Management

Ruihuan Chen, Ph.D., Founder and CEO

Dr. Chen is a passionate scientist-turned entrepreneur and brings extensive drug discovery experience within multiple blockbuster category drugs. His multidisciplinary training in pharmacology, biochemistry, molecular biology and molecular medicine provides exceptional vision for Aluda.

During his early career in academia in Beijing, Paris and New York, Dr. Chen worked on novel small molecule anti-cancer drugs and the mammary production of therapeutic proteins. He co-founded Natrogen (acquired by Takeda) and managed their autoimmune program from discovery to Phase II including a successful Ph 2. At Genentech, Dr. Chen focused on the discovery of therapeutic targets for cancer, and was a key contributor to the understanding of molecular signature of glioblastomas and signaling pathways involved in tumor growth. He designed and executed experiments to analyze the lineage hierarchy of cancer stem cells and to determine the roles of tumor microenvironment and metabolism in tumorogenesis. He produced several high-impact peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Chen received his B.Sc. in pharmacology from Fudan University, a M.Sc. in biochemistry from Beijing Normal University, and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from University of Paris. He completed post-doctoral work at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.

Lian Mo, M.D., Founder and Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Mo worked as a physician in one of the leading hospitals in China, where she was frustrated by the lack of effective treatments available for so many of the severe diseases she was treating. This frustration led to a transition from clinical practice to scientific and translational research, where she spent 6 years in postdoctoral roles studying clinical immunology and eventually joined the pharmaceutical industry. Her research produced several peer-reviewed publications in immunology and oncology and subsequently a drug candidate that completed a successful Phase II in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. In her role as CMO for Aluda, she brings knowledge and experience in drug development through proof of concept in the clinic, as well as a sense of urgency as a treating physician.

Deebie Symmes, BS, MBA, Founder and COO

Ms. Symmes brings extensive experience and strategy to corporate development and partnering, having originated, negotiated, and closed over 50 licensing transactions in all stages from discovery through Phase 2. She held senior full time roles at Ciba Corning Diagnostics, Chiron, Tularik and ARYx where she negotiated and closed a segment-leading, IPO-enabling licensing deal worth $575 million. Ms. Symmes has been a strategy and market analysis consultant at Keelin Reeds and held corporate development roles at multiple start ups with advanced biology platforms, leading corporate development, negotiations, and post-deal alliance management. She has exceptionally broad therapeutic area deal experience spanning CNS, GI, cardiovascular, inflammation, and oncology. Earlier in her career, she managed a global corporate planning process for a multi-national company.

Ms. Symmes holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and a biology degree from Smith College, and completed the 2 year program on Drug Development and Regulatory Science from UCSF School of pharmacy ACDRS program created by Carl Peck.

Scientific advisors

Stephen A. Adam, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology, Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University

Dr Adam is a Northwestern has a leading cell and developmental biology research department with particular expertise in vimentin and a long record of significant NIH grants to Dr Adam and to professor emeritus Robert Goldman Ph.D. who published over 80 papers on vimentin and was a leading lecturer on vimentin 1970-2023 with global presence via online learning portals.

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Michael Dustin, Ph.D., Director of Research, Kennedy Institute at Oxford University

Senior author of a large consortium of immunologist and transplant experts that produced seminal work on vimentin’s functional control of the immune system using structural biology, in vitro and in vivo modeling to translate into evidence of a role in disease. Regulatory T cells have a vimentin superstructure inside that partitions their immunosuppressive molecules away from their site of activation. This partition is directly responsible for their ability to switch from quiescent to actively immunosuppressing and to do so in a manner that is protected from the cell’s external milieu (https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI95713). This paper further established that it is the dysregulation of vimentin that is the origination point of immunological diseases of many kinds that feature suboptimal or insufficient response by Regulatory T cells.

Aluda has collaborated with Dr. Dustin’s structural biology expert Ewoud Compeer, PhD. to create super-microscope images of vimentin inside Tregs in response to Aluda drug.

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Annica Gad, Ph.D., Principal Researcher, Associate Professor, Karolinska Institutet

Author of a leading review paper on vimentin Vimentin Diversity in health and disease (PMID: 30248895). Expert on vimentin structural biology, history, and safety with specialization in cancer. Publication with Aluda in 2023 on mechanical change of vimentin filaments in the presence of Aluda drug.

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Teja Kulkarni, MD, U Alabama Birmingham Medical School, Head of ILD unit

Pioneering pulmonology MD research group that identified vimentin as the highest potential target for IPF and published their findings before our work. Their accomplished researchers use pulmospheres created from their patients. UAB is one of the largest regional hospitals for pulmonary trials, with many experts knowledgeable of its complex pathology featuring dysregulated collagen production, autophagic clearance of excess collagen, scarring/injury cycles, and persistent airway inflammation. UAB did seminal work on multiple of these areas proving vimentin is a key regulator.

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