Scientific Advisory Board
Arul Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Chinnaiyan is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and S.P.
Hicks endowed professor of pathology and leads a world-renowned research team
in the field of prostate cancer at the University of Michigan. He received his M.D. and
Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan and is board certified in pathology.
In 2007 he was named the director of a new University initiative, the
Michigan Center for Translational Pathology. The Center’s goal is
to develop new molecular tests and therapies for human disease with the primary
focus on cancer. Dr. Chinnaiyan's laboratory is focused on using genomic, proteomic
and bioinformatic approaches to dissect and understand cancer for the purposes of
understanding cancer biology as well as discover biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
Dr. Chinnaiyan has more than 180 publications to his credit, holds several U.S.
patents, and is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Burroughs Welcome
Foundation and the Department of Defense.
Paul Schimmel, Ph.D.
Dr. Schimmel, Scientific Advisory Board member and co-founder, is a Hahn Professor
at The Scripps Research Institute. He formerly was a MacArthur Professor of Biochemistry
and Biophysics in the Department of Biology at MIT. Professor Schimmel co-founded
Alkermes, Cubist, Repligen, Alnylam and Sirtris. He was elected to membership in
the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the
American Philosophical Society and the Institute of Medicine. Professor Schimmel
was a recipient of the American Chemical Society's Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry,
the Stein and Moore Award of the Protein Society, the Brilliant Achievement Award
of the Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association, and was a co-recipient of the Biophysical
Society's Emily M. Gray Award for significant contributions to education in biophysics.
Hamilton O. Smith, M.D.
Dr. Smith is chairman of the Scientific Advistory Board and the scientific director
of the Institute of Biological Energy Alternatives. In 1978, Dr. Smith was a co-recipient
of the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of Type II restriction enzymes,
which led to the development of recombinant DNA technology. He has collaborated
with The Institute for Genome Research (TIGR) to sequence the genome of H. influenza,
archaea bacteria and other bacteria. He joined Celera in 1998 as director of DNA
Resources and participated in the sequencing of the genomes of the fruit fly, mosquito,
mouse and human. Dr. Smith has received numerous awards and is a member of the National
Academy of Sciences.
J. Craig Venter, Ph.D.
Dr. Venter is presently the founder and president of The J. Craig Venter Science
Foundation, The Center for the Advancement of Genomics and the Institute for Biological
Energy Alternatives. Dr. Venter is well known for leading Celera to the successful
sequencing of the human genome. Dr. Venter held numerous research positions at the
National Institutes of Health, including chief of the receptor biochemistry and
molecular biology section. He served as president and chairman of the board for
The Institute for Genome Research. Dr. Venter is the recipient of numerous awards
and honorary degrees, including the 2001 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize,
the 2001 Takeda Award, the 2000 King Faisal Award and the 2002 Gairdner Foundation
International Award. Dr. Venter is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Biochemistry Advisory Board
Richard Hanson, Ph.D.
Dr. Hanson is the Leonard and Jean Skeggs Professor of Biochemistry and Nutrition
at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. Over the
past 30 years, he and his colleagues have pioneered the use of molecular biology
for the study of metabolic processes and the development of animal models to better
understand the control of metabolism in the intact animal. Dr. Hanson holds six
patents and has received numerous awards for his research.
Satish Kalhan, M.D.
Dr. Kalhan is a certified physician in both medicine and pediatrics whose research
has focused on nutrition and metabolism. He has developed numerous isotopic tracer
techniques for the study of whole body metabolism, and his major interests include
whole body glucose, protein and amino acid metabolism in various physiological states
such as pregnancy, infancy and adolescence. Dr. Kalhan has served on a number of
advisory boards, consultative groups and peer review groups in these fields of research
and clinical medicine.
Vern Schramm, Ph.D.
Dr. Schramm is the Professor and Ruth Merns Chair of Biochemistry at the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. Dr. Schramm has received numerous
honors in recognition of both his biochemistry research and teaching. He has been
a member of the Einstein faculty since 1987 and is world-renowned for his research
of transition state theory for enzyme-catalyzed reactions. Dr. Schramm's current
research is focused on transition state analogues for treatment of leukemia, solid
tumors, autoimmune diseases, bacterial infections, malaria and as antidotes for
bioterrorism agents.
Steven Zeisel, MD, Ph.D.
Dr. Zeisel is the Kenan distinguished university professor of nutrition at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and serves as the director of the Nutrition Research
Institute, a part of UNC's School of Public Health. Dr. Zeisel is recognized as
an international leader in nutrition research. His team's work established the requirement
for choline, a newly recognized essential part of our diet. His work on nutrition
and brain development, genetic variation and diet requirements, environment and
nutrition, and medical education are supported by grants from the US National Institutes
of Health (NIH). Dr. Zeisel directs one of the NIH national centers of excellence
in human nutrition research.