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| Founders |
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| Management Team |
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| Board of Directors |
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Edward DeLong, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Chaitan Khosla, Stanford University
Uwe Sauer, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich
Anthony Sinskey, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alexander Steinbüchel, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Christopher Walsh, Harvard Medical School
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
John Cronan is Alumni Professor of Microbiology and Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He also serves as Head of the Department of Microbiology. Dr. Cronan's research has focused on the biosynthesis and degradation of lipids in bacteria. He pioneered genetic approaches to understanding the mechanisms and regulation of bacterial lipid metabolism and is a leading expert on fatty acid biosynthesis. Dr. Cronan and his group have also studied pathways closely related to lipid metabolism including two-carbon metabolism and the synthesis of cofactors derived from (or essential to) fatty acid biosynthesis. In this latter work they discovered the pathway whereby the key metabolic cofactor, lipoic acid, is synthesized and attached to its cognate proteins and have also made important contributions to understanding the biotin and CoA biosynthetic pathways.
Dr. Cronan has extensive experience with a variety of host organisms including E. coli, the subject of much of his research. He and his group have authored over 300 research papers and reviews. Dr. Cronan is a member of the American Academy of Microbiology. He has served as a consultant to a wide variety of bioscience, chemical, and pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Cronan received his B.A. in Biology from California State University, Northridge and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Irvine. Before joining the facility at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he completed postdoctoral studies in biochemistry at the Washington University School of Medicine and served as Assistant and Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Yale University.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Edward DeLong is a Professor in the Division of Biological Engineering & Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. DeLong's group works to develop the field of microbial community genomics and metagenomics. Part of this activity involves defining and mapping the intersections of gene, organism and environmental distributions in natural microbial habitats. Another aspect of this research aims to use microbial community genomic data to define higher order biological interactions, including metabolic interdependencies, host-parasite and symbiotic interactions, and resiliency in microbial community structure and function.
Dr. DeLong received his B.S. in Bacteriology from the University of California Davis, and his PhD. in Marine Biology from the University of California San Diego.
Stanford University
Chaitan Khosla is Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and, by courtesy, of Biochemistry at Stanford University. Over the past two decades, Dr. Khosla has studied polyketide synthases as paradigms for modular catalysis, and has exploited their properties for engineering novel antibiotics. More recently, he has investigated celiac sprue pathogenesis with the goal of developing drug therapies for this widespread but overlooked disease. He has co-authored over 200 publications, and is the recipient of several awards and honors including a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, a David and Lucile Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, the Allan P. Colburn Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry and the Pure Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society, and the Alan T. Waterman Award from the National Science Foundation. He is also the recipient of a Distinguished Alumnus Award from his undergraduate and graduate alma maters.
Dr. Khosla is a founder of Kosan Biosciences, a public pharmaceutical company that develops polyketide drugs. He was also the founding president of the non-profit Celiac Sprue Research Foundation, and is a founder of Alvine Pharmaceuticals, a privately held company that develops drugs for celiac sprue. Dr. Khosla received a B.S. Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology. After completing postdoctoral studies at the John Innes Centre in the UK, he joined Stanford in 1992.
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich
Uwe Sauer is Professor of Systems Biology in the Department of Biology at the ETH Zurich. He is a well-recognized expert on central metabolism of bacteria and yeast. Research in the Sauer lab is focused on an interdisciplinary approach that combines quantitative experimentation and modeling to solve fundamental questions of complex metabolic network operation and to engineer general cellular functions such as redox and energy metabolism. In particular, his lab has pioneered methods for 13C-flux analysis and is a key player in quantitative metabolomics.
Dr. Sauer has over 70 publications over the last 5 years, and is a member of various international editorial boards, scientific steering and advisory committees of international organizations and companies in systems biology and biotechnology. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Göttingen.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Anthony Sinskey is Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Biology and Health Sciences and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a well recognized expert on metabolic pathway engineering, including transgenic methods for polymer production. Research in the Sinskey lab is focused on an interdisciplinary approach to metabolic engineering, focusing on the fundamental physiology, biochemistry and molecular genetics of important organisms. In particular, his team is studying key factors that regulate the synthesis of different biomolecules.
Dr. Sinskey is recognized as a leading expert in the formation of new biotechnology enterprises and a renowned academic entrepreneur. He has participated in the founding and development of over 10 biotechnology companies including Metabolix, Genzyme, Tepha, ABEC, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals and serves on the board of directors and advisory boards of eight companies. Dr. Sinskey earned a B.S. from the University of Illinois and a Sc.D. from MIT. He completed his Post Doctoral Fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Alexander Steinbüchel is Professor of Microbiology and Director of the 'Institut für Mikrobiologie und Biotechnologie' at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. His current research focus includes the physiology, biochemistry and genetics of the metabolism of polyhydroxyalkanoates, biosynthesis of microbial polyamides, biodegradation of natural and synthetic rubbers, microbial transformation of flavour compounds, biosynthesis of triacylglycerols and wax esters in bacteria, and the structure and biogenesis of cytoplasmic inclusions. Dr. Steinbüchel has over 400 publications, including 36 books and approximately 300 articles in peer-reviewed international journals. He is also a frequent speaker at national and international meetings, universities, and in industry.
Dr. Steinbüchel is the Editor in Chief of the journal Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology and serves on numerous other editorial boards. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Göttingen.
Harvard Medical School
Christopher Walsh is Hamilton Kuhn Professor at Harvard Medical School and a former President of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Chairman of the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. He is an expert in enzyme stereochemistry and reaction mechanisms. His research has focused on enzymes and enzyme inhibitors, with recent specialization on antibiotics and biosynthesis of other biologically active natural products. He and his group have authored over 645 research papers, books on Enzymatic Reaction Mechanisms (1979); Antibiotics: Origins, Actions, Resistance (2003); Posttranslational Modification of Proteins: Expanding Nature's Inventory (2005). He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.
Dr. Walsh is also a member of the board of directors of Critical Therapeutics, Kosan Biosciences, and several private companies. He received a B.A. in Biology from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Life Sciences from Rockefeller University.