Advisory Boards

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.