Our Team
Management and Staff
President and CEO
Mr. Vincent La Terza is a serial biotech entrepreneur and a member of the United States patent bar. He has substantial experience in the areas of intellectual property, licensing, business development and investor relations. Mr. La Terza directed Emory University's office of Technology Transfer from 1992 through 1998. During that period he was involved in licensing and equity arrangements for numerous Emory spin offs, including two pharmaceutical companies (AtheroGenics and Pharmasset). Mr. La Terza also negotiated and drafted several license agreements for Emory compounds which are now approved or in human clinicals trials. He was Emory's primary business and legal representative for the negotiation of a license agreement between Emory and Triangle Pharmaceuticals in 1996 for the antiviral drug Emtriva, aka FTC. This arrangement yielded a one time royalty payment in the amount of $540M (lump sum royalty stream buy out) to Emory University by Gilead Sciences and Royalty Pharma. After leaving Emory Mr. La Terza cofounded two privately held biotech companies, Octagen which is developing advanced biologics for hemophilia A and has a drug in Phase II studies (see www.Octagen.com) and Abeome, a monoclonal antibody platform company.
Technical Staff
NeurOp's discovery programs are being advanced by a staff of six scientists working in close collaboration with investigators at Emory University and Duke University.
NeurOp's Director of Drug Discovery, Scott Myers, Ph.D., has performed research in cell biology of the central nervous system, including glutamate receptor pharmacology, for over 15 years. Dr Myers completed his thesis work in the Dingledine lab at Emory University and is intimately familiar with NeurOp technology. NeurOp's Director of Medicinal Chemistry, Larry Wilson, Ph.D., earned his doctorate at Emory in the Liotta lab and is a seasoned professional, having spent twelve years in major pharma (Proctor and Gamble, J&J).
Medicinal chemist, Yesim Altas, Ph.D., spent several years doing post-doctorate work synthesizing pH dependent NR2B NMDAR antagonists in the Liotta lab at Emory. She is carrying this work forward at NeurOp by preparing preclinical leads. NeurOp technician, Ms. Polina Lyuboslavsky, is an exceptionally skillful animal surgeon and spent over ten years working at Emory in the Traynelis lab prior to joining NeurOp. Ms. Lyuboslavsky has generated a substantial body of data pertaining to pH boost and neuroprotective efficacy for NeurOp's compounds. Ms. Elina Levin, a bright and energetic recent graduate of Emory, is helping develop new assays and working as a technician for NeurOp. The Company is recruiting additional scientists.
The Company occupies about 2000 square feet of wet lab and office space in EmTech Bio, a biotech incubator facility located on the Emory campus.
Scientific Advisory Board
The NeurOp founders and Dr Liotta, and Dr. Snyder of Emory University's Department of Chemistry comprise the core of NeurOp's SAB. These five highly accomplished scientists meet regularly with the NeurOp technical staff.
Raymond J. Dingledine, PhD. is currently Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA. Prior to coming to Emory in 1992, Dr. Dingledine was a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Dr. Dingledine is widely recognized as one of the foremost experts in the field of neuropharmacology. His research focuses primarily on the role of glutamate systems and associated receptors, and their role in disease indications involving seizures, such as epilepsy, with particular emphasis on the pH-dependent activity of potential neuroprotective NMDA receptor antagonists. In addition to publishing over 150 research papers during his career, he is the past Editor of Molecular Pharmacology, and presently serves on four Editorial Boards. Dr. Dingledine is the recipient of numerous scientific honors and awards, including a Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the NIH, the Epilepsy Research Award from the American Epilepsy Society, two Bristol-Myers Squibb Neuroscience Awards, and the PhRMA Career Excellence Award. He has served on a variety of NIH and National Science Foundation review panels, consulted for three major pharmaceutical companies, and currently serves on the scientific advisory boards of a privately-held biotech firm and a focused neuroscience investment fund. He is past Treasurer of the Society for Neuroscience and serves on the Scientific Council of NINDS. He was profiled in Nature Medicine (vol 8 p 772, 2002). Dr. Dingledine received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Stanford University.
James O. McNamara, MD, has been a faculty member for over 25 years at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC, where he holds the positions of Carl R. Deane Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurobiology, Professor of Medicine (Neurology), and Director of the Center for Translational Neuroscience. Dr. McNamara is a well-known, highly regarded leader in the fields of neurology and neurobiology. His research focuses on mechanisms of epileptogenesis, the process by which a normal brain becomes epileptic. Dr. McNamara is a past president of the American Epilepsy Society. Dr. McNamara is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine, (2005) a component of the National Academy of Sciences and has received two Javits Neuroscience Investigator Awards from the National Institutes of Health. He serves on the editorial board of Molecular Pharmacology and Neuron. He is the author of some 300 publications and abstracts, and co-edited the textbook Neuroscience, the leading standard textbook in the field. He is also a contributor to the leading standard textbook of pharmacology, Goodman & Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics. Dr. McNamara received his M.D. degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has consulted for three major pharmaceutical companies and is a scientific advisor for three biotechnology companies including AGY Therapeutics.
Stephen F. Traynelis, PhD. is a Professor of Pharmacology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, where he has been a faculty member since 1994. His research focuses on the function and modulation of ligand gated ion channels in excitatory synaptic transmission, with applications to the neuropathology of epilepsy and stroke. His work provided the first detailed description of the proton sensitivity of glutamate receptors 15 years ago, and he has made a number of important contributions to understanding the pH sensitivity that forms the basis of the pH selective action of NeurOp's compounds. He is considered one of the leading experts on NMDA receptor activation and modulation. Dr. Traynelis is the recipient of numerous honors, fellowships, and awards, has chaired an NIH review panel, and serves as a reviewer for multiple NSF, NIH, and international grant review panels. He is the author of over 190 scientific papers, book chapters, and abstracts, more than 100 of which deal with NMDA receptors. He acts as a manuscript referee for numerous leading medical and scientific journals, and lectures widely. He serves on the editorial boards of Molecular Pharmacology, Critical Reviews in Neurobiology, Open Journal of Pharmacology, and consults for one major pharmaceutical firm. Dr. Traynelis received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Medicinal Chemistry Collaborators
The three founders of NeurOp are joined by two leading chemists, who are well-known for their work in applying computational techniques and structure-based design to the discovery and development of new pharmaceuticals.
Dennis C. Liotta, PhD. is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry at Emory University, where he has been a faculty member for over 25 years. He is a renowned organic and medicinal chemist, and the author of approximately 200 publications and patents. Dr. Liotta's research over the past 15 years has focused on the discovery and development of novel antiviral and anticancer agents, including: emtricitabine aka Emtriva, registered as a monotherapy for HIV and as one component of a combination therapy, Truvada (both marketed by Gilead): 3TC aka Epivir, Lamivudine (marketed GlaxoSmithKline), and D-D4FC aka DPC 817. Gilead Sciences and Royalty Pharma paid Emory University $540M in July, 2005 in exchange for extinguishing Gilead's future royalty obligations to Emory on its sales of Emtriva or Truvada. Dr. Liotta is also a cofounder of Pharmasset, Inc. and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Atherogenics, Inc. As Vice-President for Research at Emory, Dr. Liotta oversaw all of Emory's technology development initiatives, a part of which included creation of the biotech incubator EmTech Bio. He has served as a consultant to several major pharmaceutical companies (including Merck, Glaxo, Burroughs Wellcome, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Johnson & Johnson), and currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of several notable biotech companies, including iThemba Pharmaceuticals. Dr Liotta received his Ph.D. degree from The City University of New York.
James P. Snyder, PhD. is a Research Professor and Director of Biostructural Research in the Department of Chemistry at Emory University. Prior to joining the faculty at Emory, Dr. Snyder worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 15 years, holding senior research positions at Merck, Searle/Monsanto, and the Instituto di Richerche di Biologia Molecolare (IRBM). Dr. Snyder's work focuses primarily on molecular design strategies and methods in new drug discovery, such as molecular modeling and computational chemistry. He has published over 160 papers, and currently serves as a consultant to AtheroGenics Inc. and Kosan Biosciences. Dr. Snyder received his Ph.D. degree from Cornell University.
Clinical Development Advisors
The Company is receiving valuable guidance pertaining to the clinical development of its compounds for select ischemic conditions (SAH, cognitive deficits after vascular procedures) from three highly regarded physician-researchers at the Duke Medical Center.
Daniel Laskowitz, MD. is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Duke University School of Medicine Division of Neurology. Dr. Laskowitz has substantial clinical and research expertise relating to ischemia, cerebrovascular disease and neurological complications of critical illness. Dr Laskowitz treats subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) patients and has designed and participated in clinical trials for new therapeutics for SAH and other ischemic indications. Dr Laskowtiz is assisting the Company in planning the clinical development of its drugs for the treatment of ischemic indications including SAH and cognitive deficit after bypass surgery.
Mark Newman, MD. is the chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology, Duke University Medical Center. Dr Newman is a renowned expert regarding cognitive deficit after bypass surgery. He has done pioneering research as a member of the Neurological Outcomes Research Group at the Duke Medical Center and his seminal publications have helped lay the foundation for the current understanding of this serious complication of vascular surgery.
Burkhard Mackensen PhD MD. is the co-director of the cardiopulmonary bypass laboratory at the Duke University Medical Center. He has received several grants and published many peer reviewed articles concerning the neurological and neurocognitive sequelea of embolic injury to the cerebral vasculature. Dr Mackensen has developed a predictive rat model of neurological and neurocognitive injury after CABG.
Business Advisors
Donald A. Holzworth, Constella Group, LLC, ($150M/yr). Ernst & Young named Holzworth as a 2005 Carolinas Entrepreneur of the Year®. In 2003, the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) recognized Constella with an Entrepreneurial Excellence Award as Life Sciences Services Company of the Year.
Dan Routhier, Start-Up LLC. has been working with startups since June of 1995 where he served as the Director of Finance and Operations for Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. It was at Inspire that Dan learned the importance of a multi-tasking financial presence within startups. He helped build the administration from the ground up including financial reporting, budgeting, human resources, operations, and information systems. Inspire had a successful IPO. From Inspire, Dan went to Magnetic Imaging Technologies, Inc. to carry forward the same role. At MITI, Dan was exposed to governmental accounting and SBIR grant reporting. MITI was acquired by Nycomed Amersham Imaging, Inc. in July of 1999. Since then, he has been building a full service organization in Startup Personnel LLC.
Patent Counsel
Becky Kaufman, is counsel with King & Spalding's Intellectual Practice Group. Her practice includes U.S. and international patent prosecution and transactional due diligence in a broad range of chemical and biotechnology areas. Before joining the firm, Becky was a principal with Cordova Ventures, where she worked closely with life sciences portfolio companies on patent related matters. Her areas of expertise include chiral chemistry, protein chemistry, drug delivery, molecular biology and molecular oncology. Ms. Kaufman received a B.S. degree in Biology, with honors, from Wake Forest University. She received her J.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. One of NeurOp's pivotal initial filings was prepared by Sheri Knowles; formerly of King & Spalding (Ms. Knowles subsequently became Senior Vice President and Global Head of Corporate Intellectual Property at GlaxoSmithKline).
Corporate Counsel
William D Friend, is a partner in the Atlanta law firm of Friend, Hudak & Harris. He has practiced law since 1976, primarily in the areas of corporate and finance transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, debt and equity financing, and venture capital transactions. He obtained his BBA cum laude from the University of Georgia in 1971 and his law degree from Emory Law School in 1974.
Licensing/Strategic Alliance Counsel
Ken Krisko, focuses on the representation of public and private life sciences companies in a broad range of commercial and corporate finance matters. He advises clients regularly with respect to complex commercial transactions designed to maximize the value of pharmaceutical products and technology assets, including technology licenses and acquisitions, research and development collaborations, distribution and manufacturing agreements, and profit-sharing and co-promotion arrangements. Mr. Krisko also regularly counsels clients on a wide array of corporate and securities matters, including spin-outs, private financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and corporate governance. Mr. Krisko also is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center where he teaches a course on emerging company legal issues and venture capital finance. Mr. Krisko received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1995, where he was a member of the Virginia Law Review. Mr. Krisko received a B.S. in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering from Virginia Tech in 1987.
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