Nuritas Announces Formation of Scientific Advisory Board

Nuritas, a biotechnology company discovering life-changing drugs through the power of artificial intelligence (AI) based peptide discovery, today announced the formation of its scientific advisory board (SAB) with four key appointments: Justin Siegel, Ph.D., David Chernoff, M.D., J Bruce German, Ph.D. and Luke O’Neill, Ph.D.

“We are delighted to have attracted some of the world’s leading experts in drug discovery, metabolism, immunology, food for health, proteomics and molecular diagnostics to support Nuritas as we advance our AI platform and bioactive peptide discovery to address the world’s growing healthcare needs,” said Emmet Browne, chief executive officer of Nuritas. “The formation of our SAB serves to further strengthen Nuritas’s unique approach to discover peptide-based therapies with unmatched speed and accuracy.”

Dr. Nora Khaldi, Ph.D., founder and chief scientific officer of Nuritas said, “The scientific guidance of this group of experts will be key as we accelerate and develop our unique peptide discoveries to improve human health. We are continuing to expand our scientific teams at Nuritas and the addition of the SAB further strengthens this.”

Justin Siegel, Ph.D., is an associate professor of chemistry, biochemistry and molecular medicine in the Genome Center at University of California, Davis. Dr. Siegel combines computational and experimental tools to design and discover enzymes for a wide range of applications including the treatment of human disease, the production of fuels and chemicals and the application of discovered enzymes within food systems to promote health and sustainability. As the faculty director of the Innovation Institute for Food and Health (IIFH), he has accelerated the institute’s innovation cycle and deployment of products and processes that enable safe, sustainable and secure nutrition for all. Dr. Siegel received his Ph.D. in biomolecular structure and design from the University of Washington and has a wealth of experience in translational research, having founded four companies, and currently serves as the director of business development for the Rosetta Commons.

David Chernoff, M.D., is the chief medical officer of SetPoint Medical, a clinical-stage biomedical technology company developing bioelectronic therapy for chronic inflammatory disease. He has 25 years of molecular diagnostics and biopharmaceutical experience and has served as a translational medicine consultant for more than 40 biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and as chief medical officer for a number of companies including Crescendo Bioscience, Adamas Pharma, Tethys Biosciences and Aquinox Pharma. He served as vice president of corporate technology at Elan Pharmaceuticals and medical director at Chiron Diagnostics where he played a pivotal role in the development of viral load assays for HIV, HCV, HBV and CMV. He was a principal with life sciences management consulting firm Keelin Reeds Ventures and entrepreneur in residence and operating partner at TPG Biotech VC Fund. Dr. Chernoff received his M.D. from New York University and completed his medical training and research in internal medicine, rheumatology and infectious disease at UCSF Medical Center.

J Bruce German, Ph.D., is food science and technology director at the Foods for Health Institute at the University of California, Davis and the co-founder of Evolve Biosystems. With the goal of improving human health through diet, Prof. German is studying the structure and function of dietary lipids, the evolution of lactation and the role of milk components in food and health. Prof. German is conducting research studies on the use of metabolic assessments to personalize diet and health, and to better understand the molecular basis for differences in human metabolism and the response to chemical composition and structural organization of foods. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University and has published more than 400 papers on milk, lipids and food, metabolism and metabolite measurements and food functions and holds numerous patents for technologies and applications of bioactive agents.

Luke O’Neill, Ph.D., is the chair of biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin where he leads the Inflammation Research Group. Prof. O’Neill studies the molecular basis of inflammation with a focus on innate immunity, toll-like receptors, inflammasomes and metabolic reprogramming in macrophage activation and has co-founded three companies, each developing new treatments for inflammatory diseases. Prof. O’Neill was recognized by Clarivates/Thompson Reuters as one of the world’s most influential scientists, being in the top 1% in the field of immunology and has won numerous awards for his research including the European Federation of Immunology Societies medal, the International Cytokine and Interferon Society Milstein Award, The Royal Dublin Society Boyle Medal for Scientific Excellence and The Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal for Life Sciences. Prof. O’Neill received his Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of London, carried out post-doctoral research at Cambridge U.K., and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2016.

About Nuritas
Founded in 2014, Nuritas is solving the unmet medical needs of the world with the unparalleled capability to develop preventative and curative peptide-based treatments for disease with industry leading speed and accuracy. It is successfully doing so currently in collaboration with a number of industry leading multinationals. The company is changing the landscape of drug discovery by identifying novel peptides using a proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) platform, with in silico predictions validated by their in-house multidisciplinary team of scientists and laboratory. Nuritas engages in collaborative partnerships in the pharmaceutical and consumer goods industries to conduct peptide discovery that is faster, more accurate, and less expensive than traditional drug discovery.

Nuritas has received global recognition for the impact of its innovative technology which includes winning the overall Innovation Award at the Forbes Reinventing America Summit in 2015, the Nutrition Capital Network Venture competition in October 2016 and support from EU Horizon 2020 in 2016 for a peptide that carries the potential to prevent pre-diabetic patients from developing diabetes.

Media Contact:
Allison Blum, Ph.D.
LifeSci Public Relations
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