Scientific Advisory Committee Jeffrey Browning PhD, Distinguished Scientist, Biogen Linda Burkly PhD, Distinguished Investigator, Biogen Diane Pennica PhD, Senior Scientist, Genentech Napoleone Ferrara PhD, Staff Scientist, Genentech David Leung PhD, Director of Molecular Biology, Cell Therapeutics Pat Gray PhD VP of Research, MacroGenics Kuldeep Neote PhD, Director of Research, Pfizer Reinhard Ebner PhD, Scientific Director, Avalon Pharmaceuticals. Jim Strickler PhD, Director of Suntory Pharmaceutical Research Labs Steve Arkinstall PhD, VP of Research, Head of SRBI, Serono (Boston) Tim Wells PhD, Head of Drug Discovery, Serono (Geneva) Yat Sun Or PhD, VP of Chemistry, Enanta Pharmaceuticals Iain Campbell PhD, Associate Professor, The Scripps Research Institute David Vaux MD, PhD, Medical researcher, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Shi-Chung Ng PhD, Senior Group leader in Drug Discovery, Abbott Laboratories Robert Allen Lewis PhD, Sr VP and Site Head for the Aventis Pharmaceuticals, USA Alexander Sasha Kamb PhD, Global Head of the Oncology Disease Area at Novartis Institutes David Merberg, PhD, Director of Informatics at Cell Signaling Technology Jeffrey Browning PhD, Distinguished Scientist, Biogen Dr. Browning is well known in the field of cytokines and has many years' experience in the biotech industry. He obtained a PhD from the biochemistry department at the University of Wisconsin studying ion channels with Dr. David Nelson. This was followed by postdoctoral research on lipid membrane structure with Dr. Joachim Seelig at the Biozentrum in Basel, Switzerland and on neuromuscular junctions with Dr. Louis Reichardt at UCSF. Since 1984, he has been a creative scientist in new drug discovery for Biogen, which is one of the largest biotechnology companies in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Browning prefers laboratory work to management and administration. In 1989, he and Dr. Carl Ware discovered Lymphotoxin-beta and he is now leading a group devoted to uncovering the biological functions of various TNF family members. He is often invited to speak at international conferences and seminars. Back to Top Linda Burkly PhD, Distinguished Investigator, Biogen Dr. Burkly's tenure at Biogen has been characterized by her project initiation, leadership, scientific excellence and creative invention. She has made significant contributions through her investigation of potential drug targets and role in product advancement. Her important contributions are in the fields of AIDS, transplantation, autoimmune diseases (diabetes, lupus, hemophilia), immunology, integrins, cytokines, TNF family, angiogenesis and hedgehog biology. One of her project was outlicensed to Tanox where it is currently in preclinical/clinical development. Her responsibilities shifted in 1997 to Lead Scientist on Anti-CD40L mAb (hu5C8) Development. She helped support Phase 1 and Phase 2 testing of a hu5C8 and managed preclinical studies of hu5C8 in renal and islet allotransplantation, diabetes, hemophilia, and atherosclerosis. She also has specific scientific interests in several areas including the TNF family and VLA-4/integrins which play a key role for many diseases including inflammatory, autoimmune disorders and multiple myeloma. Recently, Dr. Burkly has been championing the TWEAK Project at Biogen collaborating with Dr. Jeff Browning. She holds a BS in biology from Fairfield University and a PhD in immunology from Tufts University. She did a Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Richard Flavell in Yale University from 1985-1988. She has published 78 papers (including Nature, Science & Cell) and filed 12 patents (4 issued). She has received many honors and awards and she was frequently invited to give seminars at many international conferences. Back to Top David Leung PhD, Director of Molecular Biology, Cell Therapeutics Dr. Leung is a noted molecular biologist with 20 years' experience in the biotech industry. He has authored 56 publications and holds 16 issued patents. Dr. Leung is currently the Chief Scientist of Molecular Biology at Cell Therapeutics where he is responsible for cloning all proteins for Cell Therapeutics Inc. He was one of the key directors responsible for technical developments since the very early stage of this biotech startup. Prior to joining Cell Therapeutics Inc, Dr. Leung spent 12 years at Genentech where he worked on the cloning and expression of many cytokines, including human IFNs (working with Dr. David Goeddel) which are now marketed drugs. He holds a BA in chemistry from Whittier College and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Illinois. Back to Top Diane Pennica PhD, Senior Research Scientist, Genentech Dr. Pennica is well known for cloning cytokines and has over 20 years of biotech industry experience. Dr. Pennica, together with Dr. Bill Kohr, Dr. David Goeddel and Dr. Gordon Vehar, made a very important heart attack drug (tissue plasminogen activator t-PA, Activase) for Genentech. She received her PhD from the University of Rhode Island and did her postdoctoral work at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in Nutley, NJ. She has been working at Genentech since 1980 cloning many proteins, including t-PA, TNF, p53, WISP-1 and cardiotrophin. Dr. Pennica has published 95 papers and filed 36 (20 issued) US patents. She was awarded (with Drs. Goeddel, Kohr and Vehar) the Inventor of the Year Award from the Intellectual Property Owners Foundation (1989) for the recombinant t-PA patent. She was also nominated for the Lemelson-MIT Prize for Inventors in 1996. Back to Top Napoleone Ferrara PhD, Staff Scientist, Genentech Dr. Ferrara is a Genentech Fellow in the Dept. of Molecular Oncology at Genentech, where he has worked as a scientist since 1988. Dr. Ferrara holds an MD from the University of Catania Medical School in Italy and performed research under a fellowship in the Dept. of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Ferrara and his colleagues at Genentech were the first to isolate and clone vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (Science 1989 246:1306-9). His laboratory has investigated many aspects of VEGF biochemistry/molecular biology, including the identification and characterization of its receptors (Flt-1 and Flk-1/KDR), regulation of VEGF activity by alternative RNA splicing and by extracellular proteolytic mechanisms, structure/function studies on the factor and its receptors, and elucidation of its role in angiogenesis in bone and the reproductive system. In 1993, Dr. Ferrara reported that inhibition of VEGF-induced angiogenesis by specific monoclonal antibodies resulted in dramatic suppression of the growth of a variety of tumors in vivo. These findings provided the first direct evidence that inhibition of angiogenesis may suppress tumor growth and blocking VEGF action could have therapeutic value for a variety of malignancies. A humanized anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody (Avastin) is now in phase III clinical trials as a treatment for several solid tumors, including colorectal, non-small cell lung and breast cancer. Recently, patients with colorectal cancer treated with Avastin in such a trial showed a highly significant increase in time to progression and survival. This is the first phase III study to demonstrate clinical benefit with an anti-angiogenic agent. Currently, Dr. Ferrara's laboratory is characterizing organ-specific endothelial cell mitogens. Endocrine gland-derived VEGF (EG-VEGF), recently discovered in his laboratory, is the first example of this novel class of regulator. Dr. Ferrara has published 130 original papers and 36 review articles, is a reviewer or editorial board member for 37 journals and holds 14 US patents. Back to Top Pat Gray PhD, Vice President of Research, MacroGenics Dr. Gray is well known for his cloning of interferon-gamma (ActiMune) which was approved by FDA to treat chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) in children in 1990 (InterMune acquires this drug from Genentech). In addition to IFN-gamma, significant accomplishments include the first cloning of hepatitis B surface antigen, multiple interferon-alpha genes, Lymphotoxin (TNF-beta), bactericidal permeability increasing protein, LPS binding protein, platelet activating factor Acetylhydrolase, and macrophage derived chemokine. Five of these proteins are approved human pharmaceuticals or are in clinical trials. Twelve of his 118 publications are in Nature, Science and Cell covering these important therapeutic proteins. He has published over 50 patents with over 30 US patents issued on 20 different technologies. He was a senior scientist working with Dr. David Goeddel cloning IFN-alpha and IFN-gamma at Genentech from 1980 to 1989. Dr. Gray worked with Dr. Marc Feldmann at the Charing Cross Sunley Research Center, London, UK from 1989 to 1990. He worked at ICOS Corporation in Seattle from 1990 to 2001 as the Director of Leukocyte Biochemistry and then promoted to various VP positions. He retired from ICOS to join MacroGenics as the VP of Research. He serves also as a consultant for Arch Venture Partners and Ceptyr, Inc. He obtained his BS from the University of Oregon and a PhD from the University of Colorado. He is frequently invited to give international seminars and is a member of ten professional societies. He has served on the editorial boards of several journals, currently that of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Back to Top Reinhard Ebner PhD, Director of Research, Avalon Pharmaceuticals Dr. Ebner is a Scientistific Director at Avalon Pharmaceuticals. He received his undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Regensburg and his doctorate in Microbiology and Genetics from the University of Osnabrück, Germany, where he then served on the faculty of the Genetics department. In 1989, Dr. Ebner was awarded a research fellowship to work as a visiting scientific specialist at Genentech, Inc. in San Francisco. There, he identified and cloned the long elusive first type I TGF-b receptor. In the years following, he made a series of substantial contributions to the fields of cytokine biology, receptor-ligand interactions and intracellular trafficking, cell differentiation, early development and tissue repair, first at Genentech and then at the University of California, San Francisco and at Stanford University Medical School. Dr. Ebner became one of the most productive novel gene finders at Human Genome Sciences and discovered several proteins now in preclinical and clinical development, including such molecules as LIGHT, IL-17B and its receptor, BlyS and TR6. In 2000, he joined Avalon Pharmaceuticals where he was instrumental in the initiation of intramural and external research programs and contributed to corporate and scientific infrastructure development. Dr. Ebner is a frequently invited plenary speaker at national and international conferences and member of scientific advisory panels. He is the author of 37 original research publications, including several articles in Science magazine, and is the primary inventor on more than 100 patent applications. Dr. Ebner collaborated with Dr. Wong since 1989 at Genentech. Back to Top Kuldeep Neote PhD, Principal Research Scientist, Pfizer Kuldeep Neote PhD is a Principal Research Scientist with Pfizer (equivalent to tenure Staff Scientist position). He did his PhD at the University of Toronto and was involved in identifying the most prevalent genetic lesion responsible for Tay-Sachs disease in the Ashkenazi Jewish population (Nature, 1988). His postdoctoral work at Genentech from 1991 to 1994 focused on chemokine biology and he cloned the first CC chemokine receptor (Cell, 1993), work that subsequently had an impact on cloning additional chemokine receptors including CCR5, one of the major HIV co-receptors. He has been working at Pfizer for the last eight years responsible for initiating the chemokine drug discovery program that has led to the advancement of one clinical candidate to Phase II trial. In addition, he has been responsible for applying cutting edge technology to the Drug Discovery process, including breakthroughs in genomics and high throughput screening. He has published 38 papers and filed 5 patents. Dr. Neote has known Dr. Wong since 1990 at Genentech. Back to Top James Strickler PhD, Director of Biochemistry, Suntory Pharma. Research Labs Dr. Strickler has 19 years' experience in the biotech industry in four companies in different therapeutic areas (Cetus, SmithKline Beecham, Serono and Suntory Pharmaceutical ). He received his PhD from Yale University and did his postdoctoral work at the Yale University School of Medicine. After briefly working as an associate scientist at the Cetus Corporation in Emeryville, California, Dr. Strickler joined SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (Smith, Kline and French Laboratories) in 1984 as an associate senior investigator and became Assistant Director in 1989. Dr. Strickler joined Ares Advanced Technology, Inc (now called Serono SRBI) in 1994 as Director of Protein Chemistry. Dr. Strickler left Serono in 2000 to become the Director of Biochemistry at Suntory Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Strickler has authored more than 40 scientific publications and is the co-inventor on five US patents. He is an expert in protein chemistry. Dr. Strickler hired Dr.Wong to work at Serono as the head of functional genomics in 1999 and was Dr. Wong's great supporter. Back to Top Steve Arkinstall PhD, Head of Discovery, Serono Dr. Arkinstall is an accomplished molecular biologist with 13 years' experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He is currently the Head of the Serono Reproductive Biology Institute where he supervises 75 scientists and oversees a $24M budget. Dr. Arkinstall has a major role at Serono in the identification and development of new drug targets. His work at Serono has included new product development and studies on the molecular and genetic basis of altered reproductive function and identification of novel mechanisms responsible for specific regulation of MAP kinases. Prior to joining Serono Dr. Arkinstall played various scientific and leadership roles at the Glaxo-Wellcome Biomedical Research Institute. His assignments at Glaxo-Wellcome included the generation of novel screening systems, new target identification, discovery of novel immunoregulators, discovery of novel blockers of neuronal apoptosis for neurodegenerative diseases and discovery of small molecule regulators of the neurotrophin/Trk receptor system for neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases. Dr. Arkinstall holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford and a BSc in Biochemistry and Physiology from the University of Sheffield. He has authored over 40 publications. Dr. Arkinstall appreciated Dr. Wong's creativity in drug discovery technologies and out-of-the-box thinking. According to Dr. Arkinstall, "Grace understands companies needs and has many ideas linking utility of targets to disease indications. Her strength in biomedicine is that she sees no boundaries to her experimental approach as documented by the several innovative experiments and novel discoveries she has generated at Serono". Back to Top Timothy Wells PhD, Head of Research, Serono Dr. Wells has a successful scientific career in biotechnology and is well known in the field of cytokine biology. He has worldwide responsibility for the discovery organization, with sites in Geneva, Boston and Ivrea, Italy. Serono's research focuses on providing new candidate molecules for clinical development in Serono's key therapeutic areas: infertility, neurology, autoimmunity/inflammation and wasting. Serono built a wide network of collaborations allowing access to all of the emerging new technologies of drug discovery. His personal research background has been focused on cytokine biology. Prior to joining Serono in 1998, Dr. Wells worked for Glaxo Wellcome for several years, rising to Head of Biochemistry and Immunology. Between 1987 and 1990 he worked at SmithKline Beecham in the UK on the molecular enzymology of arteriosclerosis. He obtained a PhD in the chemistry of enzyme action and protein engineering from Imperial College, London under the supervision of Prof. Alan Fersht. Dr. Wells was a great supporter of Dr. Wong at Serono and he was also the first investor in her new start-up. Back to Top Yat Sun Or PhD, Senior Vice President, Drug Discovery, Enanta Pharmaceuticals Dr. Or is well known as an expert chemist and has 17 years' experience in small molecule drug discovery in both biotech and pharmaceutical companies. He holds a PhD from the Department of Organic Chemistry of the University of Chicago. He did his postdoctoral work at Ohio State and Indiana Universities with Professor P. Magnus. In 1983 he joined Schering-Plough as senior scientist and in 1985 moved to Abbot Laboratories where he worked for 14 years in increasingly important positions. He left Abbot in 1999 to join Enanta Pharmaceuticals as Vice President in drug discovery. He has filed over 30 patents and has authored 25 scientific publications. Dr. Or invented three drugs in different therapeutic areas which have entered clinical trials. He established a record at Abbot for the time from inception of a drug discovery project to clinical development less than two years. He received two Chairman's Awards at Abbott for outstanding achievement in drug discovery. Back to Top Iain Campbell PhD, Professor and chair of Molecular Biology, The University of Sydney, Adjunct Professor, Department of Neuropharmacology, The Scripps Research Institute Professor Campbell is a leader in the field of cytokines in central nervous system diseases. He obtained his graduate (1979) and doctoral (1982) degrees in Science from the University of Sydney, Australia. Since 1990, he has been an NIH-funded researcher at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, USA in the Department of Neuropharmacology and from 2004 in the School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences at the University of Sydney, Australia. For the past 20 years, Prof. Campbell's research interests have focused on the role of cytokines (and chemokines) in the pathogenesis of disease, particularly in the central nervous system. These studies have pioneered the use of transgenic modeling in mice to understand the mechanisms of action of cytokines in the living brain. In addition to being a current serving Chair of the NBDG study section for the NIH, Prof.Campbell is an editorial board member for numerous scientific journals and has been a regular invited speaker at many national and international scientific meetings including two Nobel Symposia. He has published over 190 papers in top journals with a significant impact in science discovery. He collaborated with Dr. Wong on cytokine research since 1983 when they were both working at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia. Back to Top David Vaux MD, PhD, Medical researcher, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Dr. Vaux is a leader in Apoptosis that is responsible for maintaining the right number of cells by balancing cell production and cell division. He has made a number of fundamental contributions to the understanding of this process, including recognition of the first component of the cell death mechanism, Bcl-2; unification of the mechanisms of apoptosis in mammalian cells and programmed cell death in the worm C. elegans; discovery of the cellular inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) proteins, and isolation of the first mammalian IAP antagonists Diablo and HtrA2. He has published many papers in top journals such as Nature with a significant impact in the field of apoptosis. He has been invited to give many seminars in apoptosis conferences (both national and international scientific meetings) including the Nobel Symposia on apoptosis in 2002. Dr. Vaux has collaborated with Dr. Wong on apoptosis since 1996. Back to Top Shi-Chung Ng, PhD, Senior Group leader in Drug Discovery, Abbott Laboratories Dr. Shi-Chung Ng graduated with high honors from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He received a full scholarship to attend Purdue University and received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1984. He joined Professor Mark Fishman’s lab at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) as a Hughes Fellow and became an Instructor of Medicine in HMS in 1987. He started as an independent investigator at the Cardiac Unit at MGH in 1988 and moved his lab to Princeton University in 1989 as a visiting faculty member. He worked at Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer and he was appointed as adjunct professor at Rutgers University. In 1993 he moved to Chicago and became a senior group leader in Drug Discovery at the Abbott Laboratories. He was inducted into the Abbott Volwiler Society in 1997 and he also holds adjunct appointment in the Chicago Medical School. Shi-Chung’s current research interest is in cancer drug discovery and he has worked on development of farnesyl transferase inhibitors, novel antimitotic agents, and novel antiapoptotic compounds based on Bcl-2 and IAPs. He has published over 160 papers/abstracts and patent applications. He resides in Libertyville, IL. Back to Top Robert Allen Lewis PhD, Sr VP and Site Head for the Aventis Pharmaceuticals, USA Dr. Robert A. Lewis was educated at Yale (BA, chemistry, 1967), University of Rochester (MD, 1971), and Harvard (Internship, Residency in Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Med Center; Fellowship in Immunology, Harvard Med. School). After 2 years as a staff rheumatologist and allergist in the US Air Force, Dr. Lewis joined the faculty of Harvard Med. School, where he remained for over a decade, conducting research on mast cells, prostaglandins, leukotrienes, in collaboration with his department chairman, Dr. K. Frank Austen; a colleague from pulmonary medicine, Dr. Jeffrey Drazen; the Sheldon Emory Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University, Dr. E J Corey; and a number of talented post-doctoral fellows and students. In 1986, Dr. Lewis left Harvard to join Syntex Corporation as director of basic research, from which he advanced to become President of Discovery Research; there, he and his colleagues developed several drugs, including myocophenolate mofetil for prevention of acute transplant rejection and gancyclovir and valgancyclovir for therapy of cytomegaloviral infections. In 1995, approximately a year after Roche Holdings acquired Syntex, Dr. Lewis moved to Cell Therapeutics in Seattle, as Chief Scientific Officer, where, with his colleagues, he developed polyglutamic acid polymer conjugates with taxanes and other hydrophobic cancer drugs and cloned many of the critical human enzymes involved in the turnover of phospholipids, with focus on their effects in oncogenesis. There, with colleagues, he also began exploring gene expression during T cell subtype differentiation. In 2000, Dr. Lewis moved to Aventis Pharmaceuticals at the Bridgewater, NJ campus, to create and direct a center for expertise in immunology research, termed the Immunology Platform, which has become the center for expression profiling of human immunocytes at Aventis. For the past 6 months, Dr. Lewis has also been acting Sr VP and Site Head for the Aventis US Research Site. Dr. Lewis is the author or coauthor of 160 scientific papers and book chapters on cell biology and biochemistry in immediate hypersensitivity and related disorders. He has served on the faculties of Harvard, Stanford, and UCSF medical schools and has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international meetings over the past 25 years, including the invited professorial lectureship at the Japanese Society of Allergology in 1983. Back to Top Alexander Sasha Kamb PhD, Global Head of the Oncology Disease Area at Novartis Institutes Dr. Sasha Kamb was a co-founder of Arcaris (antecedent of Deltagen Proteomics) in 1996. He served as CSO of the company, CEO (2000-01), and became Vice President of Research after its acquisition by Deltagen. From 1992 to 1996 Sasha was at Myriad Genetics, Inc., where he served as Director of Research from 1994 through 1996 and directed groups that identified genes responsible for familial melanoma and breast cancer. Sasha received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1982 and his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1988. His postdoctoral work in protein crystallography was carried out at the University of California, San Francisco, with Nobel laureate Harold Varmus (cancer molecular genetics) and Robert Stroud (protein structure and drug design). During the past two years, Sasha has directed research efforts at Deltagen Proteomics focused on discovery of novel cancer targets. Sasha has published widely in leading scientific journals, both in his earlier work on the Drosophila Shaker gene, and in his later oncology-related studies. Back to Top David Merberg PhD, Director of Informatics, Cell Signaling Technology David Merberg PhD, Director of Informatics, Cell Signaling Technology Dr. Merberg has been applying bioinformatics methods within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries for more than 15 years. He founded and led the Research Computing group at Genetics Institute, now a unit of the pharmaceutical company, Wyeth. There, his group assembled the bioinformatics infrastructure for the DiscoverEase program, which generated a library of over 800 novel genes that encode secreted proteins. Dr. Merberg later joined AstraZeneca, where he was a founding member of the company's global bioinformatics resource. In this capacity, he led the development of enterprise systems for managing and analyzing molecular sequence and microarray data and implemented them at AstraZeneca sites around the world. Dr. Merberg then became Director of Bioinformatics at Phylos, Inc, where he led the development of systems to manage and analyze data from the company's mRNA display pipeline. In 2003, he joined Cell Signaling Technology, where he is responsible for all aspects of information and informatics within the scientific and business domains. Dr. Merberg holds a BS in mathematics from Stony Brook University and a PhD in molecular biology from The University of Michigan. Back to Top Organizing Committee                             • Grace Wong, PhD, Founder of Student Vision & ActoKine            • Tang Wei PhD, Catherine Laplace PhD, Harvard            • Brian Hennessey, Ramesh Hariharan PhD, MIT Sloan            • Ivy May Kusler, MIT Faculty Club            • Shuguang Zhang, PhD, MIT            • Brian DeLacey, Harvard Business School            • Anthony Pauling Kamb, Cycles King, Student Vision            • Linda Pauling Kamb, CEO of LCProgeny            • Linus Pauling Jr, MD            • Alexander Kamb and Anthony King, Student Vision            • Ann Cherin, Bob Hwang, Student Vision            • Allison Denise Roberts and Erik Streed, MIT            • Jim Dasch PhD, ActoKine Therapeutics Home | Mission | Registration | Sponsors | Job Strategies | News, Events, Contact Biotech Booth | Event Photos | Nobel Day | Dr. Linus Pauling | Who's Who Pauling Biotech Symposium | Symposium Agenda | Symposium Speakers | Symposium Testimonials Founder & Board of Directors | Scientific Advisory Committee | Scholarship Application copyright 2004