Board of Directors
Sutro's proprietary biochemical protein synthesis technology allows for rapid expression and functional screening of proteins that previously could not be produced due to limitations of other protein synthesis technologies.
Leon Chen, Ph.D.
Partner, Skyline Ventures
Partner, Skyline Ventures
Dr. Chen joined Skyline Ventures in 2009. Prior to joining Skyline, Leon co-founded and served as a Senior Director in Research at KAI Pharmaceuticals. There he oversaw pharmacology within R&D, managed the company's intellectual property and led preclinical development of a number of programs. Leon received his Ph.D in Molecular Pharmacology in 2002 from Stanford University and his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2009. He holds a BA in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.
Bryan Lawlis, Ph.D.
Chairman, CEO, Itero Biopharmaceuticals
Chairman, CEO, Itero Biopharmaceuticals
Dr. Lawlis, a 27-year biotech industry veteran, brings his broad experience in therapeutic protein development and manufacturing. Bryan is currently Chief Executive Officer of Itero Biopharmaceuticals, a privately held developer of value-added follow-on and novel therapeutic proteins and antibodies. Prior to joining Itero in 2008, he was employed by Aradigm, where he served as President and CEO from August 2004 until his departure, as President and Chief Operating Officer from June 2003 to August 2004, and as COO from November 2001 to June 2003. Previously, Bryan founded Covance Biotechnology Services, a contract biopharmaceutical manufacturing operation, and served as its President and CEO from 1996 to 1999, and as Chairman 1999 to 2001, when it was sold to Diosynth, a division of Akzo Nobel. From 1981 to 1996, he was employed at Genencor, Inc., and Genentech, Inc. His last position at Genentech was Vice President of Process Sciences.
David Mack, Ph.D.
Director, Alta Partners
Director, Alta Partners
Dr. Mack joined Alta in 2002, and focuses on investments in biopharmaceutical products and therapeutics. David's first Alta investment was Angiosyn (acquired by Pfizer in 2005) where he was Director and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to Alta, David co-founded and served as Vice President of Genomics Research at Eos Biotechnology (acquired by Protein Design Labs in 2003). From 1995 to 1997, he served at Affymetrix as Head of Cancer Biology where he oversaw the development and application of DNA array technology in the areas of oncology and inflammation. David was also a pivotal member of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) invention group at Cetus (now Chiron) in the mid 1980s. David has co-authored more than 30 scientific articles and reviews, including papers published in Cell, Science, and Nature, and is an inventor on 23 US patents. David received his Ph.D. in 1992 from the University of Chicago where he was a Howard Hughes fellow in Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology. He holds a BA in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Daniel H. Petree
Mr. Petree is a founder and member of P2 Partners, LLC of Rancho Santa Fe, CA, a boutique investment bank specializing in life sciences companies. Mr. Petree is the former President and Chief Operating Officer of Axys Pharmaceuticals, a structure-based drug design company based in South San Francisco. He also held successive positions at Axys (and its predecessor, Arris Pharmaceuticals) as Executive Vice President of Business Development and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to Axys, Mr. Petree was Vice President of Business Development at TSI Corporation, a clinical research organization in Worcester, MA, with an M&A-roll up driven strategy. Mr. Petree's operating management experience was preceded by five years in investment banking at Montgomery Securities. Mr. Petree's career began in the practice of law. He was a corporate and securities lawyer with Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe in Palo Alto, CA. Mr. Petree currently sits on the Boards of Directors of Cypress Bioscience, Inc., and Lpath, Inc., both California biotechnology companies and Koronis Pharmaceuticals, a private Washington biotechnology company.
Michael Ross, Ph.D.
Director, SV Life Sciences
Director, SV Life Sciences
Dr. Ross joined SV Life Sciences in 2001, became a Managing Partner in 2002 and is based in San Francisco. Michael was the tenth employee at Genentech where he worked for 13 years. He served as Genentech team leader for Humulin® (human insulin-Lilly), Roferon® (Interferon alpha -Roche), and Protropin® (hGH- Genentech). He was Vice President of Development during the development of Activase®, Nutropin®, Actimmune® and Pulmozyme®. Michael then started Genentech's protein engineering and small molecule discovery effort as VP of Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry. He was the Founding Chief Executive Officer of Arris Pharmaceutical, (now part of Celera), MetaXen, (now part of Exelixis), CyThera (now part of Novocell) and ExSAR. Prior to joining SVLS, Michael was most recently Managing Partner in Didyma, LLC, a biotechnology management consulting firm. He received his AB from Dartmouth College, his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Caltech, and completed an NIH Post Doctoral Fellowship in Molecular Biology at Harvard.
Armen Shanafelt, Ph.D.
Venture Partner
Venture Partner
Dr. Shanafelt is a Venture Partner at Lilly Ventures, with over 22 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostic businesses. Previously, he was CSO responsible for the generation of the early biotherapeutic pipeline for Eli Lilly and Company, spanning the therapeutic areas of oncology, endocrine, and neuroscience; prior to this he held leadership positions at Roche Diagnostics and Bayer. He currently is a director of HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals and Protagonist Therapeutics, a board observer of Receptos, Inc., and a member of Kauffman Fellows Class 14. He received a BS in chemistry and physics from Pacific Lutheran University, his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed his postdoctoral work at DNAX Research Institute, where he studied the structure-function relationships of cytokines and their receptors. He is an inventor on patents for biotherapeutics and diagnostic technologies, and has authored a range of publications including the strategic application of protein optimization to therapeutic protein development.
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