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Protein Attachment Technologies LLC is a start-up company located
in Amherst Massachusetts. Our principal activity is the
development and use of new reagents and assay methods, which
result from innovative combinations of protein engineering and
chemical self-assembly. The products and reagents are designed to
be particularly well-suited for biochemical tests of function in
complex signal transduction pathways involving membrane receptors.
The underlying technology represents a new platform for assembling
and assaying the activity of the critical signaling components,
which has created a new ability to assess functions that only
emerge as a result of biological assembly.
In contrast to the current art, which is focused on screening
pair-wise interactions among signaling components, our methods
represent qualitatively new testing abilities, and will permit the
many signaling pathways relevant to human disease to be mined for
greater understanding and screened for potential therapeutics.
The technology, reagents and assays are optimized for ease of use,
reliability, and broad utility in basic research and high
throughput analyses. The ubiquitous role of transmembrane receptor
proteins in cellular signaling pathways, coupled with the
significant challenges for their isolation and study has generated
this need.
This need also represents the driving force behind P.A.
Technologies' research and innovation efforts: to provide
researchers and industry with ahead-of-the-curve technologies that
enable efficient and effective analysis.
Co-Founders
Dr. Robert M. Weis - Robert has B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in
Chemistry from the University of Michigan and Stanford University,
respectively. He has been a member of the faculty in the
Department of Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
since 1988, where he conducts research in transmembrane signaling.
Dr. Anthony L. Shrout - Anthony graduated from Indiana
State University in 1998 with a B.S. in chemistry. He then began
graduate studies in the Chemistry department at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst. Using the chemotaxis signaling system of
E. coli, Dr. Robert Weis, Anthony, and colleagues conceived
and developed the novel surface templating technology
(patent-pending) our company has exclusively licensed.
Dr. Edward A. Esposito - Edward graduated from Southern
Connecticut State University in 1998 with a Double Baccalaureate
in Chemistry and Biology. He then attended the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst, working on his doctoral thesis under the
guidance of Dr. Craig T. Martin in the Department of Chemistry.
Ed’s work in the field of protein-nucleic acid engineering has led
to the elucidation of key mechanistic features of T7 RNA
polymerase.
Timmy J. Shrout (Managing Partner) - Tim graduated from
Indiana University in 1982 with a B.S. in Accounting. The next 23
years have been spent in the Real Estate industry amassing a
portfolio of 8000 Apartment units, development of over 5000
Residential lots, plus extensive holdings of Commercial
Properties. Tim has created over 50 new business entities from
conception and is currently President and Owner of a diversified
conglomerate with over $50MM in annual revenue.
Sales and Marketing
Mr. Steve Zolnay (Director of Business Development) Stephen
Zolnay brings 20 years of experience to his role as VP of Business
Development at Nanostream. Mr. Zolnay was most recently
responsible for driving Nanostream’s new business and partnership
opportunities for the company’s suite of micro parallel liquid
chromatography products. Before joining Nanostream, Mr. Zolnay
oversaw the U.S. operations for the Cell Culture division at The
Automation Partnership in Cambridge, United Kingdom. As area sales
manager at IGEN International, he was responsible for business
development in the Mid-Atlantic region. He remained the top
producer in worldwide sales during his entire tenure at IGEN. Mr.
Zolnay held additional sales and sales management roles at Unisyn
Technologies and Caliper, formerly Zymark Corporation. Mr. Zolnay
received a BA from Dartmouth College and completed further studies
in immunology and economics at Harvard University.
Management Team
Dr. Mark A. Tepper
(Executive Chairman) Dr.
Tepper is a seasoned biotech executive with a strong mix of
business and scientific experience. For the last 6 years Dr.
Tepper helped launch 3 biotechnology companies, and contributed
directly to an additional 4 companies. His most recent company for
which he raised $8M in April 2008 is NKT Therapeutics Inc.
a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing first in class
medicines based on Natural Killer Cells to treat immune mediated
diseases. Prior that NKT, he founded,
and served as the President of Araios, Inc., focused on RNAi
therapeutics for treating metabolic and neurodegenerative
diseases. He raised $8M from CytRx Corporation (NASDAQ: CYTR), and
2 years later, fully merged Araios into CytRx. Later on, as Senior
VP, he assisted CytRx to raise $35M in capital, build market value
from $80M to $320M and put in place the plan that led to a public
spin out of RXi Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RXII), a novel RNAi
therapeutics company founded by Nobel Laureate Dr. Craig Mello,
valued at $120M in Dec 2008. His R&D leadership experience
included running drug development programs with up to 120
employees and over the years his contributions resulted in 5
marketed Pharmaceutical products (Deoxyspergualin, Taxol, Rebif,
Orcenia and Gonal-F). He spent 8 years at Serono Pharmaceuticals
rising to the rank of VP Research and Operations, US drug
discovery division, in charge of 78 employees and an R&D annual
budget of $20 million. He also spent 8 years at Bristol-Myers
Squibb, as Senior Research Investigator in Oncology and
Immunological Diseases drug discovery where he worked on a number
of cancer drugs including Taxol. He has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry &
Biophysics from Columbia University, New York, and a B.A in
Chemistry (Cum Laude) from Clark University, Worcester, Mass. He
gained postdoctoral training at University of Massachusetts
Medical School, Worcester. He has over 40 published scientific
papers, and is the co-inventor of 5 granted drug related patents.
Kenneth L. Rice, Jr., J.D., L.L.M., M.B.A. Mr. Rice brings
over 25 years of experience in life sciences-related businesses to
Alseres. Most recently, Mr. Rice served as Vice President, Chief
Financial Officer, and Chief Commercial Officer of Aderis
Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biopharmaceutical company. Mr.
Rice previously held executive positions with MacroChem
Corporation, Pentose Pharmaceuticals, Unisyn Technologies, Zymark
Corporation, and Millipore Corporation. Mr. Rice earned his LLM
Taxation from Boston University Law School, his Juris Doctor Cum
Laude from Suffolk University Law School, and his MBA and BS/BA
from Babson College.
Ray D'Alonzo (Business and IP Strategy
Officer)
Ray is a visiting professor in the Chemistry Department of the
University of Massachusetts Amherst. He retired from the Procter &
Gamble Company in 2008 after more than 31 years of service. Ray
received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of the
Sciences in Philadelphia in 1974 and his Ph.D. in Analytical
Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in 1977.
He joined P&G after receiving his doctorate and joined the
Company’s Pharmaceutical Division in 1984. From 1984 to 2008, he
held senior director level managerial responsibilities over a wide
range of functions and projects from discovery research to
clinical development to technical support of marketed products. In
1985, his research team discovered Actonel^® , a $2 billion block
buster drug for osteoporosis.
Gregory A. Bruzas (Financial Advisor) - Greg is a graduate
of Wabash College, earning his Bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts
as an Economics major. After graduating with honors in 1982, he
joined American Fletcher National Bank (now Chase Bank)
responsible for credit analysis and the origination and
administration of commercial real estate lending. Greg has been
with Dominion Group since 1985. In addition to administrative
duties at Dominion, he handles construction and permanent
financing, commercial leasing, and investments for the Dominion
portfolio. He is a principal in several real estate developments,
and he holds an Indiana Real Estate Broker license.
Alan M. Hux (Outside General Counsel – Sommer Barnard PC) -
Alan graduated from DePauw University, Greencastle, IN in 1969
with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. He obtained his Juris
Doctor degree from Washington University School of Law in 1972.
During his career Mr. Hux has represented numerous small, medium,
and Fortune 500 companies in various aspects of business law. Mr.
Hux is a director/shareholder of Sommer Barnard, PC located in
Indianapolis, Indiana and is a member of that firm’s Business Law
and Real Estate Practice Groups. He is licensed to practice law in
Indiana and Illinois and admitted to practice before the United
States District Court (Eastern District, Illinois; Southern
District, Indiana) and the United States Court of Appeals (7th
Circuit).
Gregory B. Coy (Outside Patent Counsel – Krieg-Devault, LLP)
– Greg was born in Tampa, Florida. He received a B.A. in Biology
in 1992 from Wabash College and a J.D. degree from the Indiana
University School of Law-Bloomington in 1995, where he was Senior
Executive Editor of the Federal Communications Law Journal in
1995. He has more than 10 years of experience providing legal
representation in the area of intellectual property to
universities, research institutions, and companies of all sizes,
ranging from small local concerns to large international firms.
Wayne Massey (President of Geneva Capital Group) - Wayne
graduated form Indiana University with a degree in marketing and
finance. Wayne’s 32 years of experience began in 1974 with
Railroadman’s Savings bank in Indianapolis where he started his
career in Investments and Lending. He then joined Citicorp as a
lending officer. In 1980 Wayne opened the Indianapolis office for
Collateral Control Corporation where he developed over 50 banking
relationships serving larger banks through asset based lending
services and smaller community banks in the equipment leasing
area. In 1984, Wayne moved to Chicago as VP and Equity Placement
Manager for Dekalb Equipment Leasing Corporation and continued
developing bank relationships and participations; many of which
continue toady with Geneva Capital Group, a company that he
started in 1989.
Barbara Osborne (Immunologist and Entrepreneur in
Biotechnology) – Barbara received her BA in English from
Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA and her PhD in genetics and
immunology from Stanford University Medical School. She did
postdoctoral work at NIH in immunology. She joined the faculty of
Veterinary & Animal Sciences at University of Massachusetts in
1985 where she directs a research program focused on various
aspects of the development of a functional immune response. In
1999, along with three colleagues, she co-founded Hematech, LLC
which was purchased by Kirin Pharmaceuticals in 2005.
Scientific Advisory Team
Robert M. Weis (Biological and Physical Chemist) - Robert
has B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from the University of
Michigan and Stanford University, respectively. He has been a
member of the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst since 1988, where he conducts
research in transmembrane signaling. He is inventor of the core
technology licensed by P.A. Tech and a company Co-founder.
Dr Tony Pawson
(MA, University of Cambridge, PhD, Imperial Cancer Research Fund,
London) is a Distinguished Scientist at the Samuel Lunenfeld
Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto. Dr Pawson’s
ground breaking research has been directed towards understanding
the molecular principles through which human cells are assembled
and controlled. He has published over 350 papers in the field of
molecular biology and formulated the now accepted concept that
cellular signal transduction pathways function through a limited
set of folded modular domains. Dr Pawson is a Professor in the
Department of Medical Genetics and Microbiology at the University
of Toronto, Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences
(US), and a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Canada. In
recognition of his contribution to science and medicine Dr Pawson
has received numerous awards, including the Gairdner Foundation
International Award, and the Royal Medal from The Royal Society of
London.
Tomi K. Sawyer (Ph.D.
Chemistry, the University of Arizona) is Chief Scientific Officer
and Senior Vice-President of Drug Discovery and Innovative
Technologies at AILERON
Therapeutics where
he oversees R&D campaigns focused on peptide therapeutics based on
novel stapling chemistry and drug design strategies with an
emphasis on signal transduction pathways for cancer and other
diseases. His research background includes peptide and
peptidomimetic receptor agonists, peptidomimetic inhibitors of
proteases, and both peptidomimetic and non-peptide inhibitors of
signal-transduction therapeutic targets. Tomi has more than 250
publications and patents. His previous scientific and management
positions include Pfizer Global R&D (including both Upjohn and
Parke-Davis prior to their acquisitions by Pfizer). Tomi is also
an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry as well as Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology at the University of Massachusetts, and is an
Adjunct Professor of Cancer Biology at the University of
Massachusetts Medical School.
D. Venkataraman (expert in Organic Synthesis, materials, and
supramolecular chemistry) - DV is an Associate Professor of
Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He spent the
first 21 years of his life in the City of Madras (now called
Chennai), India. He received his B.Sc. degree from Vivekananda
College, Madras in 1989 and his M.Sc degree from Indian Institute
of Technology, Madras in 1991. He received his Ph.D degree from
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996. During his
Ph.D. years, he was advised by Prof. Jeff Moore at UIUC and by
Prof. Stephen Lee at the University of Michigan (now at Cornell).
After his Ph.D., DV moved to Cornell as a postdoctoral Associate
and worked with Prof. Frank DiSalvo and Prof. Jean Fréchet. In
1999, DV moved to UMass Amherst where he is now an Associate
Professor.
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