Legend Innovation Life Science Fund

Debanu Das, Ph.D.

Debanu is Co-Founder & CEO at Accelero Biostructures and XPose Therapeutics, focused on preclinical and early drug discovery platforms and applications. With 25 years of experience, Debanu is a subject matter expert in protein X-ray crystallography, structural biology, biophysics, chemistry and structure-, fragment- and AI-Based Drug Discovery (SBDD, FBDD, AIDD). His expertise includes structure-function analysis and drug discovery of a broad range of proteins and drug targets including kinases, proteases, antibody-antigen complexes, nuclear receptors, ubiquitin ligases, methylases, polymerases, microbiome enzymes, membrane proteins, transcription factors and includes co-authored publications with four Nobel Laureates. Prior to XPose Therapeutics and Accelero Biostructures, he served as Staff Scientist in the Structural Genomics Division at SSRL (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource) at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park. There he determined crystal structures of several hundred novel proteins as part of the JCSG and established multiple productive partnerships with other renowned research groups. He received his postdoctoral training at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California Berkeley on structural genomics and membrane protein crystallography with Sung-Hou Kim, a pioneer in structural genomics, structural biology and structure-based drug discovery and founder of the drug discovery company Plexxikon.

David Horn, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.I.D.S.A.

Dr. Horn is currently the CEO and Founder of Mid-Atlantic BioTherapeutics, Inc., Doylestown, PA. Dr. Horn brings over 30 years of research & clinical expertise in numerous therapeutic areas. He has held senior positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Thomas Jefferson University, and continues to serve as a well-respected Industry Consultant. David is a board-certified physician in internal medicine and infectious diseases, and he is an expert in clinical development and medical affairs. Dr. Horn completed his fellowship training in infectious diseases at Brown University, Providence, RI. He is also a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Dr. Horn has authored or co-authored over 75 peer reviewed publications concerning fungal diseases, bacterial infections, HIV infection and AIDS, tuberculosis, medical informatics, and sepsis. He also has extensive preclinical expertise and Phase 1 to 4 clinical trial experience.

Dave Jobes, Ph.D.

Dr. Jobes brings over 25 years of expertise in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. He received his Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from Tulane University and completed a postdoctoral and research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) working on severe neurological disorders. Dr. Jobes has held numerous senior-level research and/or business development positions at a range of biotech companies covering diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics. He coordinated and managed multiple research projects, including the development, clinical evaluation, and FDA 510(k) clearance of an in vitro molecular diagnostic tool for HIV drug resistance mutations (ViroSeq®). In addition, Dr. Jobes has served as an international business consultant and mentor, teacher, and content creator for numerous in person and virtual events. Dr. Jobes is a well-published scientist, with 30 publications and book chapters, and successful business development executive, having completed >$500M in transactions (buy and sell side), and acted as alliance manager for multiple licensed programs. He has also raised over $50M in venture capital and grant financing.

Patrick Lam, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor, Baruch S. Blumberg Institute

Patrick Lam is currently a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Baruch S. Blumberg Institute and Adjunct Professor of Drexel University College of Medicine and President of Lam Drug Discovery Consultant, L.L.C. Dr. Lam has >30 years of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery experience. Patrick joined DuPont in 1984 and moved to Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in 2001. He was the group leader/co-inventor responsible for the discovery of Eliquis®/Apixaban. Eliquis® is currently the top-selling small-molecule drug in the world, with around $17B annual sales. In 2015, the Eliquis discovery team received the American Chemical Society Heroes of Chemistry Award. In addition, he was one of the group leaders of FXIa. Moreover, Dr. Lam is internationally known as the co-discoverer of the powerful Chan-Lam Coupling Reaction. This is the copper-promoted coupling reaction for N/O-arylation with arylboronic acids. Note that the Chan-Lam Coupling Reaction to form a C-Heteoatom bond is complementary to the 2010 Nobel-prize winning Suzuki-Miyaura Coupling Reaction that makes a C-C bond. In addition, Patrick is responsible for a total of eight clinical candidates. Patrick has authored/co-authored 106 papers/reviews/book chapters and is an inventor on 38 patents/patent applications. He has presented >100 invited seminars worldwide. Patrick has received numerous awards including the BMS Ondetti-Cushman Innovation Award for FXa inhibitor discovery in 2003 and the DuPont-Merck Summit Award for the discovery of cyclic ureas as HIV protease inhibitor capable of displacing the “structured water” in 1993.

Patrick received his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester (Dr. Louis Friedrich) in 1980 and was a postdoctoral fellow in UCLA (Prof. Mike Jung and the late Prof. Don Cram, 1987 Nobel Laureate in chemistry) in 1980-1984.

Kunwar Shailubhai, Ph.D., MBA

Dr. Shailubhai is currently the CEO and Founder of Nous Biosciences, Inc. This is his third biotechnology start-up at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC), Doylestown, PA. Dr. Shailubhai is an experienced executive and a scientist with a demonstrated history of ‘Bench to Market’ and advancing two start-up biotechnology companies to NASDAQ listing. He has served on boards of publicly listed biotechnology companies. He has been very successful in financing, IPO processes and advancing drugs from preclinical discovery, non-clinical and clinical development to eventual FDA approval. Dr. Shailubhai has pioneered therapeutic applications of Guanylate cyclase-C and is the chief architect of the patent portfolio of Synergy Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SGYP) and Tiziana Life Sciences (NASDAQ: TLSA) with 50+ world-wide issued patents and patent applications. He is the major inventor of the FDA approved drug TRULANCE and Dolcanatide, a drug candidate in phase 2 clinical evaluation. Moreover, he has developed and patented novel technologies for alternative routes of immuno-therapeutics for gastrointestinal, lung and neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Shailubhai has over 35 years of experience in pharma/biotech companies with increasing leadership positions and has demonstrated excellent scientific credentials that are complemented with over 20 years of executive management in pharma/biotech Companies. His therapeutic areas of interest include inflammation, autoimmune diseases, oncology and infectious diseases.