Fintan Steele

Dr. Larry Gold is the founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer of SomaLogic. Prior to SomaLogic, he also founded NeXagen, Inc., which later became NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In 1999, NeXstar merged with Gilead Sciences, Inc. to form a global organization committed to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel products that treat infectious diseases. During nearly 10 years at NeXstar, Dr. Gold held numerous executive positions including Chairman of the Board, Executive VP of R&D, and Chief Science Officer. Before forming NeXagen, he also co-founded and served as co-Director of Research at Synergen, Inc., a pioneering biotechnology company later acquired by Amgen, Inc. Since 1970, Dr. Gold has been a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU). While at the university, he served as the chairman of the Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Department from 1988 to 1992. During his prestigious career, Dr. Gold has received many citations including the CU Distinguished Lectureship Award, the National Institutes of Health Merit Award, the Career Development Award, and the Chiron Prize for Biotechnology. In addition, Dr. Gold has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1993 and the National Academy of Sciences since 1995. Dr. Gold also serves on the board of directors of BioForce Nanosystems, BT Pharma, CompleGen, MicroPhage, and the scientific advisory board of Archemix.

Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado Boulder

Bruce Eaton joined SomaLogic as COO from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2011, where he was Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Prior to his professorship at CU-Boulder in 2005, he was a faculty member at North Caroline State University (NCSU), where he helped establish the Keck Center for ENA Mediated Evolution of Materials. He moved to NCSU in 2000 from Washington State University where he was a tenured Associate Professor research active in both the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He received his B.S. degrees [Chemistry (Honors) and Biology 1980] and M.S. degree (Chemistry 1981) from the university of Oregon where he began his research career working with National Academy of Science Member Virgil Boekelheide. He obtained his Ph.D. degree (Chemistry 1988) from the University of California, Berkeley working with Professor Peter Vollhardt on mechanistic organometallic chemistry.

Dr. Eaton has also served in a variety of roles in industry leading to new technologies and commercial products. From the period 1981-1983 he was a research associate at Hana Biologics in Emeryville, CA where he was involved in the development and product launch of an antibody based diagnostic test for fetal lung maturity. From the period 1986-1989 he was a senior scientist with Amoco Central Research in Naperville, IL where his first issued US patent became an important commercial polymer product. From the period of 1994-1999, Dr. Eaton directed the efforts of over 50 scientists and managed the group responsible for the production of the first successful aptamer IND, NX1838 now known as Macugen^TM (Eyetech Pharmaceuticals), for age-related macular degeneration. Dr. Eaton is named as either inventor or co-inventor on 30 issued US patents relating to diverse topics in polymer science, organometallic catalysis and nucleic acid in vitro selection. He is currently active on two biotechnology scientific advisory boards and is an active participant in the NSF-sponsored REU program. 

Mr. Kothlow joined SomaLogic as Director of Finance and Administration in 2000. Prior to joining SomaLogic, Mr. Kothlow was corporate controller for MessageMedia, Inc., a publicly traded software and internet company. He has held various accounting and finance positions of increasing authority with NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Schlumberger, a leading service company to the oil and gas industry. He began his career with Arthur Andersen & Company as an Audit Manager. Mr. Kothlow earned a B.S. degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Texas in Austin.

Dr. Janjic has been the Chief Science Officer at SomaLogic, Inc. in Boulder, Colorado since January 2009. Prior to joining SomaLogic, Dr. Janjic was the CSO at Replidyne, Inc. in Louisville, Colorado, a biotechnology company focusing on the development of new small-molecule antibacterial agents. Prior to Replidyne, Dr. Janjic was Senior Director of Drug Discovery at NeXstar Pharmaceuticals in Boulder, Colorado. At NeXstar, Dr. Janjic was responsible for creating a pipeline of aptamer-based drug candidates for pre-clinical and clinical development. His contributions included the discovery and early development of Macugen, the first-in-class FDA-approved treatment for macular degeneration and named Innovative Pharmaceutical Product of the Year in 2005. 

Dr. Janjic received his B.S. degree in Molecular Biology and Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry from the University of Washington in Seattle and completed his postdoctoral training at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla as a Cancer Research Institute Fellow.

Dr. Saccomano joined SomaLogic in 2009. Nick obtained his degree Ph.D. in chemistry from Columbia University in 1984 under the direction of Professor Gilbert Stork. In 1984, he joined Pfizer Inc. as a research scientist in the CNS discovery group. Between 1985 and 1998 held several positions in this group including head of medicinal chemistry. During this time, Nick worked on or led many programs targeting psychiatric and neurological indications including depression, anxiety, psychosis, sleep, stroke, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. In 1998, he was promoted to Vice President of discovery technology. In this role, Nick managed and developed a diverse set of enabling technologies used broadly across the drug discovery process within Pfizer. In 2004, Nick was promoted to Senior Vice President of Global Research Technology and Strategic Alliances. In 2008, he moved to Bend Research Inc as Chief Scientific Officer and is currently member of the Board of Directors of this organization.

Dr. Williams joined SomaLogic 2009 as Chief Medical Officer. Steve trained as a physician at Charing Cross and Westminster medical school, University of London, and following his internships returned to the same institution for a PhD in medicine and physiology. He subsequently performed 3 years residency in diagnostic imaging at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. He joined Pfizer in the UK in 1989 in Experimental Medicine, and worked on a variety of programs including asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, migraine [eletriptan], depression [sertraline] and urinary incontinence [darifenacin]. He moved to the USA in 1993 still at Pfizer and worked in inflammatory bowel disease, stroke, psychosis [ziprasidone] and head-injury. He created the Clinical Technology group in 1997, which became a worldwide function on 5 research sites with the objective of validating clinical biomarkers and measurements, and was made VP in 2006. In process initiatives, he led or co-led initiatives in diagnostics, biomarkers, quality of drug candidates and guidelines for development teams to make the decision to start phase III.

Steve Morrissett joined SomaLogic in December 2011 as Chief Legal Counsel. Prior to joining SomaLogic, Mr. Morrissett was a partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP, in San Francisco, CA, where he concentrated on intellectual property litigation. He has litigated patent, trademark, trade secret, and antitrust cases, advising clients on litigation strategies, contract negotiations, and other technology- related legal matters. His litigations have included electronic, computer and medical device technologies. Mr. Morrissett has handled all phases of trials and appeals before state and federal courts and taken many cases to jury or bench trials. He has more than fifteen years of experience in managing complex technology-related litigations.

Before joining Finnegan, Mr. Morrissett served as a trial attorney with a business litigation firm in Anchorage, AK in oil and gas, real estate, and business litigations. Also while in Alaska, Mr. Morrissett gained extensive jury trial experience as a district attorney, supervising a criminal prosecution office, presenting cases to grand juries, and trying major felonies. He obtained additional experience as a trial attorney in civil and criminal cases and supervising attorney with the Utah Attorney General in Salt Lake City, Utah. During his public service, Mr. Morrissett also assisted in preparing state and federal legislation and testified before state legislative committees on issues including computer crimes and Internet jurisdiction.

Mr. Morrissett received his B.A. in Physics from Pomona College, and his J.D. from Hastings College of Law, University of California.

Dr. Brody served as SomaLogic's Chief Medical Officer from 2000 until June 2009. 
Before SomaLogic, Dr. Brody was an advisor to NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., from 1991 to 1998. In 1998, he joined NeXstar full time as the vice president of drug discovery. From 1988 until January 1999, Dr. Brody worked for the Centre de Genetique Moleculaire in Gif-sur-Yvette, France, serving as Research Director where he oversaw more than 300 scientists. He has also been an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado since 1996. Dr. Brody is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization.

Dr. Brody earned both his M.D. and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Chicago.

Richard Lawn joined SomaLogic in November 2011. Dr. Lawn received a B.A. degree in astronomy from Harvard College and a Ph.D. degree in molecular, cellular and developmental biology from the University of Colorado. Dr. Lawn’s post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Tom Maniatis at the California Institute of Technology featured the construction of the first human genomic DNA library, and the characterization of the globin genes, the first human genes isolated and analyzed at the genomic DNA level. Dr. Lawn then spent ten years as a Senior Scientist and Staff Scientist at Genentech, Inc. His research included a number of genes and recombinant proteins in the fields of thrombosis, hemostasis and atherosclerosis, including several that became protein therapeutics or targets for therapeutic inhibition. He led the successful isolation and characterization of the factor VIII gene and production of recombinant factor VIII protein, one of the most difficult and competitive projects at the time in the field of biotechnology. This work resulted in the unprecedented publication of three full length articles in a single issue of Nature. Recombinant factor VIII for the treatment of hemophelia became a billion dollar drug, replacing earlier blood-derived products that had exposed most hemopheliacs to hepatitis and HIV. Dr. Lawn received the Dr. Murray Thelin Award from the National Hemophelia Foundation and the Distinguished Inventor Award from the Intellectual Property Owner’s Association for this work.

Dr. Lawn then became a Professor of Medicine at Stanford Medical School. There he continued his research on the structure, function, activity and unusual evolution of the lipoprotein Lp(a), a major inherited risk factor for cardiovascular disease. He subsequently served as Vice President, Discovery Research at CV Therapeutics, Inc. until the acquisition of the company. Among the projects he led there was the first use of gene expression microarray profiling to discover the defective gene in a human inherited disease, Tangier disease. This work, which was selected as one of the year’s top ten breakthroughs of 1999 by the American Heart Association, identified the lipid transporter ABCA1 as a target for therapeutically modulating the HDL cholesterol pathway as a means to reduce cardiovascular disease. In July of 2009, he received the Outstanding Achievement Award for Contributions to Atherosclerosis Research from the International Atherosclerosis Society. 

Dr. Lawn has served for a number of years as a consultant for the molecular diagnostic companies, CardioDX and SomaLogic, and, most recently, for several Bay City Capital projects including ReSet Pharmaceuticals and VIA Pharmaceuticals.