Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top San Francisco based CEO’ operating in the Biotechnology space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Othman Laraki
Co-founder & CEO of Color
Othman Laraki, MS, MBA, is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Color, a health technology company building public health infrastructures such as scaled and efficient testing to contain the COVID-19 pandemic or using genomics for population health. Previously, Othman co-founded Mixer Labs and developed its GeoAPI platform, a powerful location engine for developers. After the company was acquired by Twitter in 2009, he served as the social media network’s Vice President of Product and helped expand its user base from 50 to 200 million unique accounts. Before this, Othman spent several years at Google, where he played an integral role developing front-end products, including the Chrome browser. Othman is a long-time investor and advisor to leading companies such as Pinterest, AngelList, Slack and Instacart, and serves as a board member for ESI Group and Frontier Medicines. He holds degrees in computer science and management from Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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About Color: Color is a population health technology company that enables the delivery of advanced healthcare through clinical genetics.
Anne Wojcicki
Co-Founder and CEO of 23andMe
Anne co-founded 23andMe in 2006 after a decade spent in healthcare investing, focused primarily on biotechnology companies. Her hope was to empower consumers with access to their own genetic information and to create a way to generate more personalized information so that commercial and academic researchers could better understand and develop new drugs and diagnostics. Presently, 23andMe has built one of the world’s largest databases of individual genetic information. Its novel, web-based research approach allows for the rapid recruitment of participants to many genome-wide association studies at once, reducing the time and money needed to make new discoveries, and the company has created a proven and standardized resource for finding new genetic association and confirming genetic loci discovered by others. Under Anne’s leadership 23andMe has made significant advances in bringing personalized medicine directly to the public. Anne graduated from Yale University with a BS in Biology. Getting access to and understanding her own genetic information had always been one of her ambitions.
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About 23andMe, The Brin Wojcicki Foundation: 23andMe is a DNA testing technology company that enables its users to access their ancestry, genealogy, and inherited traits.
Trevor Martin
Co-Founder and CEO of Mammoth Biosciences
As co-founder and CEO of Mammoth Biosciences, Trevor Martin is focused on creating the world’s first CRISPR-based platform for disease detection, taking impactful CRISPR technology out of the lab and into the hands of doctors and consumers. Prior to co-founding Mammoth, Trevor completed his PhD in Biology at Stanford University, where he worked at the intersection of statistics and genetics. In addition to having taught a course in Statistics at Stanford, Trevor has penned educational guides for university courses across the globe. His work has been featured in outlets like FiveThirtyEight and The Atlantic.
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About Mammoth Biosciences: Mammoth Biosciences develops novel CRISPR applications for disease detection, research, agriculture, biodefense, and more.
John Melo
Director, President & Chief Executive Officer of Amyris
John Melo has 30 years of combined experience as an entrepreneur and thought leader in developing and growing technology companies and as a senior executive in the Oil & Gas industry. As President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Melo has led Amyris through successful technology development, industrial start up, product development and commercialization and a series of funding rounds, including the initial public offering. Before joining Amyris in 2007, Mr. Melo served in various senior executive positions at BP Plc (formerly British Petroleum) most recently as President of U.S. fuels operations where he successfully led a business transformation and significantly improved the financial performance. During his tenure at BP, Mr. Melo also served as Chief Information Officer of the refining and marketing segment; Senior Advisor for e-business strategy to Lord Browne, BP group chief executive; and Director of global brand development. In this last role, he helped develop the “Helios” re-branding effort. Before joining BP, Mr. Melo was with Ernst & Young. Mr. Melo currently serves on the board of directors of Renmatix Inc., serves on the board of directors of BayBio, serves on the Bio Industrial and Environmental section governing board, is a member of the Council for the Portuguese Diaspora and is a member of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). He was formerly an appointed member to the U.S. section of the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum. When not working on the mission of making sustainable chemistry mainstream or championing the eradication of malaria, John enjoys skiing, reading and time with his family on the island of Pico in the Azores, his childhood home.
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About Amyris: Amyris Biotechnologies specializes in creating renewable products focusing on fuels and chemicals.
Kimberlie Le
CEO and Co-Founder of Prime Roots
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About Prime Roots: Prime Roots is celebrating the culture of meat by reimagining protein itself.
Francis deSouza
CEO of Illumina
Francis A. deSouza, 50, has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Illumina, Inc., a biotechnology company, since 2016 and served as President of Illumina from 2013 to 2016. Prior to joining Illumina, Mr. deSouza was President, Products and Services, of Symantec Corporation from 2011 to 2013, and Mr. deSouza served as Symantec’s Senior Vice President, Enterprise Security Group, from 2009 to 2011. Prior to that time he founded or worked in a variety of other technology businesses. He has served as a Director of Illumina since 2014 and was a director of Citrix Systems, Inc. from 2014 to 2016. He was elected a Director of the Company in December 2017, effective February 1, 2018.
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About Illumina: Illumina is an innovative technology and revolutionary assays aiming the analyze genetic variation and function.
Charles Homcy
M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Maze Therapeutics
Charles Homcy is a partner at Third Rock Ventures, where he focuses on the formation of companies that discover and develop novel therapeutic approaches. He brings significant experience building and leading successful biotech companies and has played an integral role in the launching and building of Third Rock Ventures’ portfolio companies, including Ambys Medicines, Global Blood Therapeutics, Pliant Therapeutics, Relay Therapeutics, Goldfinch Bio, CytomX and MyoKardia. Prior to Third Rock Ventures, Charles co-founded Portola Pharmaceuticals, where he served as president and CEO. Earlier, he served as president of research and development at Millennium, following the company’s acquisition of COR Therapeutics in 2002. Charles joined COR in 1995 as executive vice president of research and development and served as a director of the company from 1998 to 2002. From 1997 to 2008 Charles was a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School and an attending physician at the San Francisco VA Hospital. He was previously president of the medical research division of American Cyanamid-Lederle Laboratories. Charles currently serves on the boards of Portola Pharmaceuticals, Ambys Medicines, Global Blood Therapeutics and Pliant Therapeutics. Charles holds an A.B. and M.D. from Johns Hopkins University, where he presently serves on the board of trustees.
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About Maze Therapeutics, Third Rock Ventures: Maze Therapeutics is an operator of a biotechnology firm used to focus on translating genetic insights into new medicines.
Mike Nolan
Chief Executive Officer of Freenome
Mike brings nearly three decades of experience to his role as Freenome’s Chief Executive Officer, building on a proven record of delivering transformative diagnostic technologies that help clinicians drive better outcomes for their patients. Previously, Mike served as the company’s Chief Business Officer, where he led Freenome’s corporate and business development, product management, clinical development and operations, program management, and marketing teams. He also oversaw partnerships with biopharma companies, academic medical centers, and health systems where our multiomics platform is deployed to move research and medicine forward.
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About Freenome, Freenome, Freenome: Freenome is a biotechnology company with a comprehensive multiomics platform for cancer detection using a routine blood draw.
Cheng Liu
Founder, CEO of Eureka Therapeutics
Cheng Liu is the founder and CEO of Eureka Therapeutics, a California biotech company dedicated to antibody research and discovery for cancer immunotherapy. Prior to founding Eureka, Dr. Liu was a Principal Scientist in antibody drug discovery at Chiron (now Novartis), where he championed anti-CSF1 antibody program for treatment of bone metastasis to human clinical trials. He is the inventor of multiple issued US patents in drug discovery. In 2007, he was awarded Special US Congressional Recognition for his contributions to improving human health. Dr. Liu received his B.S. in Cell Biology and Genetics from Beijing University and a Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
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About Eureka Therapeutics: Eureka Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focusing on immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer.
Hesaam Esfandyarpour
Founder and CEO of Genapsys
Hesaam is the Founder and CEO of GenapSys Inc. He is an inventor of electronic DNA sequencing, a technology he developed during his PhD work at Stanford. Hesaam has dedicated the past decade of his life to the development of this novel DNA sequencing technology, which has at its core the convergence of multiple fields of science – engineering, chemistry, biology, and computing. Hesaam incubated the technology at the Stanford Genome Technology Center for a period of six years before securing licenses to the IP and incorporating GenapSys in January of 2010. He has grown GenapSys from just a handful of employees working out of Menlo Labs incubator space, to over 50 employees across seven functional teams. In 2012, Hesaam partnered GenapSys with StartX, an accelerator for the development of Stanford’s top entrepreneurs. He has raised approximately $50M for GenapSys in Seed, Series A, and Series B rounds of financing. Hesaam holds a PhD and MS in Electrical Engineering, and MSc Management degree, all from Stanford University. He earned his BS in Electrical Engineering with Honors from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. When he is not at GenapSys HQ (which is rare!) you can find Hesaam spending time outdoors, hiking or spending time with family and friends. He is also a great lover of poetry, his favorite of which are poems by the Persian poet Saa’di.
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About Genapsys: Transform the human condition by building a scalable, affordable genomic sequencing ecosystem that will support research and diagnostics
Deepak Thomas
Co-Founder & CEO of Phil
Mr. Deepak Thomas Founded Phil, Inc. and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. After a particularly frustrating experience at a chain drug store, Mr. Thomas sat down and did the math on the number of hours he had spent standing in line for his prescriptions. When he realized that he had spent over 500 hours standing in line at drug stores, he decided to spend at least 500 hours trying to build a better experience before founding Phil, Inc. Prior to this, he held product and general management roles at eBay, Shutterfly, Match.com and Oracle.
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About Phil: Phil is a software therapy deployment platform, offering pharmaceutical manufacturers a modern alternative to patient access solutions
Sasan Amini
Co-Founder and CEO of Clear Labs
Sasan combined his academic expertise and passion for healthy living when he co-founded Clear Labs with a mission to set a new paradigm for food safety and quality. Prior to serving as the CEO of Clear Labs, he worked in the Advanced Research department at Illumina. Sasan earned his PhD in Genomics from Princeton and holds multiple patents and publications in the field.
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About Clear Labs: Clear Labs is a provider of a fully-automated sequencing platform for turnkey diagnostics.
Fred Aslan
President & CEO of Artiva Biotherapeutics
Born and raised in Brazil, Fred Aslan is the founder of Adavium Medical (previously known as ADVANCE Medical). He is also affiliated with Venrock, a leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm he joined in 2006. While a full-time investor at Venrock prior to founding Adavium, Fred Aslan was a co-founder and board member of Receptos Pharmaceuticals, a NASDAQ-listed biotech company, which was subsequently acquired by Celgene for more than $8 billion. He also led Venrock’s investment in Zeltiq, a NASDAQ-listed medical device company that was valued at more than $1 billion. Prior to Venrock, he was Director of Business Development and led Investor Relations at CuraGen, a NASDAQ-listed oncology-focused biotech company, and was a strategy consultant with Boston Consulting Group (BCG). He was named the “2014 Business Professional of the Year” by the Brazilian government, recognizing the achievements of Brazilian professionals living outside of Brazil. He is also a board member of Femasys, a US-based women’s health medical device company, and BayBrazil, a Silicon Valley-based not-for-profit organization promoting ties between Silicon Valley and Brazil. Fred Aslan received a B.S. in Biology from Duke University, an M.D. from Yale and an M.B.A. from Harvard.
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About Adavium, Artiva Biotherapeutics: Artiva Biotherapeutics is a biotech company focused on developing and commercializing allogeneic natural killer (NK) cell therapies.
Eric Hobbs
CEO of Berkeley Lights
Eric D. Hobbs joined Berkeley Lights in May 2013 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in March 2017. Prior to becoming CEO, Eric held various senior management roles, including most recently, Senior Vice President of Operations and Consumables. Prior to Berkeley Lights, Eric led the design, development, and launch of 3 new product architectures at FormFactor, Inc. as a senior member of both R&D and Operations organizations. He holds more than 62 U.S. and International patents. Eric has lectured both at UC Berkeley and Stanford speaking on Engineering Design, Invention, and Optimization Algorithms. Eric earned his Ph.D. & M.S. in MEMS Design and Microfluidic Devices at UC Berkeley. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from U.S.C.
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About Berkeley Lights: Berkeley Lights is a provider of research and development services using micro-droplet technology that change the biological processes.
Corey McCann
President and Chief Executive Officer of Pear Therapeutics
Corey M McCann M.D., Ph.D. is the President and CEO of Pear Therapeutics, a company developing prescription digital therapeutics and drug/software combinations for treatment of severe medical conditions. Previously, he was an investor with MPM Capital, where he evaluated new healthcare investment opportunities, managed relationships with strategic partners, and oversaw strategy and execution at portfolio companies. Prior to MPM, he was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company, where he advised pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology companies on the acquisition, development, and commercialization of life science technologies. He led McKinsey’s central nervous system (CNS) expertise group, advising clients across the healthcare value chain. Corey has previous investment experience with RiverVest Venture Partners, where he performed diligence on early stage investments, and at NeuroInsights, where he evaluated brain related technologies. Corey is also a co-founder, advisor, or Board Director at AgNovos Healthcare, Alcyone Lifesciences, Dragonfly Sciences, Edumedics, Resolute Bio, Selexys Pharmaceuticals, and Zillion Health. Dr. McCann trained as a physician-scientist via the Medical Scientist Training Program. For his PhD, he studied the molecular biology of synapses at Harvard University and at Washington University in St Louis. He was also a post-doctoral researcher at the Massachusetts General Hospital where he developed imaging techniques for the visualization of the brain. Dr. McCann received his M.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. He graduated summa cum laude from The Pennsylvania State University where he was an Evan Pugh Scholar, receiving a B.S. in Biology with minors in neuroscience, biochemistry, and molecular biology.
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About Pear Therapeutics: Pear Therapeutics is a software-based digital therapeutics platform designed to treat disease and enhance the efficacy of pharmaceuticals.
Peter Gassner
Founder and CEO of Veeva
Peter is responsible for the overall direction and management of Veeva Systems. In 2010, Peter was named to the PharmaVOICE 100, which recognizes the 100 most influential people in the life sciences industry. Peter is a twenty year veteran of the software industry. Prior to founding Veeva, Peter was Senior Vice President of Technology at salesforce.com where he had responsibility for building the salesforce.com platform including product, marketing and developer relations. During Peter’s tenure, salesforce.com completed its public offering and grew the technology into the most successful SaaS platform in the industry. Before salesforce.com, Peter was with PeopleSoft for 9 years as both Chief Architect and General Manager of PeopleTools. Peter led a team of over 450 professionals who provided the development, strategy, marketing and customer support for PeopleSoft’s technology platform. PeopleTools was widely regarded in the industry as the best application platform of its day. Peter began his career with IBM in relational database development and research at IBM Silicon Valley Lab and then at IBM Almaden Research Center where he had the privilege of working closely with some of the inventors of relational database technology. Peter holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Oregon State University.
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About Veeva: Veeva Systems is a provider of cloud-based business solutions for the global life sciences industry.
Noga Leviner
Co-Founder & CEO of PicnicHealth
Noga was inspired to create Picnic after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and struggling to keep track of her own health data. She had previously co-founded Lumni USA, where she raised and deployed the first US investment fund to help underserved students access low-risk, equity-style student loan products. She has been a regular speaker and consultant on financial innovation for the underbanked and, more recently, an advocate for patient data access in the healthcare system. Noga has a BA from Stanford where she studied Human Biology and Economics. She can regularly be found spacing out while trying to meditate.
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About PicnicHealth: PicnicHealth helps patients easily access their medical records and gives them the opportunity to contribute data to medical research.
Ben Lewis
CEO of Limbix
Ben Lewis is the co-founder of Tapjoy. He has an undergraduate degree in engineering from the University of Michigan, and his first job out of college was working as an engineer on Xbox Live. After spending some time at Microsoft, he returned to Michigan for his MBA where he focused on entrepreneurship and technology. Ben then moved to Google where he spent 4 years as a Product Manager, working on products such as the Toolbar, Search, and Checkout. Ben left Google to found Tapjoy, which began with the launch of TapDefense. Ben now leads the Tapjoy product team and manages accounts for the top publishers.
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About Green Shoots Distribution, Limbix: Limbix is a prescription digital therapeutics platform that provides mental health treatment for young people.
Joseph Huang
CEO of StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund)
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About StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund): StartX is an educational non-profit that helps Stanford’s top entrepreneurs.
Fabian Gerlinghaus
Co-Founder & CEO of Cellares
Fabian Gerlinghaus is the CEO and Co-Founder of Cellares.
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About Cellares: Cellares is a life sciences technology company that develops the Cell Shuttle to automate cell therapy manufacturing.
Wenbin Jiang
Co-Founder and CEO of Cytek Biosciences
Wenbin Jiang is a co-founder of Cytek Biosciences, Inc. and a seasoned entrepreneur and inventor. E2O communications was the first company he cofounded in late 1990s, which was acquired by JDS Uniphase in 2004. He is an inventor of more than 90 US patents and an author of 4 book chapters and more than 50 peer reviewed technical papers.
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About Cytek Biosciences: Cytek Biosciences is a manufacturer and supplier of flow cytometry products and services.
Colleen Cutcliffe
Co-Founder and CEO of Pendulum Therapeutics
Colleen Cutcliffe is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pendulum Therapeutics.
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About American Diabetes Association, California Life Sciences Association, Pendulum Therapeutics: Pendulum Therapeutics is a biotechnology company improving health through products targeting the microbiome.
Nancy Yu
Co-Founder & CEO of AllStripes
Nancy previously led Corporate Development at 23andMe, the largest consumer genetics company. She worked on 23andMe’s next generation sequencing platform, drug discovery strategy, and business development programs. Before that, she worked on Wall Street as a biopharma investment banker. Nancy began her career doing genetics research at the University of Pennsylvania. She’s passionate about bridging the gap between patients and industry to make drug R&D cheaper, faster, and better.
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About AllStripes: AllStripes is a healthcare technology company that accelerates drug development and research for the treatment of rare diseases.
Bruce Cozadd
Chief Executive Officer of Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Bruce Cozadd is a co-founder and has served as our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since April 2009.From 2003 until 2009, he served as our Executive Chairman. From 1991 until 2001, he held various positions with ALZA Corporation, a pharmaceutical company now owned by Johnson & Johnson, most recently as its Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, with responsibility for research and development, manufacturing and sales and marketing. Previously at ALZA Corporation he held the roles of Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, Corporate Planning and Analysis. He serves on the boards of directors of Cerus Corporation, a biomedical products company, Threshold Pharmaceuticals, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, and The Nueva School and Stanford Hospital and Clinics, both non-profit organizations. He received a B.S. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
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About Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Jazz Pharmaceuticals is a specialty pharmaceutical company that identifies, develops and commercializes innovative treatments.
Maneesh Jain
CEO and Co-Founder of Mirvie
Maneesh Jain currently works as Chief Executive Officer and the Founder of Mirvie. He previously worked at Cirina (Grail) as CEO and President.
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About Mirvie: Mirvie is a biotech company that creates precise, actionable, and non-invasive tests for maternal-fetal health.
Dan Widmaier
CEO of Bolt Threads
Dan is fascinated by finding the right conditions to grow things. Dan has carefully tended Bolt’s growth since 2009, using his passion and expertise to lead the company through technology development, expansion, and financing. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from UC San Francisco, where his graduate research involved designing genetic circuits to control microbial organelles.
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About Bolt Threads: Bolt is a materials company that invents and scales materials that put the planet on a path towards a better future.
Vivian Qu
CEO & Founder of ViaeX
Vivian Qu is a dedicated professional operating within the material science and biotech venture space in Silicon Valley. She is the CPO at ORA Nano Mask, and she founded ViaeX Technologies, Inc. in 2016 to contribute to the advancement of our society through sustainable technological developments. For her work across her career, Vivian Qu has earned recognition as the recipient of the Dow Chemical SISCA Award, the Clinton Global Initiative Award, and the Fung Fellowship. Additionally, she received the NSF Innovation Corp Grant and the Big Ideas Berkeley – Energy and Alternative Resources Prize. Vivian was also recognized in the Pulse by Business Insider for her work as a graduate from the University of California, Berkeley.
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About Tidal Vision, ViaeX: ViaeX creates biological nanofiltration systems for water and air which are 400% more efficient than current solutions.
Moran Shochat Snir
Co-Founder & CEO of Clear Genetics
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About Clear Genetics, Invitae: Clear Genetics is a digital health company dedicated to the thoughtful integration of genetics into routine patient care.
Sourav Sinha
Co-founder, CEO of Oncolinx
Sourav Sinha is the Founder and CEO of Oncolinx LLC. Oncolinx is an early-stage bio-oncology company focused on creating targeted cancer therapies carry drugs directly to cancer cells and not healthy cells–avoiding many of the adverse side-effects of cancer. Oncolinx is partnered with more than 15 leading pharmaceutical partners, and 6 academic labs all over the world. Sourav also serves as the Entrepreneur In Residence of The Center For Advancing Innovation (CAI), a first-of-its-kind initiative to spin out the best inventions from the NIH, NCI, NASA, and other government funded agencies. Most uniquely, the fund redirects much of the value created into regional endowments to create jobs, increase prosperity, and support future sustainability. Sourav was named as a top 50 global entrepreneur under the age of 25 by Inc. Magazine and has been published in top scientific journals. Sourav holds an AB from Dartmouth College in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, an MA in Biomedical Sciences from Rutgers Biomedical Health Sciences, and is a graduate of the Singularity University Global Solutions Program.
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About Longevity Vision Fund, Oncolinx, The World Economic Forum: Oncolinx is developing antibody-drug conjugates.
Nima Farzan
Chief Executive Officer of Kinnate Biopharma
Nima Farzan is the chief executive officer of Kinnate Biopharma. He has his MBA from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree in Human Biology from Stanford University.
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About Kinnate Biopharma: Kinnate Biopharma develops precision oncology therapeutics to treat patients with genomically-defined cancers.
Steve James
President and Chief Executive Officer of Pionyr Immunotherapeutics
Steven James has 25 years of experience in the life sciences industry, including the creation and leadership of multiple companies. He is currently President and CEO of Pionyr Immunotherapeutics and was the President and CEO of Labrys Biologics from 2012 until it was acquired by Teva Pharmaceuticals in 2014. Prior to joining Labrys, Steven James was President and CEO of KAI Pharmaceuticals from 2004 until the company was acquired by Amgen in 2012. His previous positions have included Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations at Exelixis, Chief Business Officer at Sunesis Pharmaceuticals and VP of Business Development at Isis Pharmaceuticals (now Ionis). He began his career in new product planning at Eli Lilly. Steven James is Chairman of Antiva Biosciences, and a director of Chrono Therapeutics. He was formerly on the board of Cascadian Therapeutics (acquired by Seattle Genetics) and a past director of Ocera Therapeutics (acquired by Mallinckrodt). Steve holds a Masters in Management from the Kellogg School of Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree from Brown University.
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About Pionyr Immunotherapeutics: Pionyr Immunotherapeutics is a developer of cancer immunotherapies designed to target the tumor microenvironment.
Alice Zhang
Co-Founder & CEO of Verge Genomics
CEO and Co-founder at Verge Genomics; Angel Investor in Tech-Enabled Bio
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About Verge Genomics: Verge Genomics uses machine learning and human genomics to accelerate drug discovery.
Josh Tetrick
Co-Founder & CEO of Eat Just
Josh is the CEO & Co-Founder of Eat Just, Inc., a San Francisco-based company on a mission to bring delicious, accessible, healthier and more sustainable food to everyone, everywhere. Prior to founding the company, Tetrick led a United Nations business initiative in Kenya and worked for both former President Clinton and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. As Fulbright Scholar, Tetrick taught schoolchildren in Nigeria and South Africa and is a graduate of Cornell University and the University of Michigan Law School. Tetrick has been named one of Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business,” Inc.’s “35 Under 35” and Fortune’s “40 Under 40.”
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About 33needs, Eat Just: Eat Just offers a plant-based egg substitute intended to provide healthy and nutritional food alternatives.
Sean George
CEO of Invitae
Sean George was co-founder and CEO of Locus Development, an early-stage genetic analysis startup. Prior to co-founding Locus, he served as the chief operating officer at Navigenics, an early leader in personalized medicine. He has also served as senior vice president of marketing at Affymetrix, senior vice president of life science business at Affymetrix, and vice president of labeling and detection business at Invitrogen. He has worked at McKinsey & Company and Molecular Probes as well. Dr. George holds a Bachelor of Science from UCLA with a major in molecular genetics, a Master of Science in molecular biology from University of California, Santa Barbara and a doctorate in molecular genetics from University of Califonia, Santa Cruz.
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About Invitae: Invitae is a medical genetics company that bring comprehensive genetic information into mainstream medicine to improve healthcare.
Victor Perlroth
Chairman & CEO of Kodiak Sciences
Victor Perlroth co-founded Kodiak Sciences in 2009 and is the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Together with a talented core team, he has built Kodiak on a foundation of scientific excellence with a simple mission—to design and develop novel medicines for highly prevalent diseases. Under Perlroth’s leadership, Kodiak is building a pipeline of potentially life transforming ophthalmology drug candidates. Previously, Perlroth served as Venture Partner and then Entrepreneur in Residence at MPM Capital, a dedicated healthcare venture capital investment firm. In 2003, Perlroth co-founded Avidia, a biopharmaceuticals drug discovery and development company where he served as General Manager and Vice President of Corporate Development. In this role, at various times he had broad management responsibility across both corporate and research and development activities. Perlroth was one of two principals involved in the acquisition of the company by Amgen for $450 million. Earlier, Perlroth worked at Guzik Technical Enterprises, the industry-leading provider of test equipment to the hard disk drive industry, where he was Chief Operating Officer. Perlroth earned his M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University and an A.B. in Molecular Biology summa cum laude from Princeton University.
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About Kodiak Sciences: Kodiak is designing and developing novel therapies for the treatment of retinal disease.
Arthur T. Sands
Chief Executive Officer of Nurix Therapeutics
Arthur T. Sands, M.D., Ph.D. has served as the Chief Executive Officer at Nurix and a member of the company’s board of directors since September, 2014. In 2015, Dr. Sands and his management team completed a strategic collaboration with Celgene for the discovery, development and commercialization of novel small molecule therapeutics in oncology, inflammation and immunology that included an upfront payment of $150 million and significant milestones, royalties and options for commercialization of drugs. Prior to joining Nurix, Dr. Sands co-founded Lexicon Pharmaceuticals and served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director from 1995 to 2014. At Lexicon, Dr. Sands pioneered the development of large-scale gene knockout technology for use in drug discovery and guided the evolution of Lexicon from a research-stage company to a drug development company Dr. Sands holds an M.D. and a Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine and a B.A. in economics and political science from Yale University.
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About DeCART Therapeutics, Nurix Therapeutics: Nurix develops small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of proliferative and degenerative diseases.
Ryan Pawell
Founder & CEO of Indee Labs
Ryan Pawell (Founder, Director & Chief Executive Officer) is a Y Combinator alumni, published author and subject matter expert in the areas of fluid dynamics, advanced manufacturing, and biomicrofluidics. Ryan has been invited to present his work by the Australian National Fabrication Facility, White House Cancer Moonshot Taskforce, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, and National Cancer Institute among others.
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About Axial, Indee Labs, Pioneer Fund: Indee Labs is unlocking gene-modified cell therapy for the masses with scalable hardware for gene delivery.
Ryan Pawell
Founder & CEO of Indee Labs
Ryan Pawell (Founder, Director & Chief Executive Officer) is a Y Combinator alumni, published author and subject matter expert in the areas of fluid dynamics, advanced manufacturing, and biomicrofluidics. Ryan has been invited to present his work by the Australian National Fabrication Facility, White House Cancer Moonshot Taskforce, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, and National Cancer Institute among others.
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About Axial, Indee Labs, Pioneer Fund: Indee Labs is unlocking gene-modified cell therapy for the masses with scalable hardware for gene delivery.
Terry Rosen
CEO of Arcus Biosciences
Terry Rosen is the CEO at Arcus Biosciences.
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About Arcus Biosciences: Arcus Biosciences is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and commercializes novel therapies for the treatment of cancer.
David Woodhouse
Chief Executive Officer of NGM Biopharmaceuticals
David Woodhouse became Chief Executive Officer and a member of our board of directors in September 2018 and has served as our Chief Financial Officer since March 2015. From 2002 to 2015, he was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, most recently as a Managing Director in the healthcare investment banking group and co-head of biotechnology investment banking. Earlier in his career, Dr. Woodhouse worked at Dynavax Technologies and also as a research assistant at Amgen, Inc. Dr. Woodhouse received a B.A. in pharmacology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a Ph.D. in molecular pharmacology from Stanford University School of Medicine.
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About NGM Biopharmaceuticals: NGM Biopharmaceuticals is a drug discovery company developing biotherapeutics for the gastrointestinal endocrine system.
Daphne Koller
Founder & CEO of Insitro
Daphne Koller is CEO and Founder of insitro, a company using machine learning and high-throughput biology to transform drug discovery. Daphne was the Rajeev Motwani Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where she served on the faculty for 18 years. She was the co-founder, co-CEO and President of Coursera for 5 years, and Chief Computing Officer of Calico, an Alphabet company in the healthcare space. She is the author of over 200 refereed publications appearing in venues such as Science, Cell, and Nature Genetics. Daphne was recognized as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2012. She received the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2004 and the ACM Prize in Computing in 2008. She was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2011 and elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014 and of the International Society of Computational Biology in 2017.
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About Engageli, Insitro: Insitro is a drug discovery and development startup that utilizes machine learning and biology to transform drug discovery.
Hyunjun Park
Co-Founder & CEO of Catalog
Hyunjun Park is the Co-Founder & CEO at CATALOG.
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About Catalog, Forbes Technology Council, GIST: Catalog is a developer of a data conversion and storage platform used to offer the next generation of digital data archives.
Sajith Wickramasekara
Co-Founder & CEO of Benchling
Sajith Wickramasekara is the Co-Founder and CEO at Benchling since June 2012. He was a Research Assistant at Liquidia Technologies and Duke University Medical Center. Ms. Wickramasekara received a bachelor of science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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About Benchling: Benchling is a cloud-based software platform for biology researchers and research and development organizations.
Sofie Qiao
President and Chief Executive Officer of Vivace Therapeutics
Dr. Qiao is the founding president and CEO of Vivace Therapeutics & Virtuoso Therapeutics.
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About Virtuoso Therapeutics, Vivace Therapeutics, WuXi Healthcare Ventures: Vivace Therapeutics is a venture-backed start-up dedicated to discovering and developing cancer therapeutics by targeting a novel pathway.
Jonathan Winger
CEO of Omniox
Jonathan Winger is co-inventor of the H-NOX technology, company Co-Founder, and Senior Director of Biochemistry and Manufacturing. He directs the design and biochemical characterization of protein variants with the kinetic and stability properties appropriate for each of the diseases in which H-NOX will be used, as well as oversees in-house protein production and quality control. He also manages the transfer of upstream and downstream processes for scale-up and GMP manufacturing of material for toxicology studies and clinical trials. Jonathan has 18 years of experience in diverse biochemical and biophysical methods for production and study of H-NOX and other heme proteins. He has published a number of peer reviewed research papers, co-authored several book chapters, and is an inventor on multiple patents. Prior to Omniox, he was an American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellow with John Kuriyan at the University of California, Berkeley, where he developed expertise in biophysical techniques including X-ray crystallography, small-angle X-ray scattering, and NMR. He obtained his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry with Michael Marletta at the University of Michigan, where he used spectroscopy and enzymology to investigate the role of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), an H-NOX domain-containing protein, in nitric oxide signaling pathways. Insights gained from this work contributed to the conception and founding of Omniox.
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About Omniox, Omniox: Omniox, a biotechnology company, commercializes technologies used in identifying and treating cancer, cardiovascular disease and trauma.
Ryan Pandya
Cofounder/CEO of Perfect Day
Ryan Pandya is the co-founder & CEO at Perfect Day.
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About Perfect Day: Perfect Day produces dairy proteins that are nutritionally identical to proteins from cow’s milk.
Drew Titmarsh
CEO and Co-founder of Dynomics
Drew is a bioengineer and entrepreneur focused on building multi-disciplinary teams that bring powerful new solutions to large problems. He is currently working on Dynomics, a cardiovascular drug discovery company using miniature, engineered heart organoids to discover molecules to restore heart function.
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About Dynomics: Molecules to restore heart function.
Martin Babler
CEO of Principia Biopharma
Martin Babler, chair of Infinity’s Compensation Committee, is chief executive officer of Principia BioPharma, Inc., a start-up company established to develop novel drugs for autoimmune diseases, a position he has held since April 2011. From February 2008 to April 2011, Mr. Babler was chief executive officer of Talima Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held drug delivery company. Prior to joining Talima, from 2000-2006, Mr. Babler was vice president of Immunology Sales and Marketing, and director of Cardiovascular Marketing, at Genentech, Inc. Prior to joining Genentech, Mr. Babler held various roles of increasing responsibility in sales, sales management, marketing and business development with Eli Lilly and Company. Mr. Babler holds a degree in pharmacy/pharmacology from the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland and has attended the Executive Development Program at Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
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About Principia Biopharma: Principia Biopharma is dedicated to bringing oral therapies to patients with significant unmet medical needs in immunology & oncology.
Brian Spears
Founder & CEO of New Age Meats
Brian Spears is the co-founder and CEO of New Age Meats.
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About New Age Meats: New Age Meats is a biotechnology company that develops healthy cultivated meat grown from animal cells instead of animal slaughter.
Marshall Fordyce
Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vera Therapeutics
Marshall Fordyce, MD is Co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Trucode. He brings more than 10 years of experience leading teams in drug discovery, development, clinical translation, and commercialization. Prior to founding Trucode, he was an entrepreneur in residence at Kleiner Perkins. Previously, Dr. Fordyce served as Senior Director of Clinical Research at Gilead Sciences, where he contributed to seven new drug approvals and served as Project Lead for Gilead’s highly successful TAF/GENVOYA development program. With subspecialty training in infectious disease from Columbia P&S, Dr. Fordyce was previously Chief Resident at NYU Bellevue and spent two years as translational research fellow at Rockefeller University. Dr. Fordyce has been an advisor to Google X and to several private biotech companies. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. He received his BA from Harvard University and his MD from Harvard Medical School.
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About Vera Therapeutics: Vera Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing innovative biologic therapeutics with transformative clinical potential.
Aldo Carrascoso
Co-Founder and CEO of InterVenn
Aldo is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of InterVenn Biosciences. InterVenn combines next-generation glycomics (carbohydrates), instrumentation (LC/MS), and deep machine learning to augment cancer diagnosis, biomarker, and target discovery for the development of more efficacious molecular diagnostics. Venn was founded by a team of serial entrepreneurs with repeated and proven track record of success (value creation of half a billion dollars) and execution in the fields of Machine Learning, Analytical Chemistry through Liquid Chromatography / Mass Spectrometry and in Oncological Glycoproteomics. Prior to Venn, Aldo was the Founder and COO / CTO of San Francisco based Veem (formerly Align Commerce), a next generation replacement for outdated wire and telegraphic transfer systems. Align uses the blockchain and its proprietary multi-rail systems to change the way global cross border payments are done – making the process simpler, faster and more transparent to over 60 countries. Some of the company’s investors include Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, Byers (the same venture capital responsible for Google, Twitter, Amazon, Uber, Waze, Slack, and Snapchat among others), Google Ventures, Softbank Ventures, National Australian Bank, Silicon Valley Bank Ventures, Recruit Strategic Partners, and NYCA Investment Partnership LP (led by Hans Morris, former President of Visa and Max Levchin, founding CTO of PayPal). Prior to founding Veem, Aldo was the Founder and CTO of Jukin Technologies / Jukin Media – one of the world’s largest User Generated Content (UGC) payments and licensing platforms with over 60 billion global views, 50 million platform shares and over 10 million active contributors and subscribers in 221 markets. Jukin is currently being used by some of the world’s largest television networks and production companies including ABC, BBC, CBS, Comedy Central, CNN, Discovery, ESPN, FOX, HBO, MTV, NBC, TruTV, Vh1, and hundreds of other websites, and platforms throughout the world. Jukin’s main properties include FailArmy, JukinVideo, People Are Awesome, The Pet Collective, World’s Funniest on FOX and That are Funny! on UK’s Channel 5. Samsung Investments, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments Inc., Launchpad LA, and Maker Studios are some of Jukin’s lead investors. Aldo is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and technology disruptor. Prior to Jukin, he founded a number of ventures in global B2B matchmaking, international trading/finance, and business process outsourcing. Aldo has an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Babson and a degree in Psychology from Ateneo De Manila University.
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About InterVenn, Jukin Media, Jukinvideo, Veem: InterVenn Biosciences identifies, quantifies, and classifies Glycoproteomic and other PTM signals found in human blood and tissue.
Rolf Ehrhardt
Co-Founder , President and Chief Executive Officer of BioCision
Dr. Rolf Ehrhardt co-founded BioCision in 2007, after more than 25 years of experience in leadership and innovation in medical research and product development. Prior to growing BioCision into the leading provider of temperature-sensitive sample and drug handling solutions, he was responsible for the early (phase 1a) clinical development of a novel HCV protease inhibitor at Intermune. Before that, Dr. Ehrhardt was the vice president of preclinical development at Corgentech. He was the founding president of BioSeek, where he raised close to $20 million in private financing. Prior to founding BioSeek, Dr. Ehrhardt led a scientific group focused on new target discovery and immuno-therapeutics development at Protein Design Labs (now PDL BioPharma Inc.). Dr. Ehrhardt was a Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG: German Research Foundation) and Fogarty Fellow at the National Institutes of Health, where his focus was on mucosal immunology and inflammatory bowel disease. He has authored more than 40 peer reviewed publications and holds multiple patents. Dr. Ehrhardt earned his M.D. and Ph.D. with distinction from the Technical University of Munich, Germany.
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About BioCision: BioCision develops laboratory tools to standardize pre-analytical sample handling, cryopreservation, and storage.
Christopher Thanos
President, CEO, and Cofounder of Actym Therapeutics, Inc.
Christopher Thanos is an inventor of Actym’s core technology, has 18 of years of biotechnology industry experience. Previously, he was appointed Head of Biotherapeutics Discovery at Halozyme (NASDAQ: HALO), leading Immunology, Cell Biology, Protein Engineering and Production efforts to populate HALO’s oncology pipeline. Dr. Thanos is the lead inventor of PEG-ADA2 (US Patent 9,969,998), a checkpoint inhibitor that targets immuno-suppressive adenosine, currently in candidate nomination studies. Translational I/O studies from Dr. Thanos’ group on HALO’s PEG-PH20® therapeutic candidate (Phase III, pancreatic cancer) led to a broad strategic alliance between Halozyme and Genentech to study a combination between Tecentriq® (anti-PDL1) and PEG-PH20® in the clinic across 8 solid tumor types. Dr. Thanos’ group also developed an IDE-approved companion diagnostic currently being used in a global phase 3 pancreatic cancer trial. Before HALO, Dr. Thanos was Head of Protein Engineering at Sutro Biopharma (Nasdaq:STRO). Dr. Thanos is a named inventor on nine issued US patents assigned to Sutro, and is the lead inventor of core platform technology used by both Sutro Biopharma and SutroVax Inc. (US Patent 9,650,621). Prior to that, Dr. Thanos co-founded Catalyst Biosciences (NASDAQ:CBIO), where he participated in raising venture capital, and helped to establish the company’s technology platform. He is a co-inventor of Factor VIIa marzeptacog alfa, currently in Phase II/III clinical trials (purchased by Wyeth/Pfizer, garnering $41.2 million in milestones), Factor IX CB2679d/ISU304, currently in Phase I/II trials, and Factor Xa, currently in pre-clinical development. Dr. Thanos also devoted significant effort to establishing Catalyst’s directed evolution-based, protein engineering platform. Earlier in his career, Dr. Thanos was a National Cancer Institute Postdoctoral Fellow under Professor Jim Wells at UCSF and Sunesis (NASDAQ:SNSS). He earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from UCLA where he was an NIH Chemistry / Biology Interface Predoctoral Fellow. At UCLA, Dr. Thanos discovered the atomic structure and binding mode of SAM domains- one of the most common protein modules found in eukaryotic cells, work which was prominently featured in Science Magazine. He is a named inventor on 17 issued and multiple pending patent applications in the area of biological and cellular therapeutics and a first author of several peer-reviewed articles in top tier journals. As a recognized thought leader in the field, Dr. Thanos is frequently called upon to present as an invited speaker, workshop leader, and conference chairman at international scientific conferences focused on biological therapeutics to treat cancer.
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About Actym Therapeutics, Inc.: Actym Therapeutics is a privately-held biotech focused on the discovery and development of novel immuno-oncology therapies to treat cancer.
Andre Watson
Founder, CEO & Chairman of Ligandal
Founder at Ligandal
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About Ligandal: Ligandal is creating cell-specific delivery systems for gene editing tools such as CRISPR using automation and peptide-based nanoparticles.
Amy DuRoss
Co-Founder & CEO of Vineti
Amy focuses on healthcare new business creation for GE Ventures/healthymagination. In addition to venture investments, Amy is driving growth strategy for new business creation portfolio companies as well as scoping and seeding independent business opportunities. Amy was Chief Business Officer at Navigenics, a genomics company sold to Life Technologies in 2012. She was the co-founder and Executive Director of Proposition 71,California’s $3B stem cell research initiative passed in 2004, as well as Chief of Staff at the resulting state grant oversight agency. Earlier in her career, Amy was an early employee at E-Loan, Inc., the first online consumer mortgage company, with that company through its IPO. She also worked for the World Bank Group to scale and deliver leapfrog technologies to developing economies. Amy holds an MBA and MA/BA in English from Stanford University. She was also a Coro Fellow and an Aspen Institute Socrates Fellow.
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About Vineti: Vineti is a commercial cloud-based platform that expands patient access to life-saving cells and gene therapies.
Mark Chao
Co-Founder & CEO of TenSixteen Bio
Dr. Chao is a board-certified physician in internal medicine and a trained hematologist with a strong clinical network at Stanford University Hospitals. Dr. Chao has clinical development experience in bringing cancer therapeutics through to successful IND filing and has contributed to successful early stage clinical trial execution within the academic university setting. Dr. Chao has over 15 years of experience in stem cell biology, immunology, and cancer biology research, including the discovery of a novel target for cancer immunotherapy that is now in clinical development. He is a co-founder of Forty Seven, Inc., a clinical stage immuno-oncology company. He earned his MD and PhD in cancer biology from Stanford University and completed his internal medicine residency and hematology fellowship at Stanford. He is currently a visiting scholar in the Division of Hematology at Stanford University.
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About Gilead Sciences, HepaTx, Stanford Health Care, TenSixteen Bio: TenSixteen Bio is a biotechnology company focused on developing novel therapeutics for a variety of diseases.
Willam Rutter
CEO and Founder of Boston Biomedical
Dr. Rutter is Chairman and Founder of Synergenics, LLC, which owns and controls a portfolio of biotechnology companies at various stages of development. In his academic career, Dr. Rutter joined the University of California–San Francisco (UCSF) as head of the newly formed department of Biochemistry and Biophysics in 1968, and played a key role in developing UCSF into a major scientific institution. In research, he is particularly known for the discovery of the enzymes involved in the expression of DNA (RNA polymerases), the first cloning of the insulin gene, the cloning of hepatitis B virus (HBV), and formation of an HBV-like particle that provided the basis for a safe and protective vaccine. With 2 colleagues, Dr. Rutter founded Chiron in 1981, a pioneering biotech firm that developed the first recombinant vaccine (against HBV) with Merck and a process for manufacturing insulin from yeast with Novo-Nordisk. Chiron was the first to clone the AIDS (HIV) virus and to discover, clone, and sequence the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Chiron developed quantitative diagnostic tests for HIV, HBV, and HCV, thus providing the means for eliminating blood contaminated with these viruses, a major contribution to public health worldwide. Chiron developed and promulgated the concept of “viral load” as the basis for determining disease status, as well as the basis for developing and evaluating antivirals and other treatment protocols for these and other diseases. Prior to Chiron, Dr. Rutter was a consultant to Abbott Laboratories for about 20 years, and a member of the Amgen Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Rutter’s past board memberships include Novartis, Sangamo Biosciences, Cytokinetics, Nugen, Oscient Pharmaceuticals, and Epitomics. Dr. Rutter also currently serves on the boards of Eureka Genomics, Apexigen, One Globe, and Cellworks. He is Chairman of the Synergenics companies: Synco Biopartners, ReLIA Diagnostic Systems, Numera Health, Ventria Bioscience, Humabs Biomed, Pathologica, and BioEnergenix. Dr. Rutter is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has received numerous awards for his contributions to science and the biotechnology industry.
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About Boston Biomedical: Boston Biomedical focuses on the research and development of novel therapeutics to treat cancer.
Ted W. Love
President & CEO of Global Blood Therapeutics
Ted Love is the President & CEO at Global Blood Therapeutics.
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About Global Blood Therapeutics, Global Blood Therapeutics: GBT is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing its lead product candidate, voxelotor, as a therapy for sickle cell disease.
Kevin Appelbaum
Co-founder, CEO & Board Director of Better Therapeutics
Member of American College of Lifestyle Medicine & Co-founder, CEO & Board Director of Better Therapeutics.
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About Better Therapeutics, Confidential Digital Health Startup (funded): Better develops prescription software for treating cardiometabolic diseases.
Mark Laret
President & CEO of UCSF health
Mark R. Laret is president and chief executive officer of UCSF Health, which is comprised of Benioff Children’s Hospitals San Francisco and Oakland, Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital and Clinics and the Faculty Practice. Laret, who joined UCSF in 2000, is a 30-year veteran of health care management and a national leader in health care reform. His career began at UCLA Medical Center, where he served from 1980 to 1995 in several leadership positions, before being named CEO of UC Irvine Medical Center, which he led from 1995 to 2000. As CEO of UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, Laret heads one of the most distinguished medical institutions in the world, one that is consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top hospitals in the United States and as the best in Northern California. At UCSF, he has led initiatives to improve quality of care and patient safety and to modernize facilities and equipment. He led an effort to build a $1.5 billion UCSF hospital complex at the Mission Bay campus — including hospitals for children, women’s services and cancer — and raised $600 million in private contributions for the new facility. He is immediate past chair of the California Hospital Association and past chair of the board of directors of the Association of American Medical Colleges. Laret’s volunteer service includes membership on the board of the international charity Mercy Ships, which delivers medical care on hospital ships to indigent communities in Africa. He chaired corporate fundraising drives in San Francisco for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and American Heart Association. He is a member of the board of directors of Varian Medical Systems in Palo Alto and Nuance Communications in Boston, Mass. Laret earned a bachelor’s degree at UCLA and a master’s degree at the University of Southern California, both in political science.
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About UCSF health: UCSF health offers healthcare services in the areas of cancer, heart disorders, neurological disorders, organ transplants, and more.
Osh. Agabi
Founder & CEO of Koniku
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About : Koniku merges synthetic biology with silicon to build machines that detect smells. We cyborgs capable of detecting smell.
Laurent Fischer
President and Chief Executive Officer of Adverum Biotechnologies
Laurent Fischeris the President and Chief Executive Officer of Adverum Biotechnologies. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Geneva and his medical degree from the Geneva Medical School, Switzerland.
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About Adverum Biotechnologies, Allergan: Adverum Biotechnologies is a gene therapy company that focuses on developing medicines that can offer therapeutic benefits to patients.
Will Patrick
Co-Founder & CEO of Culture Biosciences
Will Patrick is a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Culture Robotics.
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About Culture Biosciences: Culture Biosciences develops automated bio-reactors that help companies optimize their manufacturing processes.
Robert Blum
President & CEO of Cytokinetics
Robert was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Cytokinetics in January 2007 and has been a member of our Board of Directors since then. Previously, he served as Cytokinetics’ President and held other senior-level positions at the Company overseeing research and development, finance, corporate development, legal, commercial operations, and business development at various times since participating in the launch of Company operations in 1998. Prior to Cytokinetics, Robert held senior positions in business development and marketing at COR Therapeutics from 1991 to 1998. He also performed roles of increasing responsibility in sales, marketing, and other pharmaceutical business functions at Marion Laboratories and Syntex Corporation beginning in 1981. Robert has served on the faculty at the Center for BioEntrepreneurship at University of California, San Francisco, where he taught a corporate finance course to graduate students. He co-chaired the BIO Business Development Committee and is a frequent lecturer on matters of business development and finance in the biopharmaceutical industry. He served on the National Board of the American Committee of the Weizmann Institute of Science and established the Blum Family Venture Philanthropy Fund to propel basic science discoveries at the Institute with potential to benefit the Israeli life sciences economy. In addition, he established the Tikkun Olam Youth Science Prizes for Bay Area middle and high schools, designed to further science education and exploration in the spirit of repairing the world. Robert served on the Board of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco and founded and chaired its Business Leadership Council. He also served on the Boards of San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Anti-Defamation League. Robert was named a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute in recognition of his leadership in corporate and civic responsibilities. He is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and has moderated seminars related to science, health, and technology at Aspen Action Forums. Mr. Blum received B.A. degrees in Human Biology and Economics from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Robert was a fan of mountain bluegrass music long before it was fashionable and has been known to carry a harmonica in his briefcase, much to the dismay of nearby hotel guests. He enjoys trying to keep up with his wife Dana and daughters, Brittany and Bridget, as well as his Bernese mountain dog, Baron, on long hikes in the Presidio.
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About Cytokinetics: Cytokinetics is a biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for debilitating diseases.
Russell Cox
President & CEO of Epirium
Russell J. Cox was appointed our Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer in March 2012. He has served in a variety of escalating senior management roles since joining the company in 2010. From January 2009 to January 2010, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Ipsen Group and from 2007 until December 2008, he was Vice President of Marketing at Tercica, Inc. (acquired by Ipsen Group), a biotechnology company. From 2003 to 2007, he was with Scios Inc. (acquired by Johnson and Johnson later in 2003), where he also held the role of Vice President, Marketing. Prior to 2003, Russell Cox was with Genentech, Inc. for 12 years, where he was a Product Team Leader (PTL) responsible for the Growth Hormone franchise and led numerous product launches as a Group Product Manager. Russell Cox received a B.S. in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University.
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About Epirium: Epirium Bio is a clinical stage bio pharmaceutical company.
Octavian Florescu
CEO of Xip
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About Xip: Xip produces disposable blood analyzers that wirelessly upload lab-quality clinical measurements in minutes.
Matt De Silva
Founder & CEO of Notable Labs
Founder at Notable Labs
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About Notable Labs: Notable Labs provides personalized drug combination testing service for cancer patients.
Angie You
CEO of Amunix
Angie You, PhD, has served as CBO for a number of venture-backed biotech companies, including Synosia Therapeutics and REN Pharmaceuticals. She was also a Vice President at Venrock Associates, a venture capital firm, where she worked primarily on building start-ups and on corporate development activities for portfolio companies. During her tenure at Venrock, she served as the interim Vice President of Business Development for Anacor Pharmaceuticals, a Venrock portfolio company, where she completed a worldwide licensing transaction with Schering Plough, resulting in an upfront payment of $40 million, milestone payments up to $575 million, and double-digit royalties on sales for Anacor’s phase 2 product, AN2690. Before Venrock, she worked in business development at Exelixis, Inc., a cancer drug discovery company where she completed significant out-licensing transactions with Genentech and Helsinn Healthcare. She also served as a management consultant in the San Francisco office of McKinsey & Co., working primarily with biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients. She received an AB in Chemistry and a PhD in Biochemistry from Harvard University.
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About Amunix: Amunix is a biopharmaceutical company intended to discover, design, and develop novel biologics, protein, and peptide therapeutics.
Yongwei Zhang
Group VP, CEO of Americas Region of BGI Group
Yongwei Zhang, Ph.D., serves as Executive Director of BGI Research, the R&D arm of BGI-Shenzhen, world’s largest genomics service company. He is also Chief Operating Officer of Complete Genomics (San Jose, CA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of BGI. Yongwei Zhang has over 20 years of experience in optics-based instruments and systems. He began his career in Quinta Technologies developing optically-assisted computer hard drives. Quinta was later acquired by Seagate. He was a Co-Founder of telecom component startup company iolon, Inc, which has raised ~$100million VC funding. He joined biotech startup Guava Technologies in 2005, where he held positions with increasing responsibilities. Guava was later acquired by Millipore, subsequently by Merck KGaA. As Head of New Product Introduction at Merck Life Science division, he helped to develop and manufacture several generations of Guava flowcytometry instruments and reagent kits, including the award-winning Muse Cell Analyzer. In 2013, he joined Complete Genomics as Sr. Director of Engineering, responsible for the development of NGS sequencing platform BGISEQ series. Yongwei Zhang is also a strong advocate for STEM education. He served as a Board Member of US nationally top-ranked Saratoga School Union District. Yongwei Zhang received his B. Eng in Precision Instruments and B.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from Tsinghua University in Beijing, M.S. in Computer Sciences, M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.
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About BGI Group: BGI Group is one of the world’s largest DNA sequencing service providers.
Myrtle Potter
Chief Executive Officer of Sumitovant
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About Sumitovant: Sumitovant is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative medicines and therapies for patients.
Lena Wu
CEO of Intabio
Lena is responsible for the company’s financing, corporate and business development strategy and execution. She was previously the CEO, President and co-founder of Rogne Biosciences, a therapeutic dermatology company. Lena has extensive management experience in companies developing and commercializing microfluidic-based products. She was the Vice-President of Corporate Development of On-Q-ity, a microfluidic-based, cancer diagnostic device company, and was also the Director of Business Development at Caliper Technologies, a microfluidic platform company developing analytical instrumentation systems for life science and diagnostic markets. Lena has 20 years of industry experience, and has advanced the strategic objectives as an operational business consultant for emerging companies across therapeutic, diagnostic and life science sectors. She began her business career at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, following a post-doc in yeast genetics at Harvard.
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About Intabio: Intabio is a developer of a real-time protein analytics platform used to transform the development of biotherapeutic drug.
Helmy Eltoukhy
Co-founder & CEO of Guardant Health
Helmy is a serial entrepreneur and pioneer in the biotech industry. After receiving his PhD, MS and BS degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University, he joined the Stanford Genome Technology Center (SGTC) in 2006 to work on low-cost DNA sequencing technologies. At SGTC, he developed the first semiconductor sequencing platform and first base-calling algorithm for next-gen sequencing. In 2007, he co-founded Avantome to commercialize a low-cost, high-performance next-gen sequencing platform to seed the democratization of next-gen sequencing. As its founding CEO, he led Avantome through two rounds of financing and through acquisition by Illumina in 2008. At Illumina, Helmy was Sr Director of Advanced Technology Research, where he developed novel chemistries, hardware and informatics for genetic analysis systems.
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About Guardant Health: Guardant Health is committed to positively and significantly impacting patient health through technology breakthroughs in oncology.
Yann Chong Tan
CEO of Nuevocor
Dr. Tan is the Chief Executive Officer at Nuevocor. Prior to that, he was the Chief Technologist and Company Founder of Atreca. He led the development of the technology underlying Atreca’s Immune Repertoire Capture™ platform while pursuing his dissertation research in William Robinson’s laboratory at Stanford University. He is the recipient of NSS(BS) and NSS(Ph.D.) fellowships from the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR) of Singapore. Dr. Tan received a BS in biology from Duke University and a Ph.D. in immunology from Stanford University.
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About Cargene, Esco Ventures, Nuevocor: Nuevocor operates as a preclinical-stage biotech company.
Bruce Patterson
CEO of IncellDx
Bruce Patterson is the CEO at IncellDx, Inc.
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About IncellDx, Stanford University School of Medicine: IncellDx is a molecular diagnostics company focused on the detection and monitoring of life threatening viral diseases.
Henry Ines
CEO Emeritus of Shivom
Henry has 20+ years of professional experience as a global executive, VC, entrepreneur and advisor. He is currently serving as the CEO of Shivom, a healthcare technology startup focused on the development of a pioneering genomics datahub and analytics platform powered by blockchain. Previously, Henry was a partner at Silicon Valley-based VC funds, including DragonVenture, DFJ DragonFund and DraperDragon Fund, focused on early stage investments in frontier technologies. Henry also has considerable corporate finance and cross border advisory experiences while working at M&T Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities (PwCS) and PwC focused on sectors ranging from IT, healthcare to consumer & industrial products. Henry is a frequent keynote speaker and also serves as a director, advisor & mentor for startups globally. He is also a lecturer at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. Henry holds an M.B.A. from Duke University and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the Pennsylvania State University.
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About Shivom: Optimising the way genomic & other healthcare is shared, secured & analysed.
Karen Drexler
CEO of Trak
Karen Drexler currently serves Sandstone Diagnostics as the chief executive officer and board member. She is also a member of the board of directors at ResMed and a founding member of Astia Angels. Prior to this, Karen spent over six years at Hygieia working as the chairman of the board. She is also co-founded Cellscape Corporation and was the CEO of Amira Medical for over five years. Karen received her MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and her BSE in chemical engineering from Princeton University.
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About Trak: Sandstone Diagnostics provides an integrated wellness technology that empowers consumers to measure, monitor, and improve their health.
Gonzalo Fuenzalida
Co-Founder and CEO of Andes
Gonzalo Fuenzalida is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Andes.
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About Andes: Andes empowers biology to enable positive action against climate change.
Michael D West
CEO of AgeX Therapeutics
Michael D. West, Ph.D. became is Chief Executive Officer of BioTime Inc, a biotechnology company development medical treatments using stem cells in the field of regenerative medicine. BioTime stock is listed on the NYSE:MKT exchange, ticker symbol BTX. Dr. West was appointed CEO of BioTime in October 2007, and has served on the company’s Board of Directors since 2002. Prior to becoming our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. West served as Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chief Scientific Officer of Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., a company engaged in developing human stem cell technology for use in regenerative medicine. Dr. West also founded Geron Corporation of Menlo Park, California, for which he secured venture capital investment from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Venrock and others. From 1990 to 1998 he was a Director and Vice-President, where he initiated and managed programs in telomerase diagnostics, oligonucleotide-based telomerase inhibition as anti-tumor therapy, and the cloning and use of telomerase in telomerase-mediated therapy wherein telomerase is utilized to immortalize human cells. From 1995 to 1998 he organized and managed the research between Geron and its academic collaborators James Thomson and John Gearhart that led to the first isolation of human embryonic stem and human embryonic germ cells. Dr. West received a B.S. Degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1976, an M.S. Degree in Biology from Andrews University in 1982, and a Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in 1989 concentrating on the biology of cellular aging.
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About AgeX Therapeutics, Lineage Cell Therapeutics, ReCyte Therapeutics: AgeX is a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel therapeutics for age-related degenerative disease.
Ray Chiu
Founder & CEO of Calyx
Founder of BioInspira.
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About Calyx: Calyx harnesses biology to provide low cost and highly accurate sensors for real-time detection and analysis of air chemicals.
Victor McCray
Founder & CEO of Tangible Science
Vic McCray, MD is a Co-Founder of Tangible Science and serves as its President and Chief Executive Officer, where he leads commercialization of technology to improve contact lens comfort for patients suffering from dry eye disease. Involved at the inception, Vic has seen the company through several important milestones including initial proof of concept, venture funding, and the ongoing business development and licensing negotiations.
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About Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, Tangible Science: Tangible Science is a developer of contact lenses designed to reduce lens discomfort in dry eye diseases.
Orestis Vardoulis
Co-Founder & CEO of Zeit Medical
Orestis Vardoulis currently works as the Co-Founder and CEO for ZeitMedical.
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About Zeit Medical: Zeit Medical provides peace of mind to neurology injury patients through powered AI and cutting edge Bioelectronics.
Jessica Green
CEO & Co-founder of Phylagen
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About Phylagen: Phylagen is digitizing the global microbiome to create a more transparent world
Karsten Temme
CEO of Pivot Bio
For years, Karsten has been fascinated with the limitless potential of the unseen microbes that inhabit our world. While earning his Ph.D. at University of California, San Francisco, his graduate research focused on enhancing the nitrogen-fixing potential of soil-borne microbes. Seeking to produce “more than scientific journal articles” and driven by the desire to create meaningful change in the world, Karsten partnered with his friend and colleague, Alvin Tamsir, to create Pivot Bio.
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About Pivot Bio: Pivot Bio is an agricultural tech company improving the microbiome by taking nitrogen from the air and making it available for plants.
Akash Bakshi
CEO and Co-Founder of ANA Therapeutics
Akash Bakshi is the Co-Founder and CEO of ANA Therapeutics.
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About ANA Therapeutics, NeuroBo Pharmaceuticals, YourChoice Therapeutics: ANA Therapeutics is a biotech company that is developing a novel coronavirus vaccine intended to save human lives.
Philip Sawyer
Chief Executive Officer of Invuity
Philip Sawyer is the CEO at Invuity, Inc.
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About Invuity: Invuity develops illumination and visualization products for minimally invasive surgical field applications.
Kristen Fortney
CEO & Co-Founder of BIOAGE LABS
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About BIOAGE LABS: BIOAGE targets aging to develop drugs that treat severe diseases
Peter Van Vlasselaer
President and CEO of Arresto BioSciences
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About ARMO BioSciences, Arresto BioSciences, iPierian: Arresto Biosciences, Inc., a biotechnology company, develops medicines to treat cancer and fibrotic diseases by targeting molecules from
Tomohiro Takano
Representative Director, CEO, and Founder of Genomelink
Tomo started his career as a member of the founding team of Impact Hub Tokyo. Through his involvement in establishing this social enterprise community center and business incubator, he honed his start-up business acumen and connected with domestic and international entrepreneurs. In his next role as the business development manager of G-TAC, a genomic corporate venture of M3, Inc., he leads major operations in building a genomic healthcare platform within the primary online network of physicians in Japan. His belief in the potential of the genome in widespread applications led to the founding of AWAKENS, Inc. in 2017.
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About Genomelink: Genomelink is a platform where people discover more with their DNA data and help businesses build, market, and do research with it.
Alexis Rovner
Co-Founder & CEO of 64x Bio
Alexis Rovner founded 64-x on August 22, 2017, with George Church, Jeffrey Way, and Pamela Silver, and she serves as its CEO.
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About 64x Bio: 64x Bio builds a platform that increases the speed and scale of mammalian cell line discovery.
Noor Siddiqui
Founder, CEO of Orchid
Noor Siddiqui is the founder and CEO of the reproductive technology company, Orchid, which measures genetic predisposition to disease.
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About Orchid: Orchid is a reproductive technology startup that is capable of detecting rare genetic disorders.
Rong-Hwa Lin
Chairman & CEO of AltruBio
Dr. Lin is founder, CEO and chairman of AbGenomics. To better position the company, Dr. Lin established twin headquarters in both Taipei and San Francisco Bay Area where he and his team can efficiently collaborate with world top talents and key opinion leaders in the medical fields. He is the key inventor of more than a dozen worldwide patents. Under his leadership and well established collaborative culture, the company discovered several promising therapeutic candidates successfully.Prior to joining AbGenomics, Dr. Lin was founding Professor and Director of Graduate Institute of Immunology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University. Dr. Lin also served as an Associate Editor for Journal of Biomedical Science and a member of the Editorial Board for Int. Immunopharmacology . He received his Diplom, Summa Cum Laude, and Doctor (in Immunology), Magna Cum Laude, degrees from the University of Tübingen in Germany. He has conducted his research works in 3 world renowned institutions: Max Planck Institute for Immunogenetics in Germany, Basel Institute for Immunology in Switzerland, and Immunobiology Division at Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Yale University. In his previous academic research journey he has supervised several physicians from different departments to conduct translational researches and published more than 50 refereed papers.
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About AltruBio: AltruBio is focused on developing targeted antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and immune related inflammatory diseases.
Aruna Gambhir
Chief Executive Officer of CellSight Technologies
Executive with over 25 years experience in sales, marketing, PR, engineering and operations. Aruna Gambhir has successfully managed several large scale technology projects and teams. She was recruited during startup phase of Siebel Systems where she was a key contributor to it’s growth to a Fortune 500 company. Prior to Siebel, she was an early employee at Gain Technology which was acquired by Sybase. Her experience spans startups, academia, non profit foundations and advocacy groups. Aruna Gambhir has a BA in Biochemistry from UC Berkeley, MS in Computer Science from Santa Clara University and an MBA from UCLA.
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About CellSight Technologies: CellSight is developing a suite of PET tracers targeted at visualizing immune response early in a patient’s immunotherapy regimen.
Ai Oikawa
CEO/CSO of AFINGEN®
Ai Oikawa, Ph.D. is the founder and CEO/CSO of AFINGEN® Astalake Biosystems, Inc. and has been developing new plant biotechnology platforms for sustainable food, feed, fiber, and fuel production. Her research has been awarded by Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to improve global food security and environmental sustainability. After receiving a Ph.D. in Agricultural Bioprocess Engineering, she spent a year at Yale University as a visiting scholar for Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and completed postdoctoral training at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley)/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) for Biochemistry and Computational System Biology. She also joined the Harvard Business School Agribusiness Executive Program and the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) School of Law, Intellectual Property & Technology Transfer Education Program, for Technology Integration and Commercialization.
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About AFINGEN®, Astalake Biosystems, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: Designing crops for the next generation
Melanie Matheu
CO-Founder & CEO of Prellis Biologics
Matheu co-founded Prellis Biologics in October 2016, with the mission to create fully vascularized human tissues and organs for transplantation. Her realization that the tiny blood vessels necessary for creating human organs could be replicated using the laser technology at the center of her PhD thesis work, led to development of the blended engineering and biology approach Prellis is using to solve the human organ shortage. Dr. Matheu is an expert in laser-based imaging of the immune system and developed Prellis’ platform technology. She brings her multi-disciplinary experience in specialized laser microscopy, cell biology, physiology, and biophysics to address the unsolved biomedical challenge of rapid 3D printing of large, vascularized tissues.
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About Prellis Biologics: Prellis employs holographic tissue printing technology with rapid fully human antibody discovery, in vitro human disease and ADME/Tox models
Craig Parker
Chief Executive Officer of Surrozen
Craig Parker is the CEO at Surrozen.
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About Surrozen: Surrozen is a biopharmaceutical that focuses on unlocking the body’s regenerative power to treat injury and disease.
Anna Rath
President & CEO of Vestaron
Anna Rath is a pioneer in the development of the dedicated energy crop industry. She founded NexSteppe in 2010 to develop and commercialize optimized crops for the biofuels, biopower and biobased product industries. Today, NexSteppe has established operations in both the U.S. and Brazil and has successfully brought to market and sold its first products. Commercial partners are trialing its products in more than twenty countries on five continents. Rath was formerly Vice President of Commercial Development for Ceres, where she built and launched their energy crop business. Prior to Ceres, she was a consultant with McKinsey focused on corporate strategy, assessment of new business initiatives, and business building in various technology sectors. She holds a JD from Yale Law School, an MS in Genetics from the University of Michigan and a BA in Biology from Macalester College. She also serves on the Biotech Industry Organization’s Industrial and Environmental Section Governing Board.
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About Vestaron: Vestaron produces insecticides for agriculture, animal health, non-crop, and commercial pest control applications.
Alexander Lorestani
Co-Founder and CEO of Geltor
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About Geltor: Geltor is a bio-design company that makes proteins used in beauty, food, & beverage products like collagen and elastin, but without animals.
Todd Huffman
Chief Executive Officer of E11 Bio
Todd Huffman is the Chief Executive Officer at E11 Bio.
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About E11 Bio, Prellis Biologics: E11 Bio builds a new technology for full-stack brain architecture mapping.
Pratish Gawand
CEO and Co-founder of Ardra Bio
Pratish Gawand is co-founder and CEO of Ardra. He completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Toronto, and has 8 years of research experience in the field of metabolic engineering and bioprocess optimization. Prior to Ardra, Dr. Gawand has worked for Biocon Ltd., India as Process Development Scientist. During his graduate studies, Dr. Gawand underwent multiple technology entrepreneurship programs. At Ardra, his responsibilities include process commercialization, customer development, partnership management, and securing initial rounds of funding.
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About Ardra Bio: Ardra is engineering technologies to produce completely petroleum-free, high purity, and sustainable biochemicals.
William Moore
Chairman/CEO of IRIDEX
William Moore is the General Partner of Alpine Partners LLC.
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About IRIDEX, Natus Medical: IRIDEX Corporation was founded in 1989 and is a worldwide leader in developing, manufacturing, and marketing innovative and versatile
Peter A Altman
CEO of BioCardia
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About BioCardia: BioCardia is a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company.
