Retrotope

Management

Board of Directors

Scientific Advisory Board

Management

Robert J. Molinari (Founder and CEO; Director) specializes in biotechnology reagents, genomics, proteomics, and biopharmaceutical research companies. He was the founding CEO of Coda Genomics, a synthetic biology and biofuels company. Bob is on the biotech screening committee of the Life Science Angels. He served as a genomics affiliate to the Institute for the Future, a Menlo Park-based think tank. He was the co-founding CEO and president of Protogene Laboratories, Inc., and from 1994 to 1996 led that company to become the world's largest supplier of custom DNA before it was acquired by Life Technologies, Inc. (now Invitrogen). He then ran a spin-off of Protogene for several years which developed ink jet technology for custom DNA chips. Prior to Protogene, Bob served as a strategic advisor in the startup of Nanogen, Affymetrix, and Sequenom. Earlier, Dr. Molinari served as the founding CEO of Avitech Diagnostics, a company with DNA sequencing and mutation detection technology (which became part of Variagenics, Inc.) and was a consultant specializing in biotechnology at McKinsey & Co. Dr. Molinari has an A.B. and an MBA from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from Brown University.

Mikhail S. Shchepinov (Founder and CSO; Director) has a MSc in biotechnology and organic chemistry from Mendeleyev Institute of Chemical Technology, and a Ph. D. in bioorganic chemistry from Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Moscow. From 1995, he worked in academia and industry in Oxford, UK, and San Diego, USA.

Board of Directors

Charles R. Cantor (Founder and Chairman of the Board; SAB member) BA (Columbia University, 1963). Ph.D. (University of California, Berkeley). Member of the US National Academy of Sciences (1988). Currently on leave from Boston University (Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology). Founder and CSO (since 1998) of Sequenom. Main areas of expertise: biophysics, molecular genetics, molecular biology, genomics, bioinformatics. His scientific interests include mass-spectrometry, prenatal diagnostics, in vivo RNA detection and epigenetics. He made important contributions to understanding of DNA-protein interactions and pioneered physical mapping of whole chromosomes. Invented (1984) and developed pulse field gel electrophoresis for analysis of very large DNA molecules. He is also founder of SelectX Pharmaceuticals and DiThera. His copious awards include Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry (1978), Biochemical Analysis Prize of the German Society of Clinical Chemistry (1988), ISCO Award for Advances in Biochemical Instrumentation (1989), H.A. Sober Award (American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 1990), and E.M. Gray Award (Biophysical Society, 2000). (Co)authored several books (including the 3-volume textbook, Biophysical Chemistry) and more than 450 per-reviewed papers, as well as more than 60 patents.

Robert J. Molinari (Founder and CEO; Director) specializes in biotechnology reagents, genomics, proteomics, and biopharmaceutical research companies. He was the founding CEO of Coda Genomics, a synthetic biology and biofuels company. Bob is on the biotech screening committee of the Life Science Angels. He served as a genomics affiliate to the Institute for the Future, a Menlo Park-based think tank. He was the co-founding CEO and president of Protogene Laboratories, Inc., and from 1994 to 1996 led that company to become the world's largest supplier of custom DNA before it was acquired by Life Technologies, Inc. (now Invitrogen). He then ran a spin-off of Protogene for several years which developed ink jet technology for custom DNA chips. Prior to Protogene, Bob served as a strategic advisor in the startup of Nanogen, Affymetrix, and Sequenom. Earlier, Dr. Molinari served as the founding CEO of Avitech Diagnostics, a company with DNA sequencing and mutation detection technology (which became part of Variagenics, Inc.) and was a consultant specializing in biotechnology at McKinsey & Co. Dr. Molinari has an A.B. and an MBA from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from Brown University.

Mikhail S. Shchepinov (Founder and CSO; Director) has a MSc in biotechnology and organic chemistry from Mendeleyev Institute of Chemical Technology, and a Ph. D. in bioorganic chemistry from Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Moscow. From 1995, he worked in academia and industry in Oxford, UK, and San Diego, USA.

Lewis J. Shuster (Director) is a very successful business person with broad and extensive experiences in the biotechnology industry. He is currently President and CEO of Kemia, Inc. Before he joined Kemia, Inc., Mr. Shuster served as the CFO for Pharmacopeia and Human Genome Sciences where he led successful IPOs for both companies. Mr. Shuster also held several executive management positions at Invitrogen Corporation, including COO. In addition to his position as CFO at Pharmacopeia, he also served as the COO of Pharmacopeia Labs. Mr. Shuster previously held executive positions at Human Genome Sciences and Microbiological Associates (now BioReliance). In earlier years, Mr. Shuster served for the Boston Consulting Group and United States Senate Budget Committee.Mr. Shuster obtained an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a BA in Economics from Swarthmore College.

Scientific Advisory Board

Anatoly L. Buchachenko (SAB member) BA (Nizhny Novgorod State University, 1958). Professor and Chair, Chemical Kinetics, Moscow State University. Head of the Department of Dynamics of Chemical and Biological Processes, NN Semyonov Institute of Chemical Physics RAS. Member (1987) of the RAS (Head of the Chemical Kinetics Division). His interests include spin chemistry, stable radicals, physics of chemical reactions, radiospectroscopy, molecular ferromagnets, magnetic isotope effect in biology, isotope separation and nanotechnology. He discovered the magnetic isotope effect (1976) and chemically induced radio-frequency emission of chemical reactions. His plentiful awards include the USSR State Prize (1977) and the Lenin State Prize (1987). (Co)authored 8 books (including New Isotopy in Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2007), more than 300 per-reviewed papers, and several patents.

Amato Giaccia (SAB member) Jack, Lulu, and Sam Willson Professor of Cancer Biology, Director of Cancer Biology Graduate Program, Director Division of Cancer and Radiation Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine. Stanford, postdoctoral fellow (1989); assistant professor (1992). Discovered that the low oxygen microenvironment of solid tumors acted as a selective pressure for the expansion of tumor cell variants that were highly aggressive due to the loss of the p53 and PTEN tumor suppressor genes. These highly cited studies provide insight into the role of the tumor microenvironment on tumor evolution, and why solid tumors are resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In 2006, he was named the Jack, Lulu and Sam Willson Professor of Cancer Biology. Amato is currently the Director of the Interdisciplinary Cancer Biology Research Program at Stanford and is the Director of the Division of Radiation and Cancer Biology. He also heads the Radiation Biology Program in Stanford’s Cancer Center. Established that lysyl oxidase is essential for the metastatic spread of tumor cells. LOX represents a new therapeutic target for the prevention and control of metastases. Amato is the principal investigator of an NIH Program Project Grant that is based on developing new strategies to exploit the tumor microenvironment. Has co-authored the sixth edition of the most prominent textbook in the field, “Radiation Biology for the Radiologist”, with Eric Hall from Columbia University. Published almost 200 peer reviewed articles, book chapters and reviews and is inventor on 6 patents. Amato was awarded an American Cancer Society Junior Faculty Research Award, Howard Hughes Junior faculty Award and the Michael Fry Award from the Radiation Research Society for his outstanding contributions on understanding the molecular mechanisms of resistance promoted by the tumor microenvironment. Earned his undergraduate degree from Lafayette College and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Martin Brown at Stanford University.

Aubrey DNJ de Grey (SAB member) BA, MA, Ph.D. (Cambridge, UK, 2000). Main areas of scientific interest: bioinformatics, molecular and cellular biology, aging, gerontology, rejuvenation. More specifically, his focus is on the role and etiology of all the accumulating and eventually pathogenic molecular and cellular side-effects of metabolism that constitute mammalian aging; the design of interventions to reverse and/or obviate this accumulation. Founder and Chairman and CSO, Methuselah Foundation. Proposed Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging (1999) and Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS, 2000-2005). Editor-in-Chief of Rejuvenation Research. His awards include the World Transhumanist Association HG Wells Award. (Co)authored 2 books (including Ending Aging, 2007) and more than 30 per-reviewed papers.

Cynthia J. Kenyon (SAB member) BA (University of Georgia, 1976), Ph.D. (MIT, 1981). Member of the US National Academy of Sciences (1997). Professor of an American Cancer Society (University of California, San Francisco), and director, the Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging (UCSF). Her interests include molecular, cell and developmental biology; cancer and aging. More specifically, she is interested in molecular genetics and hormonal signaling pathways associated with aging. In 1993, she has discovered a single-gene mutation that could double the lifespan of C. elegans. She has also demonstrated that the aging process is controlled by hormones and transcription factors that coordinately affect age-related disease in many organisms, including mammals. She is a founder of Elixir Pharmaceuticals. Her numerous awards include the King Faisal Prize for Medicine, the American Association of Medical Colleges Award for Distinguished Research, the Ilse & Helmut Wachter Award for Exceptional Scientific Achievement, and the La Foundation IPSEN Prize. (Co)authored about 100 per-reviewed papers and several patents.

Jan Vijg (SAB member) BS, MSc, Ph.D. (the University of Leiden, The Netherlands, 1987). Professor and Chair, Department of Genetics; Lola and Saul Kramer Chair in Molecular Genetics; Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, NY. He moved from Europe to the USA in 1993 and held professorial positions at Harvard and University of Texas, San Antonio, and the Buck Institute for Age research (Novato, CA; 2006-2008). His areas of expertise include molecular genetics, gerontology, cancer and aging. More specifically, he is interested in damage (including oxidative damage) to the genome, genome instability and its role in the etiology of aging and age related disease. He was the first to develop transgenic mouse models (MutaMouse™) for studying mutagenesis in vivo (1989). He also demonstrated that the frequency of mutations increases with age in most tissues. Has been involved with biotech companies since 1990 (founded and directed Ingeny B.V. from 1990-1993). His many awards include the N. Shock New Investigator Award (The Gerontological Society of America, 1994) and the Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar Award. (Co)authored several books (including Aging of the Genome, 2007), more than 200 peer-reviewed papers, and 8 patents.

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