Scientific Advisory Board
Jim Collins, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
Boston University
Professor Collins serves as the co-chair of GNS's Scientific Advisory
Board. He is a University Professor, Professor of
Biomedical Engineering, and the Co-Director at Center
for BioDynamics at Boston University, and was a founder
of Cellicon Biotechnologies. Professor Collins'
research focuses on developing and implementing
techniques and concepts from nonlinear dynamics and
statistical physics to study and improve the function
of physiological and biological systems. Professor
Collins has received a number of awards, including a
Rhodes Scholarship, the American Society of
Biomechanics Young Scientist Award, and was selected
for Technology Review's TR100 - 100 top young
innovators in science and technology. He has published
over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and 200
conference abstracts. Professor Collins has received
research support from the National Institutes of
Health, the National Science Foundation, the Whitaker
Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Department of
Education, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the
Office of Naval Research. In 2003, Professor Collins
received a MacArthur Fellowship (a "Genius Award"), and
in 2005 he was selected for the Scientific American 50
- top 50 outstanding leaders in science and technology.
Eric Schadt, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
Dr. Schadt oversees the scientific strategy for Pacific Biosciences, including creating the vision for next-generation applications of the company's technology, contributing to the evolution of Pacific Biosciences' transformative sequencing technology, and playing a key role in the company's strategic relationships. He is also a founding member of Sage Bionetworks- an open access genomics initiative designed to build and support databases and an accessible platform for creating innovative dynamic disease models.
Dr. Schadt joined Pacific Biosciences in May 2009 from Rosetta Inpharmatics, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. in Seattle, where he was Executive Scientific Director of Genetics. Dr. Schadt's work at Rosetta involved the generation and integration of very large-scale sequence variation, molecular profiling and clinical data in disease populations to construct the molecular networks that define disease states and link molecular biology to physiology in ways that can impact clinical medicine.
Dr. Schadt has contributed to a number of discoveries relating to the genetic basis of common human diseases such as diabetes and obesity, which have been widely published in leading scientific journals. His research has provided novel insights into what is needed to master diverse, large-scale data collected on normal and disease populations in order to elucidate the complexity of disease and make more informed decisions in the drug discovery arena. Prior to joining Rosetta, Dr. Schadt was a Senior Research Scientist at Roche Bioscience. He received his B.A. in applied mathematics and computer science from California Polytechnic State University, his M.A. in pure mathematics from UCLA, and his Ph.D. in bio-mathematics from UCLA.
Jeff Hanke, Ph.D.
Boehringer-Ingelheim
Jeff Hanke is currently Senior Vice President, Research &
Global Head Biotherapeutics Research at
Boehringer-Ingelheim, where he leads research activities at
the company's Ridgefield, CT location and oversees
biotherapeutics research across the company. Dr. Hanke
joined Boehringer-Ingelheim from AstraZeneca, where he
served as Vice President of AstraZeneca Cancer Discovery at
AstraZeneca R&D, in Boston, MA. At AstraZeneca, he and his
team of researchers focus on novel approaches to cancer
therapy. Dr. Hanke joined AstraZeneca from Pfizer, where he
managed discovery teams in the areas of immunology,
inflammation, allergy/respiratory, and cancer from 1993 to
1999. In addition, Dr. Hanke helped to establish Pfizer's
Discovery Technology Center, located in Cambridge, Mass.,
which focuses on applying new technologies to drug
discovery. Dr. Hanke received his M.S. in Biology from
Fordham University, and his Ph.D. in 1986 from Baylor
College of Medicine. He completed his post-doctoral training
at Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.
Stuart Kauffman, M.D.
University of Calgary
Stuart Kauffman, a pioneer and leading theorist in
complexity science, has been researching genetic
networks for more than 35 years. As the iCore Chair at
University of Calgary, he leads a $9 million research
program and is creating the world-class Institute for
Biocomplexity and Informatics. Previously, Dr. Kauffman
helped found Genesis Molecular Discovery, The Bios
Group (acquired by NuTech Solutions), Genpathway, and
Darwin Molecular (acquired by Celltech Group). Dr.
Kauffman was a founding member of the Santa Fe
Institute and serves as professor emeritus at the
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr.
Kauffman has held a consulting position since 1985 with
Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he conducted
significant early work on chaos theory. A six-year
MacArthur fellow, he is the author of Origins of Order
(1993), At Home in the Universe (1995), and
Investigations (2000). Dr. Kauffman received his M.D.
from the University of California, San Francisco, and
B.A. degrees from Dartmouth College and Oxford
University.
Hiroaki Kitano, Ph.D.
Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc.
Dr. Hiroaki Kitano is the director of the Sony
Computer Science Laboratories, where he was one of the
visionaries behind Aibo, the robotic dog. He also heads
the Japanese-government funded Kitano Symbiotic Systems
Project and is president of the Institute for Systems
Biology in Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Kitano is an expert in the
fields of artificial intelligence and bioinformatics,
and is a leading figure in the emerging field of gene
network modeling. His research focuses on
understanding, controlling, and re-constructing
biological systems by developing simulators for genetic
interactions, metabolism, and signal transduction in
cells. Dr. Kitano received his Ph.D. in computer
science from Kyoto University.
Matej Orešič, Ph.D.
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
Since 2003, Matej Orešič has led research in the
fields of quantitative biology and bioinformatics at
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (Espoo,
Finland), where he is a Research Professor in Systems
Biology and Bioinformatics. His main research areas are
metabolomics applications in pharmacology, biomedical
research and integrative bioinformatics. Recent
investigations include studies of statin-induced
myopathy, longitudinal metabolic profiles of children
who progressed to Type 1 Diabetes (DIPP study) and
investigations of lipidomic profiles associated with
lipotoxicity-induced insulin resistance. He is also a
founder of Zora Biosciences, Inc., an Espoo-based
metabolomics company. Prior to joining VTT, Prof.
Orešič was head of computational biology and statistics
at Waltham, MA-based BG Medicine, Inc. and a
bioinformatician at LION Bioscience Research in
Cambridge, MA. He holds a PhD in biophysics from
Cornell University.
Robert R Ruffolo, Jr., Ph.D.
Dr. Robert R. Ruffolo, Jr., is a Retired President of R&D at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, where he spent 7 years and still acts as a consultant. He joined Wyeth after 17 years at SmithKline Beecham (now GSK) and 6 years at Lilly Research Laboratories. During his celebrated career in Pharmaceutical R&D, Dr. Ruffolo played a leading role in the discovery and/or development of a number of now marketed products, including carvedilol (Coreg/Kredex/Dilatrend) for the treatment of congestive heart failure, acute MI and hypertension, dobutamine (Dobutrex) for heart failure, ropinerole (Requip) for Parkinson's Disease, and eprosartan (Teveten) for hypertension. Dr. Ruffolo received his B.S. degree in Pharmacy in 1973, and his Ph.D. degree in Pharmacology in 1976, both from The Ohio State University. He has authored nearly 500 full-length publications, and has edited 17 books. He was the Editor-in-Chief of three international pharmacology journals, has served on the editorial boards of 28 other international scientific journals, and on the boards and committees of several industry organizations. Dr Ruffolo has won numerous prestigious awards honoring his outstanding contributions to the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, he received the 2008 Scrip Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2008 Discoverer's Award for the discovery and development of Coreg (carvedilol).