his PhD in molecular and cellular biology from Boston University in 1996 working in the lab of Professor Thomas Gilmore. Main research focus was on understanding the mechanism of malignant transformation by the retroviral oncogene v-rel. Post-doctoral work was with Dr. Lou Tartaglia at Millennium. Research interests focused on the role of the leptin pathway in modulating the neuroendocrine control of mammalian body weight homeostasis. He has published more than 35 research papers and is the lead inventor on 29 US and European patent applications. Back to Top Keith Robison PhD, Senior Scientist II, Millennium Pharmaceuticals Dr. Robison currently holds the position of Senior Scientist II in the computational sciences group at Millennium Pharmaceuticals. He received his PhD.in molecular and cellular biology from Harvard University under the guidance of Drs. Walter Gilbert and George M. Church, two pioneers in the field of genomics. During his tenure at Harvard, he was widely recognized for encouraging the use of the World Wide Web for serious biological research use. For the past seven years, he has collaborated with many scientists at Millennium to develop specialized computational systems to identify and prioritize possible drug targets and therapeutic proteins. Software designed or developed by Dr. Robison was transferred to several of Millennium’s technology partners and was the centerpiece of one of the largest target discovery collaborations between a pharmaceutical company and a biotech. His current interests are in the area of computational analysis of pathways and interacting proteins. He is also a member of the industry advisory panel for Northeastern University’s Masters Program in Bioinformatics. Back to Top Zhenping Zhu MD, PhD, Assistant Vice President, Antibody Technology, ImClone Systems Dr. Zhu received his medical degree in 1985 from Jiangxi Medical College, his MSc in pharmacology from Peking Union Medical College in 1988, and his PhD in immunology and pathology from Dalhousie University (Halifax, Canada) in 1993 in the laboratory of Dr. T. Ghose. From 1993 to 1996, he as a postdoctoral fellow in antibody engineering at Genentech in Dr. P. Carter’s laboratory. He passed the US Medical Licensing Examination and obtained ECFMG certification in 1996. He joined ImClone1996, and currently directs their research program in antibody technology. He established ImClone’s antibody technology department with expertise in phage display and antibody engineering techniques. Since 1996, Dr. Zhu has held an Adjunct Professor position in the National Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology at the Institute of Hematology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. He is an expert in antibody technology (>18 years) and has authored over 80 publications. Back to Top Irina Agoulnik, PhD Irina Agoulnik PhD, Scientist I, Millennium Pharmaceuticals Dr. Agoulnik joined Millennium Pharmaceuticals in 1998 to support analysis of transcriptional profiling data for franchise departments. Exceptional organizational and management skills promoted her to the role of leader for the data processing and analysis group when a newly-formed transcription profiling core facility was opened. Dr. Agoulnik played a key role in building a robust, high quality system, first for nylon cDNA arrays,then for Affymetrix GeneChip technology, by working with scientists, statisticians, bioinformaticians and vendors, to set up quality metrics, their specifications and appropriate documentation as well as to develop and implement software applications to support the system. Prior to Millennium, Dr. Agoulnik worked as a research staff member at Princeton University’s Molecular Biology Department in Professor Lee Silver’s laboratory. Dr. Agoulnik received a PhD in Genetics and Biophysics from Novosibirsk Agricultural University with a registered patent. In addition, she earned a diploma in computer programming from The Chubb Institute, New Brunswick, NJ, and has been a panel member of an NIH Study Section. Back to Top Tarif A. Awad, PhD Tarif A. Awad PhD, Senior Scientist, Affymetrix Presentation Title: Genes, Chips, and the Future of Biology Dr. Awad has been with Affymetrix for almost 5 years, serving in a number of roles including Applications Scientist, Data Analysis Team Manager and most recently as Senior Scientist in the Genomics Collaborations Group. His current research focuses on using expression profiling in drug target validation and in pathway analysis of complex biological processes. Tarif was educated at the University of California, Irvine (BS Biology, BA Music). His interests in developmental biology began while studying pattern formation in Hydra in the laboratory of Dr. Hans Bode. He completed his PhD in zoology at the University of Washington in Seattle, studying hormonal signaling during nervous system development in Drosophila under Dr. James Truman. He received post-doctoral training with Dr. Steven Collins at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, where he investigated hormonal regulation of gene expression in developing blood cells. Back to Top Brian Zambrowicz, PhD Brian Zambrowicz PhD, Executive Vice President of Research, Lexicon Genetics Presentation Title: Using mouse knockout technology to guide drug development Dr. Zambrowicz is well known for gene trapping and gene targeting technology and is a leader in the genomics field. He has produced many sequence tagged mutations in approximately two-thirds of mammalian genes. He earned his PhD in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Palmiter at the University of Washington in Seattle where he studied tissue-specific gene regulation using transgenic mice. He went on to learn embryonic stem cell technologies including gene trapping and gene targeting by homologous recombination during a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Philippe Soriano at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. In 1996, he became a Senior Scientist at Lexicon Genetics. He currently serves as Executive Vice President of Research at Lexicon where his focus is drug development based upon novel drug targets identified through mouse knockout technology. He has directed the development of a high-throughput mammalian genetic screen for the identification of drug targets for pharmaceutical development. This has included a bioinformatics program to mine the druggable genes from the human genome and identify their mouse ortholog, the development of tools for the production of knockout mice for 750 genes per year, implementation of a comprehensive pathophysiological screen of the resulting gene knockouts for defining gene function in the mammal and selection of targets with therapeutic relevance for drug discovery. Small molecule or antibody-based drug discovery programs are currently under way for more than 20 targets identified by this program. He is frequently invited to speak at international conferences. Back to Top Timothy Hoey, PhD Timothy Hoey PhD, Director of Biology, Tularik Timothy Hoey, Ph.D. is Director of Biology at Tularik Inc., South San Francisco, CA. Dr. Hoey has been at Tularik for ten years and has extensive experience in studying signal transduction and gene regulation in the fields of immunology and cancer biology. Prior to joining Tularik in 1993, Dr. Hoey was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Robert Tjian at UC Berkeley where he investigated the mechanisms of gene regulation and the interaction of gene-specific and general transcription factors. Dr. Hoey received his Ph.D. in 1989 from Columbia University where he worked with Michael Levine studying the transcription factors that regulate Drosophila embryogenesis. Back to Top Roy Pollock, PhD Roy Pollock PhD, Principal Scientist, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Dr. Pollock joined ARIAD in 1994. He has been involved in the development of systems for the control of signal transduction and gene expression through chemically induced protein dimerization. He created novel transcription factors for ARIAD's gene regulation system and demonstrated that the system could be used to control the expression of endogenous cellular genes by targeting natural promoters. Dr. Pollock earned his PhD in Richard Treisman's laboratory at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute (formerly the ICRF) where he cloned and characterized members of the MEF2 family – a group of transcription factors important in muscle development and muscle-specific gene expression. He was also among the first to develop an iterative selection technique to isolate protein-DNA binding sites from pools of random sequence oligonucleotides. Dr. Pollock joined ARIAD after postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Dr. Leonard Guarente at MIT, and he is currently investigating the mechanism of action of ARIAD compounds targeting Src, Abl and mTOR. Back to Top John Randle, PhD John Randle PhD, Program Executive, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Title: ICE inhibitors for the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders John Randle joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals in 1999 as Program Executive to lead the Vertex/Aventis ICE inhibitor project and has now added the caspase inhibitors development project to his activities. Previously, he was Director of Marketing (Asthma & Allergy) and Health Economics at Rhône-Poulenc Rorer (Antony, France; Collegeville, PA). Prior to that he worked in the CNS drug discovery program at RPR, following an initial posting at the Institut de Recherche Servier (Suresnes, France). He received his initial training at McGill University (Montreal; PhD in physiology) and Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario; BSc & MSc) as well as at l’Université de Paris VII, Stockholm School of Economics and Harvard School of Public Health. Back to Top Mark Namchuk PhD, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Mark Namchuk is currently Head of Kinase Discovery Research at Vertex. He joined Vertex in 1998 from Cubist Pharmaceuticals where he served as Head of the enzymology group. Before entering industry, Dr. Namchuk was a Human Frontier Science Program post-doctoral fellow at the Hormone Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco, studying the biochemistry and cell biology of GAD65, an autoantigen associated with the onset of type I diabetes. He holds a PhD in Bioorganic Chemistry from the University of British Columbia and a BSc with honours in chemistry from the University of Alberta. Back to Top Juan A. Ruiz, PhD, MBA Juan A. Ruiz PhD, MBA – Director, Transkaryotic Therapies (TKT) Title: Implantation of Non-Viral Ex Vivo Genetically Modified Autologous Dermal Fibroblasts that Express B-Domain Deleted Human Factor VIII in 12 Severe Hemophilia A Subjects Dr. Ruiz directs the Bioanalytical Development department at TKT. The group conceives, designs, develops, validates and applies a broad array of bioassay options and strategies to elucidate and better comprehend the pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and bioactivity relationship of drug therapy and regimen in support of preclinical, clinical, pharmacovigilance and post-market drug development. Prior to TKT, Dr. Ruiz consulted on high throughput screening (HTS) and robotics, and was Director of Haemostasis at Instrumentation Laboratories where he was responsible for HTS methods, robotics and instrument systems. Prior to that he was Section Manager at Baxter International where he led discovery on prethrombotic and fibrinolytic markers, and was involved in developing biotherapeutics such as factor VIII, gamma globulin and antithrombin III. Dr. Ruiz earned a Bachelors degree in chemistry and math, a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology and an MBA, all from the University of Miami. His graduate studies focused on insulin action, GPCRs and modulation of signal transduction. Back to Top Richard Gregory PhD – Senior Vice President and Head of Research, Genzyme Rich received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1986, followed by post-doctoral research in cancer genetics at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in Shrewsbury MA. In 1989 he joined Genzyme Corporation, where he was responsible for a number of discovery projects in the molecular biology department. In 1990, his group at Genzyme was the first to express the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) and to determine the molecular defect caused by the most common mutation of CFTR. Richard received the Genzyme President's award for this work in 1991. This research on the molecular basis of cystic fibrosis led to the development of Genzyme's CF gene therapy program, for which Richard was Project Team Leader until 1993. From 1993 to 1995 he was Director of Molecular Biology at Canji, Inc. in San Diego, where he conducted research on development of gene therapies for cancer. Dr. Gregory returned to Genzyme in 1995 to head the gene therapy program as Vice President for Gene Therapy. Research efforts under Dr. Gregory's direction during this period included programs in cancer immunotherapy, gene therapies for genetic diseases and cardiovascular gene therapy. In 2003, Richard was appointed Head of Research for Genzyme Corporation and currently is responsible for oversight of pre-clinical research conducted at Genzyme. He is the co-author of over 60 peer-reviewed publications and 17 issued U.S. patents in the area of biotechnology. Back to Top Alex Harris PhD – Vice President, Chiron Alex Harris has been at Chiron for a little over 8 years now. He obtained his Ph.D. from the State University at Buffalo in Biochemical Pharmacology and then did a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan in Physiology Department. In 1983, Alex joined the Pharmacology Department at Sterling Drug Research where he did cardiovascular research on the PDE-III inhibitors, Amrinone and Milrinone. In 1988, while still at Sterling, Alex's interest turned to the "new' field of high throughput screening (HTS) - an area that eventually brought him to Chiron in 1996. When Alex arrived at Chiron he helped set up the HTS and sample management groups. In 1999 he was asked to take on the responsibility of leading an Oncology small molecule project team - which he helped lead from hit-to-lead all the way to a development candidate in 2002 (CHIR-258). Alex is currently the Vice President of the Applied Biochemistry group in Biopharmaceutical research and has been a member of the Research Management Team (RMT) since it's inception in Feb. 2003. Back to Top Michael Kinch, PhD Michael Kinch PhD – Director, Research, MedImmune Dr. Michael Kinch, director of research, was promoted to head of MedImmune's cancer biology and in vivo biology departments in October, 2003. He joined the company in December 2001. Dr. Kinch's scientific areas of expertise include cancer cell metastasis, signal transduction, immunology, cell biology, biochemistry and in vivo studies. Prior to joining MedImmune, Dr. Kinch spent six years with Purdue University, holding the position of associate professor of pharmacology (with tenure). At Purdue, he conducted extramurally funded research in the fields of cancer metastasis and microenvironment. Before his employment at Purdue, Dr. Kinch had previously served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Kinch holds a bachelor of science degree with distinction in molecular genetics from The Ohio State University and a doctorate of philosophy in cell and molecular biology from Duke University, Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Back to Top Back to Speaker List See other speakers: Linus Pauling Speakers Pharmaceutical Companies Private Biotech Companies Cytokine Companies Public Biotech Companies Academic Institutions Other 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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