Sangeeta Bhatia, M.D., Ph.D. Douglas Hixson, Ph.D. Edward T. Maggio, Ph.D. Markus Grompe, M.D. John G. Coles, M.D. Mattias Von Herrath, M.D. Paul Grint, M.D. Alan Tuchman, M.D. Richard Houghten, Ph.D.

Sangeeta Bhatia, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia earned her M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1999, and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1997. Dr. Bhatia has been an associate professor in the department of bioengineering and an associate adjunct professor in gastroenterology in the department of medicine at the University of California, San Diego. She is also a member of the UCSD Cancer Center. In 2000, Dr. Bhatia was selected one of America’s Notable Women, and in 2003 was named one of the 100 most innovative scientists by the MIT Technology Review. Also in 2003, Dr. Bhatia received the Y.C. Fung Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. She has authored/co-authored two books and over 40 publications, including the first textbook in Tissue Engineering. She also serves on a number of scientific advisory boards, including the World Technology Evaluation Council-Advisory Board to U.S. Agencies on the International State of Biosensing, BioMEMS & Biomedical Nanotechnology World, and the National Academies Futures Keck Initiative on Nanobiotechnology. She also has served on several National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Scientific Foundation (NSF) panels and has been awarded patents in the areas of ‘liver-on-a-chip’ and the interface between biology and microsystems. Dr. Bhatia also serves on the Xenogenics Corporation Board of Directors. Douglas Hixson, Ph.D. Dr. Douglas Hixson is vice president and co-founder of Prothera Biologics, a professor at Brown University, and the director of the COBRE Center for Cancer Research at Rhode Island Hospital. Dr. Hixson is known for his pioneering studies on liver progenitor cells. He has been a member and chair of numerous study sections for the NIH. Dr. Hixson is also a research professor of medicine and pathology at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He earned a bachelor of science in mathematics in 1969, as well as a master’s degree in biochemistry in 1971 from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. In 1975, he earned his doctorate in biomedical sciences from the University of Texas in Houston. From 1998 to present, he has been the director of the Molecular Carcinogenesis Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, at Rhode Island Hospital. Edward T. Maggio, Ph.D. Dr. Edward T. Maggio is the former CEO and a founder of Cengent Therapeutics Inc., renamed from Structural Bioinformatics Inc. upon the acquisition of Geneformatics Inc. in May 2003. He is also the former president and CEO of ImmunoPharmaceutics, Inc. (IPI), which developed a number of endothelin antagonists, including Encysive Pharmaceuticals’ (ENCY-NASDAQ) Sitaxsentan, now in Phase III trials for congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Encysive acquired IPI in 1994. Dr. Maggio has been a founder and board member of six public and private life science companies in the San Diego area. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco department of pharmaceutical chemistry. He is a member of the Board of Fellows of Polytechnic University, New York; serves on the University of California, San Diego Dean’s Board of Advisors for Biological Sciences; and on the Board of Advocates at Baylor University’s School of Engineering and Computer Science. Dr. Maggio has edited and co-authored a number of books and scientific articles in the biotechnology area and is an author of more than two dozen issued and pending U.S. and foreign patents. Markus Grompe, M.D. Dr. Markus Grompe is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost liver and stem cell authorities. He holds U.S. Patent No. 6,12,708 on liver regeneration using pancreatic cells. Dr. Grompe was appointed as a director of the Oregon Stem Cell Center in 2004. He has taught in the department of molecular and medical genetics and the department of pediatrics, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon since 1991. From 1983 to 1984, he was a research assistant in the Department of Clinical Physiology of the University of Ulm. In 1987, he completed a Pediatric Residency at the Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon. From 1987 to 1991, he was a genetics fellow at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He is Board Certified in Clinical Genetics, Biochemical and Molecular Genetics. He has been licensed to practice medicine in Germany and the European Community since 1983 and became a U.S. M.D. in 1984. Dr. Grompe is a Diplomat of the American Board of Human Genetics, a member of the American Society for Investigative Pathology, a member of the Society for Inborn Metabolic Disease, a member of the Western Society for Pediatric Research, a member of the Society for Pediatric Research, a member of the American Society for Human Gene Therapy, and a member of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. He also serves on the boards and scientific panels of various organizations. Dr. Grompe’s recent honors include the E. Mead Johnson Award for research in pediatrics in 2002 and the Award of Merit from the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund in 2002. Dr. Grompe has authored or co-authored 99 peer-reviewed articles and 32 reviews, book chapters, and editorials. A native of New Zealand, he received his education at the University of Ulm School of Medicine, Ulm, West Germany and was a visiting student at the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center in Portland, Oregon. John G. Coles, M.D. Dr. John G. Coles is a leading expert on cardiac stem cells. Since 1984, Dr. Coles has been a professor in Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Toronto, Canada, and senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute. Dr. Coles is the surgical director of the Cardiac Transplantation Program at the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto. He is also the author of over 200 scientific proceedings, patents, and journal publications. The work of Dr. Coles and the Cardiac Transplantation Team has been featured in The New England Journal of Medicine, on CBS “60 Minutes,” in The Toronto Star, and highlighted on CBC Discovery. From 1995 to 2000, Dr. Coles was president of Intellectual Technologies Group, a private fund he founded to invest in University-based technologies. Dr. Coles has extensive experience in organization of University-Industry partnerships designed for the commercial implementation of university-based technology, including the successful research and development program for Internetbased applications using Session Initiation Protocol developed at Columbia University, New York. Dr. Coles received a Medical Degree cum laude from University of Western Ontario, and a Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons in Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Toronto in 1982. He completed a fellowship in subspecialty training in complex congenital heart surgery at University of Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. Coles’ professional affiliations include the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons, the Congenital Heart Surgeons Society Data Centre, the Cardiothoracic Surgery Network, and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. He is also a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada. Mattias Von Herrath, M.D. Dr. von Herrath is a full Member in the Division of Developmental Immunology of La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology. Dr. von Herrath's research focuses on strategies to prevent type 1 diabetes through the induction of regulatory T cells. Dr. von Herrath wrote his thesis in the field of Biochemistry and then received his M.D. in Medicine from the Freiburg Medical School in Freiburg, Germany in 1988. He did his residency work at the Freiburg Medical Center in the Internal Medicine/Immunology department and at the Diakonic Hospital's Intensive Care Unit in Freiburg. For his postdoctoral work, Dr. von Herrath went to The Scripps Research Institute and worked in its Neuropharmacology and Immunology departments. Dr. von Herrath is an editor and reviewer for numerous publications as well as being a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and a Council Member for the International Diabetes Society. Paul Grint, M.D. Paul Grint is Chief Medical Officer and Head of Development at Kalypsys. He has more than 15 years of experience in biologics and small molecule drug development, marked by the successful development of numerous commercial products in the fields of infectious disease, immunology and oncology. Prior to joining Kalypsys, Dr. Grint was Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Zephyr Sciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. He held similar positions at Pfizer in La Jolla, California, IDEC Pharmaceuticals and Schering-Plough. Dr. Grint began his pharmaceutical career at the Wellcome Research Laboratories in the UK and received his medical degree from the University of London, St. Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College in London. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, a member of numerous professional and medical societies and the author or coauthor of over 50 publications. Dr. Grint is also a member of the Board of Directors of Illumina. Alan Tuchman, M.D. Dr. Tuchman is concurrently in private practice and is Clinical Professor of Neurology at New York Medical College.  He is also the Principal of a healthcare and neuroscience consulting firm.  From 1997 to 2001, Dr. Tuchman was Senior Vice President of Equity Research for Oscar Gruss & Son (Member of the New York Stock Exchange), New York, New York, where he conducted investment research in medical and biotechnology and helped develop marketing strategies for healthcare companies.  Prior to this, he was Vice Dean of Clinical Affairs for New York Medical College where he developed and directed clinical care and medical education policy for 29 affiliated hospitals and served as Professor and Vice Chairman and Program Director for Neurology Residency in the Department of Neurology at the same institution.  At the Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, Dr. Tuchman held the positions of Medical Director for the 560-bed hospital from 1990 to 1991 and Director of the Department of Neurology from 1979 to 1994.  Serving in the United States Air Force as Major, he was Chief of Neurology Service for a 16-state region.  Dr. Tuchman earned his B.S. in Chemistry in 1968 from the City College of New York, his M.D. in 1972 from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and his MBA from Columbia University in 1996. He completed his internship at New York Medical College and his residency at the Mount Sinai Hospitals Department of Neurology.  He was a clinical fellow in multiple sclerosis at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Department of Neurology.  Dr. Tuchman is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Society of Neurorehabilitation and is licensed in New York, New Jersey and Ohio.  Dr. Tuchman served as the President of the Epilepsy Society of Southern New York from 1987 1992. Richard Houghten, Ph.D. Richard A. Houghten, Ph.D., is the founder and President of Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies. The Institute was founded in 1988, and began its operations in 1989 with eight employees. Now in its 17th year, it has become internationally recognized for its scientific contributions in a wide range of fields, including chemistry, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, immunology, infectious disease, heart disease, cancer vaccines and pain management. The institute has grown to include over 75 scientists, technicians and administrative staff. Dr. Houghten received his doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1975. Following positions at the University of California, San Francisco, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine, he joined The Scripps Research Institute in 1981. In addition to Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, he founded three commercial businesses, including one which became a publicly-traded biotechnology company. His achievements have been recognized in the form of numerous honors and awards. Most recently, his contributions to the field of combinatorial chemistry and peptide science was acknowledged by the Bruce Merrifield Award in 2005. Just one year prior, he was awarded the 2004 Ralph F. Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry by the American Chemical Society. Other honors received include the Vincent du Vigneaud Award for Excellence in Peptide Science (2000) and the UCSD Connect Athena Pinnacle Award for Empowering Women in the Workplace. His acceptance of the Athena Pinnacle Award in 1999 further distinguishes Dr. Houghten and his dedication to the mentoring and advancement of women scientists in the work place.   Dr. Houghten’s scientific contributions include the “tea bag” approach, which was originally utilized to facilitate the synthesis of peptides in 1985. In collaboration with his long time associates and colleagues at Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, he developed approaches in combinatorial chemistry which are invaluable for the rapid identification of individual compounds from millions to billions of others (positional scanning), the use of existing combinatorial libraries to generate entirely new diversities of compounds (libraries from libraries), the cross-referencing of library screening results with gene data bases in order to fine-tune the direction towards which further testing moves for a given disease target (biometrical analysis), and novel volatilizable solid supports. Many of these technologies have resulted in “leads”, which are today undergoing further testing and analysis in pharmaceutical companies.