Craig C. Mello, Ph.D., Founder and Scientific Advisory Board Chairman

Craig C. Mello, Ph.D., has served as the Chairman of our Scientific Advisory Board since February 2007. Dr. Mello, co recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine for RNAi, co-discovered RNAi and co-invented RNAi therapeutics. Dr. Mello is the Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, a Howard Hughes Investigator and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2006, he was named the inaugural recipient of The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research by Johnson & Johnson and was the co-recipient of the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize. Dr. Mello was also the co-recipient of the National Academy of Sciences’ Award in Molecular Biology and the Wiley Prize in the Biomedical Sciences from Rockefeller University in 2003. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and in 1995, was named a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Mello received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Brown University in 1982 and his Ph.D. in Cellular and Developmental Biology from Harvard University in 1990.

 

Tod Woolf, Ph.D., Founder and Scientific Advisory Board Member

Dr. Woolf has twenty years of experience developing and commercializing innovative biomedical technologies, including twelve years of biotechnology management experience. He founded and served as CEO of Sequitur, an RNAi company acquired by Invitrogen (Nasdaq: IVGN) in 2003. At Sequitur, Dr. Woolf co-invented and commercialized Stealth™ RNAi, one of the most widely used second generation RNAi products. Previously, he helped to develop and partner the core therapeutic technology at Genta and RPI (now Sirna/Merck) and Ontogeny (now Curis). In addition to Stealth™ RNAi, Dr. Woolf also co-invented and helped commercialize the following RNA products: GeneBlocks (Sirna/Atugen), Innovation Engine (IPIFINI), Optimized Antisense (Oligos, Etc.), Stabilized Ribozymes (RPI), Ultramers (Sequitur) and iGene (Invitrogen & Sequitur 2006). Dr. Woolf has served as a scientific and business advisor to Signet Labs, Praecis, Invitrogen, ProNai and TriLink Biotechnologies. He holds a a Masters and Ph.D. in Cellular and Development Biology from Harvard University, has authored 40 patent applications and scientific publications and has given drug development lectures throughout the world. 

 

Gregory J. Hannon, Ph.D., Founder and Scientific Advisory Board Member

Gregory Hannon, Ph.D., has served as a member of our Scientific Advisory Board since February 2007.  Dr. Hannon is currently a Howard Hughes Investigator at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. His laboratory discovered the mechanism of RNAi in human cells. Dr. Hannon and his collaborators identified the p21, p15 and p16 genes, which are in tumor suppressor pathways. Dr. Hannon’s research was recognized by Science magazine in 2002 as the Breakthrough of the Year. He was a 1997 Pew Scholar in Biomedical Sciences, received a U.S. Army Breast Cancer Research Program Innovator Award, in 2005 American Association for Cancer Research Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research in 2007 he received the National Academy of Sciences Award for Molecular Biology. Dr. Hannon also recently received the Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center’s 2007 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research. He assumed his current position in 2005 as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and continues to explore the mechanisms and regulation of RNA interference as well as its applications to cancer research. Dr. Hannon received a B.A. in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

 

Michael Czech, Ph.D. Founder and Scientific Advisory Board Member

Michael Czech, Ph.D., has served as a member of our Scientific Advisory Board since February 2007.  Dr. Czech is Professor and Chair, Program in Molecular Medicine, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Czech has authored over 250 papers in the field of insulin action, and was awarded the Eli Lilly 68 Award for Diabetes Research, the 1998 Elliot P. Joslin Medal in diabetes research and the 2000 Banting Medal of the American Diabetes Association. He was a member of the Cell Biology and Regulation Review Panel of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1994-1998, and served as a member of the Endocrinology Study Section of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Czech received a B.A. from Brown University in 1967, a M.A. from Duke University in 1969 and received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Brown University in 1972.

 

Victor Ambros, Ph.D., Scientific Advisory Board Member

Victor Ambros, Ph.D., joined our Scientific Advisory Board in June 2007.  Dr. Ambros is currently Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Ambros is known for his groundbreaking 1993 discovery of the first microRNA (miRNA), which has been heralded as a fundamental discovery in physiology and medicine.  He was on the faculty of Harvard from 1984 to 1992, at Dartmouth from 1992 to 2007, and most recently, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he was appointed Professor of Molecular Medicine in early 2008. In April, he was awarded the 2008 Gairdner International Award, one of the most prestigious international awards in medical research and dubbed the “Canadian Nobel.” Also in April, Dr. Ambros was one of nine individuals to receive the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Sciences. Dr. Ambros has also received the Brandeis University's Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award and the Genetics Society of America Medal for outstanding contributions in the past 15 years. In 2002, he was awarded the Newcomb Cleveland Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of which he is a member.  He is the author of numerous publications in the field of RNA and microRNA and is frequent lecturer on microRNA and gene regulatory pathways. Dr. Ambros earned his B.Sc. and Ph.D. from MIT.

 

Nassim Usman, Ph.D., Scientific Advisory Board Member

Nassim Usman, Ph.D., has served as a member of our Scientific Advisory Board since March 2007.  Dr Usman is currently Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors at Catalyst Biosciences. Prior to joining Catalyst in 2006 he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Morgenthaler Ventures, a national venture capital firm with approximately $2.5 billion under management. He joined Morgenthaler after serving as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Sirna Therapeutics Inc. from 2004 to 2005 and held various Research and Development positions at both Sirna and Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals, including Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer, from 1992 to 2004. Dr. Usman has entered several RNA-based drugs into clinical development, most recently Sirna-027, an siRNA for the treatment of Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Dr. Usman was an NIH Fogarty and NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow and Scientist in the Departments of Biology and Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1987 to 1992. In his doctoral dissertation, he developed a method for the solidphase synthesis of RNA that is widely used in science and in a marketed RNA product. He has authored more than 70 scientific articles and 130 patents and applications. Dr. Usman received his B.Sc. (Honors) and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from McGill University.