Team

Kevin Weeks, Scientific Advisor

Kevin is a founder of Ribometrix and a Kenan Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The vision of his laboratory is to use chemical principles to explore the central role of RNA in biology with a focus on real-world problems and understanding human disease. RNA SHAPE technologies, invented in his laboratory, are used worldwide. The Weeks laboratory is applying SHAPE and other chemical technologies to challenging problems in biology, including the RNA-mediated reactions central to functions of mRNAs, lncRNAs, and viral RNAs.

Dr. Weeks obtained his BA with Honors and Department Honors in Chemistry from the College of Wooster and completed his Ph.D. at Yale, securing the Richard Wolfgang Prize for most Distinguished Dissertation in Chemistry. Dr. Weeks is a Fulbright and a Searle Scholar, an NIH EUREKA awardee, a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Life Member in Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge, and has taught many hundreds of undergraduates their first year chemistry.

William S. Marshall, Ph.D.

William S. Marshall, Ph.D., is an independent life sciences consultant to various biopharma companies, investors, foundations and academic institutions. Prior to that he was the President, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder and Director of miRagen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGEN). miRagen discovered and developed a series on microRNA modulators, three of which demonstrated clinical proof of concept in the areas of hematological malignancy, fibrosis and induction of neo-angiogenesis. miRagen merged with Viridian Therapeutics in 2020. Prior to founding miRagen, Dr. Marshall was Vice President of Technology and Business Development for Bioscience at Thermo Fisher Scientific. In this role, he was responsible for leading technology assessment and strategic planning for the Thermo Fisher Biosciences Division, a unit with revenues of approximately $1 billion that manufactures and supplies a wide range of products and services across the general-chemistry and life-sciences arenas.

Dr. Marshall was one of the scientific founders of Dharmacon, Inc., which was acquired by Fisher Scientific International, serving as the Executive Vice President for Research and Operations and General Manager. Prior to joining Dharmacon, Dr. Marshall served in many capacities at Amgen, Inc., most recently as Associate Director of Research, Site Head for Research and Head of the Nucleic Acid and Peptide Technology Department. In these positions, he participated in a wide variety of therapeutic development approaches throughout the drug discovery process leading to the development of clinical candidates.

Dr. Marshall earned his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Ph.D. in Chemistry in the laboratory of Professor Marvin Caruthers at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is author and co-author of over 50 research papers and 80 patents. Dr. Marshall currently serves on the Board of FluoroFinder, LLC.

Joshua Mendell, Ph.D.

Dr. Joshua Mendell is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, a Professor of Molecular Biology, and a member of the Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center and the Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, Texas.

Since 2004, Dr. Mendell has directed a research laboratory focused on investigating RNA biology in normal physiology and disease. In particular, the Mendell laboratory has devoted significant effort towards elucidating functions of noncoding RNAs, including microRNAs, miRNAs, and long noncoding RNAs, lncRNAs, and has made major contributions to our understanding of how these RNA transcripts contribute to diseases such as cancer.

For his work in this area, Dr. Mendell has been the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Allan C. Davis Medal for the Outstanding Young Scientist in the State of Maryland in 2007, the AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research in 2010, and the O’Donnell Award from the Academy of Medicine, Engineering, and Science of Texas in 2016.

John Schneekloth, Jr., Ph.D.

John Schneekloth, Jr., Jay, is a Senior Investigator and head of the Chemical Genetics Section in the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health in Frederick, MD. Dr. Schneekloth has an A.B. in Chemistry from Dartmouth College, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Yale University. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University, he began his independent career at the NIH in 2011.

Dr. Schneekloth’s research focuses on chemical biology approaches to target RNA and DNA. The Schneekloth laboratory has pioneered the use of small molecule microarrays as a high throughput platform for the discovery and characterization of RNA-binding small molecules. His work has emphasized the discovery of new chemical and biophysical techniques to understand the selectivity and specificity of molecular interactions with nucleic acids. These efforts enable the development of chemical probes to investigate the role of RNA in diseases such as cancer. His research focuses on targeting challenging, therapeutically valuable nucleic acid targets in cancer such as MYC- and RAS-family genes. Dr. Schneekloth is also active within the research community, where he is currently Secretary of the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry

Gene Yeo, Ph.D.

Gene Yeo is a Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, UCSD. Dr. Yeo has a BSc in Chemical Engineering and a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, a Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the UCSD Rady School of Management. Dr. Yeo’s research interest is in understanding and manipulating RNA processing in development and disease using induced pluripotent stem cell and murine models. His lab demonstrated in vivo RNA targeting with CRISPR/Cas proteins with proof of concept in repeat expansion disorders. The Yeo research group members also developed enhanced CLIP for the purposes of large-scale mapping of protein-RNA interactions.

Gene’s lab is an active participant in RNA genomics technology and therapeutics development. Dr. Yeo is on the Editorial Boards of the journals Cell Reports and Cell Research. Dr. Yeo is a recipient of Alfred P Sloan Fellowship in recognition of his work in computational molecular biology (2011) and the inaugural Early Career Award from the International RNA Society (2017). Gene is a co-founder of several biotech companies including Locana, Eclipse Bioinnovations, Enzerna and Proteona. Gene serves or had served on the scientific advisory boards of the Allen Institute of Immunology, Locana, Eclipse Bioinnovations, Proteona, Aquinnah, LGC, Nugen and Ribometrix.

Mike Clayman, MD

Mike Clayman, M.D., co-founded Flexion Therapeutics in 2007 and has since served as its president and CEO, guiding the discovery and development of ZILRETTA® for osteoarthritis-related knee pain. He also serves as chairman of the board of Anokion SA, a Swiss biotechnology company focused on treating autoimmune disease.

Before founding Flexion, Dr. Clayman had a distinguished career at Eli Lilly and Company, leading numerous divisions engaged in a broad range of activities, from discovery research to clinical investigation to global regulatory affairs. Among his roles, he served as general manager of Chorus, Lilly’s early-phase development accelerator, and as vice president of Lilly Research Laboratories. Prior to Lilly, Dr. Clayman was an assistant professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where his research centered on the immunopathogenesis of renal disease.

Dr. Clayman is the recipient of the Physician Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Health. He holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.D. from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

Mike Solomon, Ph.D.

Mike has more than 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, with more than 17 focused on creating and operating early stage therapeutic-focused companies.

Mike served as Venture Partner at SV Health Investors where he led the seed round for Ribometrix before taking the CEO role. Previously, he served as chief operating officer at Decibel Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on broadly treating hearing disorders. Mike’s involvement at Decibel resulted from his role as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Third Rock Ventures, where he led the team that created Decibel’s business plan resulting in a $52 M Series A round.

Prior to Decibel, Mike was chief operating officer at Ember Therapeutics, a Third Rock Ventures company focused on obesity and diabetes, and chief business officer at Link Medicine, a neurodegeneration-focused biotechnology company that was sold to AstraZeneca. Mike was a founder and VP of discovery at Epizyme Therapeutics, a company focused on epigenetic modulators that is now a publicly traded company, and VP of discovery at Hypnion, Inc, a sleep disorder company that was sold to Lilly in 2007 for $325 million. Mike spent two years as a biotechnology analyst at Bank of America Securities. He started his career at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where he was project leader for multiple programs.

Mike received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Wisconsin and completed postdoctoral work in synthetic organic chemistry at Scripps.

Kevin Weeks, Scientific Advisor

Kevin is a founder of Ribometrix and a Kenan Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The vision of his laboratory is to use chemical principles to explore the central role of RNA in biology with a focus on real-world problems and understanding human disease. RNA SHAPE technologies, invented in his laboratory, are used worldwide. The Weeks laboratory is applying SHAPE and other chemical technologies to challenging problems in biology, including the RNA-mediated reactions central to functions of mRNAs, lncRNAs, and viral RNAs.

Dr. Weeks obtained his BA with Honors and Department Honors in Chemistry from the College of Wooster and completed his Ph.D. at Yale, securing the Richard Wolfgang Prize for most Distinguished Dissertation in Chemistry. Dr. Weeks is a Fulbright and a Searle Scholar, an NIH EUREKA awardee, a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Life Member in Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge, and has taught many hundreds of undergraduates their first year chemistry.

Mike Ross, Ph.D.

Michael Ross, Ph.D. serves as a Managing Partner of SV Life Sciences, SVLS. He was the tenth employee at Genentech, where he worked for 13 years in various roles including team leader and Vice President of Development. Dr. Ross also started Genentech’s protein engineering and small molecule discovery effort as Vice President of Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry. He was the founding CEO of Arris Pharmaceutical, MetaXen, ExSAR and CyThera, now Novocell, and was also Managing Partner at Didyma, LLC, a biotechnology management consulting firm.

Dr. Ross currently serves or has served on the board of directors of several biotechnology companies, including Aderis Pharmaceuticals, Adimab, Alinea, Archemix, Arris Pharmaceuticals, Arsanis, Carta Proteomics, CyThera, Glycofi, Epimmune, Genencor, Ikano, Itero Biopharmaceuticals, Link Medicine, MetaXen, Mpex, NKT Therapeutics, Rempex, Rinat, Sutro Biopharmaceuticals and Xenova. He also serves on the faculty of Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College.

Dr. Ross received his Bachelor of Arts, A.B., from Dartmouth College, his Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D., degree in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, Caltech, and completed a Post-Doctorate program in Molecular Biology at Harvard University.

John Gustofson, MBA

John Gustofson is a Managing Director of AbbVie Ventures and invests across AbbVie’s therapy areas of Immunology, Oncology, and Neuroscience.

Prior to joining AbbVie, John worked at AstraZeneca as a Director of Strategic Partnering and Business Development focused on oncology licensing. John has 20+ years professional experience as a bench scientist and in various roles of market and business development. In addition John has worked in numerous biotechnology companies including Altus Pharmaceuticals, Therion Biologics, Boston Life Sciences and Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals. John also spent approximately 4 years in strategy consulting to the life sciences industry.

John holds a Master Degree in Molecular Biology from the Miami University and an MBA from the Boston University.

Mike Dial, Ph.D.

Experienced investor and scientist, Mike Dial has over a decade of experience working with early-stage life science and healthcare companies. Mike joined Hatteras in 2009 from Silicon Valley Bank, where he was a Vice President in the Corporate Finance Group focused on emerging tech and life science companies and venture capital funds. Prior to SVB, he held research scientist positions in the Department of Biochemistry at UNC-Chapel Hill, the Laboratory of Structural Biology at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the UNC-Duke Michael Hooker Proteomics Center. He has performed research in the fields of cell cycle regulation, proteomics, and cancer therapy.

Mike is a Professor of the Practice at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is the Manager for the Carolina Research Ventures Fund, a $10M fund dedicated to UNC-Chapel Hill related start-ups. He holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Mike serves on the boards of Ribometrix, StrideBio, and Genturi and is a board observer at Spyryx. Previously, Mike was involved with G1 Therapeutics, Viamet, Lysosomal Therapeutics, Artizan Biosciences, and Curoverse among others, and has held various operational roles in Hatteras portfolio companies. Mike has also served on committees and panels for the North Carolina Biotech Center, Council for Entrepreneurial Development, SEBIO and PTP NEXT.

Hakan Goker, Ph.D.

Hakan Goker, Ph.D., is a senior investment director at M Ventures, corporate venture arm of the biopharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Hakan has been investing for the past 12 years and joined M Ventures in 2013. Previously Hakan was a partner at Aescap Venture and prior to that was part of Atlas Venture life sciences team.

Since 2006, Hakan has been instrumental in the creation, financing, and corporate strategy of multiple biotechnology companies globally including Artios, Asceneuron, Storm, Bicycle, and F-star. Hakan received his PhD in cancer biology from the Institute of Cancer Research/ University of London and continued his scientific career with post-doctoral work at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Centre/Royal Marsden Hospital. He gained his BSc Honours, from University College London. Hakan currently is a board member at Artios Pharma, Asceneuron, Forendo, Macrophage Pharma, Ribometrix Inc., Storm Therapeutics, Synaffix, Tocopherx, and is the chairperson of iOnctura.

William S. Marshall, Ph.D.

William S. Marshall, Ph.D., is an independent life sciences consultant to various biopharma companies, investors, foundations and academic institutions. Prior to that he was the President, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder and Director of miRagen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGEN). miRagen discovered and developed a series on microRNA modulators, three of which demonstrated clinical proof of concept in the areas of hematological malignancy, fibrosis and induction of neo-angiogenesis. miRagen merged with Viridian Therapeutics in 2020. Prior to founding miRagen, Dr. Marshall was Vice President of Technology and Business Development for Bioscience at Thermo Fisher Scientific. In this role, he was responsible for leading technology assessment and strategic planning for the Thermo Fisher Biosciences Division, a unit with revenues of approximately $1 billion that manufactures and supplies a wide range of products and services across the general-chemistry and life-sciences arenas.

Dr. Marshall was one of the scientific founders of Dharmacon, Inc., which was acquired by Fisher Scientific International, serving as the Executive Vice President for Research and Operations and General Manager. Prior to joining Dharmacon, Dr. Marshall served in many capacities at Amgen, Inc., most recently as Associate Director of Research, Site Head for Research and Head of the Nucleic Acid and Peptide Technology Department. In these positions, he participated in a wide variety of therapeutic development approaches throughout the drug discovery process leading to the development of clinical candidates.

Dr. Marshall earned his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Ph.D. in Chemistry in the laboratory of Professor Marvin Caruthers at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is author and co-author of over 50 research papers and 80 patents. Dr. Marshall currently serves on the Board of FluoroFinder, LLC.