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OUR
MANAGEMENT TEAM
In 2004, Mr. Fernback left Wolverton Securities and was the founder of a boutique technology consulting practice. Since 2002, Mr. Fernback has been an active director of the Okanagan Capital Fund, an Okanagan-based technology venture fund. Mr. Fernback is a graduate of McMaster University, where he studied molecular biology and biochemistry, and also a graduate of the University of British Columbia, where he completed his MBA with a concentration in Finance. At Upstream Biosciences Inc., Mr. Fernback is responsible for directing, identifying and evaluating strategic financing and partnering opportunities for the Company. Mr. Fernback contributes to the establishment of the overall business support by working closely with the senior management team. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dr. Geert Cauwenbergh: Dr. Cauwenbergh
is the founder of Barrier Therapeutics, Inc., and has been its CEO for
the past six years. He has more than 20 years’ experience in international
research, clinical drug development and new product commercialization
for both specialty pharmaceuticals and anti-infectives at both pharmaceutical
and biotechnology companies, including Johnson & Johnson (J&J)
and the Janssen Research Foundation. Earlier in his career at
Janssen Pharmaceutica in Belgium, Dr. Cauwenbergh was the International
Director of Clinical R&D, Dermatology and Infectious Diseases at
the Janssen Research Foundation. SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD Dr. Wyeth Wasserman: Dr. Wasserman is a Professor at the University of British Columbia and senior scientist at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics (CMMT). Prior to this, he worked with GlaxoSmithKline Inc. and Pharmacia Corp. (since acquired by Pfizer Inc.), and is world renowned for his ground breaking research in the identification of key functional regions in the Human Genome. Dr. Wasserman leads the field in the development of bioinformatics tools used to discover the on/off switches for human genes. These genetic switches, called transcription factor binding sites, are the control points that define when and where each gene will be active. An individual with genetic abnormalities at these key points in their genome may be susceptible to various forms of disease or may be overly responsive or non-responsive to certain drugs. Articles by Dr. Wyeth Wasserman:
Dr. Artem Cherkasov: Dr. Cherkasov, a faculty member of UBC Department of Infectious Disease, is the author of more than 100 scientific articles in the fields of biochemistry, molecular modeling, and drug design. Dr. Cherkasov was formerly a researcher at BC Cancer Research Center's Genome Sciences Centre. Dr. Brett Casey: Dr. Casey is the Director of the Molecular Genetics Laboratory at British Columbia's Children's Hospital and Head of the Program in Laboratory Genetics at BC Children’s Hospital, completed residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the University of California, San Diego, and fellowships in Pediatric Pathology and Human Molecular Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Casey’s research interests have focused on human malformation syndromes, and his clinical expertise encompasses a broad range of applications in molecular genetics. He is a diplomate of the American Boards of Pathology and of Genetics and a Fellow of both the American and Canadian College of Medical Genetics. Dr. Robert D. Sindelar: Dr. Sindelar’s expertise lies in medicinal chemistry, computer-aided drug discovery and design, pharmaceutical biotechnology, and creating opportunities to integrate innovation into the health care system. He maintained an active research program that focused on the human immune system and drug design for related diseases. This work resulted in more than $14 million (US$) in extramural funding as Principle (PI) and Co-PI Investigator, about 60 refereed journal articles, six U.S. patents, several foreign patents and over 100 scientific and professional presentations. Dr. Sindelar is the recipient of several School and University-wide teaching honors. In addition to his leadership role in the Faculty, Dr. Sindelar continues to teach in the professional undergraduate curriculum in several courses. He currently sits on the Council of The College of Pharmacists of British Columbia, serves on the Board of Directors of BC Biotech and serves on other scientific advisory boards. Mr. Edward Kiruluta: Mr. Kiruluta is currently
Vice President, Engineering at DemandTec where he leads the econometrics,
optimization research, and database teams and prior to joining DemandTec,
Mr. Kiruluta was Senior Director of Informatics at Merck Research Labs
(MRL) where he led the development of the Target Genome Index (TGI),
an environment to help researchers gain better insights into biological
function and drug response by integrating clinical data with genomics,
proteomics and metabolomics technologies. Dr. Winston Hide: Dr. Hide is a world-renowned bioinformatics expert who is the founder and Director of the South African National Bioinformatics Institute at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in Cape Town, South Africa. He is Professor of Genomics at UWC and currently serves as Visiting Professor of Bioinformatics at the Harvard University School of Public Health. Dr. Hide's areas of expertise include computational biology and bioinformatics, genomics, tropical diseases and cancer. He has had a distinguished career as a researcher and teacher and also played a major role in creating a series of institutions for advanced biological and medical research in Africa and elsewhere. In addition to his roles at UWC and Harvard, Dr. Hide currently
leads a pathogen bioinformatics unit of the South African Medical Research
Council where he is responsible for the bioinformatics of the Tsetse
Fly Genome Project. The tsetse fly carries the pathogen that causes
African sleeping sickness. In collaboration with the European 6th Framework
Programme, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Brazilian Genome Project
and the International Human Genome Consortium, Dr. Hide has developed
several systems for disease gene discovery. Collaborating Institutions
include Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Riken, Cambridge and Tokyo
Universities, and the Pasteur Institute. Dr. Hide received a BSc degree from the University College Cardiff, University of Wales and a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Temple University. He lectures widely and serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for numerous scientific journals. Dr. Hide is the recipient of many honors and awards. Alexander Tropsha, Ph.D: Dr. Tropsha, of the University of North Carolina (UNC), is one of the world’s leading chemoinformatics experts. Dr. Tropsha is Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Chair of the Division of Medicine Chemistry and Natural Products of UNC’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Dr. Tropsha is also Director of the Laboratory for Molecular Modeling at the School of Pharmacy and Director of the UNC Graduate Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.
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Joel
Lloyd Bellenson: Co-founder, Chairman, CEO & Director,
was the co-founder and CEO of DoubleTwist, formerly the world's leading
bioinformatics company. Bellenson was also Co-founder and CEO of DigiScents,
internationally known for sequencing and using the human olfactory receptors
to digitize the sense of smell. Bellenson is a graduate of Stanford
University, where he studied molecular biology and international relations.
He co-founded and managed the high-throughput DNA Analysis Facility
at Stanford University Medical Center from 1989 to 1993 under Nobel
Prize laureate Dr. Paul Berg. Bellenson wrote the bioinformatics chapter
to the groundbreaking 1998 book, “DNA Microarrays, a Practical
Approach,” Schena, et.al.
Dexster
L. Smith: Co-founder, President & Director,
was co-founder and President of DoubleTwist, formerly the world's
leading bioinformatics company. Smith was also Co-founder and President
of DigiScents, internationally known for sequencing and using the human
olfactory receptors to digitize the sense of smell. Smith is a graduate
of Stanford University, where he studied industrial engineering and
computer science.
Tim
Fernback: CFO, has over a decade of experience financing
both private and public companies in Canada. Mr. Fernback was the head
of the technology consulting practice for Discovery Capital Corporation,
a prominent British Columbia venture capital firm specializing in financing
and consulting to technology based start-up ventures, and later ran
the Investment Banking/ Corporate Finance Departments for the oldest
and most respected Western Canadian based brokerage firm, Wolverton
Securities Ltd.