I am an entrepreneurial scientist with research and project management experience bridging academic and industry settings. I have a PhD in Molecular Biology and was one of the first researchers to work in the small RNA (sRNA) field. My graduate thesis focused on creating critical reagents and foundational assays that are used to detect and measure sRNA activity. As a Fellow at the Yale School of Medicine, I was involved in the discovery and characterization a set of first-in-class that resulted in the formation of 2 companies (MiraKind and MiraDx). I lead R&D as the Chief Scientific Officer of MiraDx and created 4 biomarker tests to predict response and outcome measures to radiation therapy and immuno-oncology agents. These products are currently used as patient enrollment and selection markers in clinical trials. In 2014 I was recruited to Biogen where I developed pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic assays for the antisense oligo pipeline, which was being co-developed with IONIS Pharmaceuticals. The biomarker tests my team developed provided go/no-go decision-making criteria for moving two antisense oligos, directed against superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) from preclinical into first-in-human trials in patients affected with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). As Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gatehouse Bio, I lead all scientific development and strategic operations at the company. Within three years of formation we have created a relational database that fuels the discovery of small RNA signatures that are licensed out to drug developers for use in uncovering drug targets, and identifying companion diagnostics and new indications for existing drugs.
Did you know?
Gilberto Loureiro grew up inspecting fabrics in a Portuguese textile factory. With Smartex, he and co-founders Antonio Rocha and Paulo Ribeiro are eliminating textile defects—and their enormous cost both to manufacturers and the environment.
Miranda Wang and Jeanny Yao have an uncanny talent for finding value where others see waste. Their plastics upcycling company, Novoloop, just raised an $21m Series A to prove it.
To find the future of food, you may have to look no further than Emeryville, CA, a small city by the San Francisco Bay, where Upside Foods has built a 53,000-square-foot production facility for cultivated meat, the first of its kind.
In a timeless dilemma for new parents, Radhika and her husband Bharath discovered early that their baby daughter was a fussy sleeper. The situation left them tired and frustrated; being effective at work became a challenge.
In December 2021 Prellis raised a $14.5 million Series B and has signed partnerships with pharmaceutical behemoths including Bristol Myers Squibb and Sanofi.
It was 2016, and Chiu Chau was on the ropes. He had pitched nearly 150 venture capital firms. No one would invest. Everyone doubted the startup with the open-source laboratory robot.
Adebayo (“Ade”) Alonge and Amy Kao, co-founders of RxAll had nvented a handheld scanner for detecting counterfeit prescription drugs—an illicit, multibillion-dollar industry that kills an estimated 1 million people annually globally and 100,000 in Africa.