Richard Yu, Ph.D.

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Our Team

The founders at Abalone Bio saw an opportunity to apply complementary skill sets in cell biology, genetics, synthetic and systems biology, structural biology, and computer science to address a long-standing problem and opportunity: drugs for membrane protein targets, like GPCRs, to activate or modulate cellular activities to treat disease.

Leadership Team

Richard Yu, Ph.D.

Richard Yu, Ph.D.

Co-Founder & CEO

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Board of Directors, Head of Operations, Business Development

Richard has been in and around startups since 2008, on both sides of the lease and term sheet, as founder, incubator manager, and venture capital principal.

His path to co-founding Abalone Bio started at UC Berkeley in Biophysics and Computer science, and wound its way through protein engineering, structural biology, and then systems biology and synthetic biology at the Molecular Sciences Institute, where he met co-founder Gustavo Pesce.

Abalone Bio grew out of an “a-ha!” moment shared with Gustavo defining a technology that uniquely combines their skillsets and experiences to meet a long-standing therapeutic need- safe and effective drugs for promising yet difficult to drug targets.

Ph.D., Mol. Biochemistry & Biophysics, 2000
Yale University

Favorite Outside Work or Activity:
Making or fixing things around the house or lab, rock climbing, motorcycling, tea and coffee obsessing

Toshi Takeuchi, Ph.D.

Toshi Takeuchi, Ph.D.

CSO

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Head of R&D, Academic and Industry Partnerships

Toshi brings over 20 years of industrial experience and expertise in antibody expression and engineering, therapeutic discovery and development, and project and departmental leadership to Abalone Bio.

Prior to joining Abalone Bio, Toshi worked at companies ranging from small startups (Bioren, acquired by Pfizer) to large multinational companies (Bayer).  As VP of Discovery Research at XOMA Corporation, he was responsible for selection, engineering and characterization of multiple clinically developed antibodies. Most recently, as VP of Discovery Research at Second Genome, he helped develop therapeutics derived from the human microbiome.  

Ph.D., Chemistry 1996
California Institute of Technology

Favorite Outside Work or Activity:
Cycling, playing violin, gardening, meditating and spending time with family (when they tolerate him)

Lauren Schwimmer, Ph.D.

Lauren Schwimmer, Ph.D.

VP of PREclinical development

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Antibody Development

Lauren brings a wealth of antibody and immuno-oncology drug development experience to Abalone Bio.

At Xoma and Distributed Bio, she was behind the development of two of the most well-regarded antibody libraries used for antibody drug discovery, and she managed multiple antibody drug discovery and preclinical drug development teams.

At QLSF, she directed three pre-clinical stage bispecific antibody drug development programs for immuno-oncology.

Ph.D., Biochemistry, 2005
Georgia Institute of Technology

Favorite Outside Work or Activity:
Dancing, reading, and coaching a Middle School robotics team

Monica Schwartz, Ph.D.

Monica Schwartz, Ph.D.

VP of antibody discovery

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Platform Technology Development, Antibody Discovery

Monica has a deep background in early discovery and platform development.

At Achaogen, she led the development of a microfluidic B-cell capture and screening platform, in addition to her efforts in target development and characterization.

At Zymergen, she was project and portfolio leads for multiple teams to develop and scale cellular engineering technologies.

Ph.D., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2005, University of California, San Francisco

Favorite Outside Work or Activity:
Hiking and biking

Sameer Soi

VP of data science & ai

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Data and AI Platform

With experiences spanning health tech, synthetic biology, and drug discovery, Dr. Soi has spearheaded initiatives leveraging data and machine learning to drive impact for patients.

At Atomwise, as Director of Drug Discovery Data Science, he led the development of uncertainty quantification methods for deep learning models of small molecule binding as well as tools for evaluating and improving similarity-based searches for hit-to-lead generation.

At Zymergen, he managed the productionization of statistical and machine learning models that supported the company’s portfolio of high- throughput screening projects. Before that, at Grand Rounds (now Included Health) he engineered a platform enabling the scaling of machine learning for clinical outcomes models across indications for which he received a patent.

Ph.D., Genomics & Computational Biology, 2015, University of Pennsylvania

Favorite Outside Work or Activity:
Enjoying visiting museums with his toddler and wine country without his toddler.

Ron Burch, M.D., Ph.D.

Ron Burch, M.D., Ph.D.

SENIOR MEDICAL ADVISOR

Antibody Drug and Neuropathic Pain Drug Development

Dr. Burch has a 35 year history in biotech. His formal training was in pharmacology and chemistry, which was followed by a move to the NIH and then into a prolific biotech and pharma career. Ron has held senior research, director and VP roles at large pharma Zeneca and Purdue, and helpd several C-suite roles (CEO and CMO) and a number of biotechs.

Dr. Burch has acted as CMO and other senior positions for the clinical development of multiple diabetic neuropathic pain and chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain drugs, and has unique insight into pain drug development along the development path from discovery to market from the industry and biotech perspectives. Dr. Burch is leading the clinical development plan for our diabetic neuropathic pain program.


Favorite Outside Work or Activity:
Avid orchid collector and hybridizer

Richard Yu, Ph.D.

Richard Yu, Ph.D.

Co-Founder & CEO

LinkedIn Icon

Board of Directors, Head of Operations, Business Development

Richard has been in and around startups since 2008, on both sides of the lease and term sheet, as founder, incubator manager, and venture capital principal.

His path to co-founding Abalone Bio started at UC Berkeley in Biophysics and Computer science, and wound its way through protein engineering, structural biology, and then systems biology and synthetic biology at the Molecular Sciences Institute, where he met co-founder Gustavo Pesce.

Abalone Bio grew out of an “a-ha!” moment shared with Gustavo defining a technology that uniquely combine their skillsets and experiences to meet a long-standing therapeutic need- safe and effective drugs for promising yet difficult to drug targets.

Ph.D., Mol. Biochemistry & Biophysics, 2000
Yale University

Favorite outside work or activity:

Making or fixing things around the house or lab, rock climbing, motorcycling, tea and coffee obsessing

    Toshi Takeuchi, Ph.D.

    Toshi Takeuchi, Ph.D.

    CSO

    LinkedIn Icon

      Head of R&D, Academic and industry partnerships

      Toshi brings nearly 20 years of industrial experience and expertise in antibody expression and engineering, therapeutic discovery and development, and project and departmental leadership to Abalone Bio.

      Prior to joining Abalone Bio, Toshi worked at companies ranging from small startups (Bioren, acquired by Pfizer) to large multinational companies (Bayer).  As VP of Discovery Research at XOMA Corporation, he was responsible for selection, engineering and characterization of multiple clinically developed antibodies. Most recently, as VP of Discovery Research at Second Genome, he helped develop therapeutics derived from the human microbiome.  

      Ph.D., Chemistry 1996
      California Institute of Technology

      Favorite outside work or activity:

      Cycling, playing violin, gardening, meditating and spending time with family (when they tolerate him)

      Lauren Schwimmer, Ph.D.

      Lauren Schwimmer, Ph.D.

      VP of PREclinical development

      LinkedIn Icon

      Antibody development

      Lauren brings a wealth of antibody and immuno-oncology drug development experience to Abalone Bio.

      At Xoma and Distributed Bio, she was behind the development of two of the most well-regarded antibody libraries used for antibody drug discovery, and she managed multiple antibody drug discovery and preclinical drug development teams.

      At QLSF, she directed three pre-clinical stage bispecific antibody drug development programs for immuno-oncology.

      Ph.D., Biochemistry, 2005
      Georgia Institute of Technology

      Favorite outside work or activity:

      Dancing, reading, and coaching a Middle School robotics team

        Monica Schwartz, Ph.D.

        Monica Schwartz, Ph.D.

        director of antibody discovery

        LinkedIn Icon

          Platform Technology Development, Antibody Discovery

          Monica has a deep background in early discovery and platform development.

          At Achaogen, she led the development of a microfluidic B-cell capture and screening platform, in addition to her efforts in target development and characterization.

          At Zymergen, she was project and portfolio leads for multiple teams to develop and scale cellular engineering technologies.

          Ph.D., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2005, University of California, San Francisco

          Favorite outside work or activity:

          Hiking and biking

          Ron Burch, M.D., Ph.D.

          Ron Burch, M.D., Ph.D.

          SENIOR MEDICAL ADVISOR

          Dr. Burch has a 35 year history in biotech. His formal training was in pharmacology and chemistry, but quickly moved to the NIH and then into a prolific biotech and pharma career. In addition to senior research, director, VP, and C-suite roles (CEO and CMO) at large pharma Zeneca and Purdue.

          He was a founder or founding team member in numerous neurological and pain related biotech companies, including spectacular successes like Naurex, which developed an antibody-derived NMDA receptor partial antagonist for depression and was acquired by Allergan for $560M upfront in 2015, and was CMO at Pacira Pharmaceuticals and AlgoRx.

          Having developed two CIPN drugs through clinical trials, he has unique insight into particular clinical pain points and issues along the whole development path from discovery to market.

          Dr. Burch is leading the clinical development plan for our CIPN program, and providing general drug development and clinical development from his combined successful startup and large pharma experiences.

          He also currently serves as CMO of Gate Neurosciences.

          Favorite outside work or activity:

          Avid orchid collector and hybridizer

            Science Team

            Sophie Comyn, Ph.D.

            Sophie Comyn, Ph.D.

            Senior ScIentist

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            Antibody discovery

            Ph.d., Genome Science and Technology, 2016
            University of British Columbia

            Favorite outside work or activity:

            Walking, cooking, listening to podcasts, and reading

              Raghu Gopireddy

              Raghu Gopireddy, Ph.D.

              Scientist II

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                Antibody Development

                Ph.D.,Pharmacology, 2015 Phillips University, Germany

                Favorite outside work or activity:

                Spending time with Family and traveling

                KC Overby

                Executive assistant

                  Favorite outside work or activity:

                  Scuba diving, cooking, and spending time with family.

                  Jingjing Liu

                  Jingjing Liu, Ph.D.

                  Senior Scientist

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                    Antibody Development

                    Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering, 2012, Tianjin University

                    Favorite outside work or activity:

                    Cooking, baking, camping, and spending time with family.

                    Miles Mellot

                    Miles Mellot

                    Research Associate II

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                      Lab Operations

                      BA in Molecular and Cell Biology, 2021, University of California, Berkeley

                      Favorite outside work or activity:

                      Brewing homemade cider.

                      Miguel Piedra Montana

                      Miguel Piedra Montano

                      Research associate I

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                        Lab Operations

                        BS in Microbiology, San Francisco State University

                        Favorite outside work or activity:

                        Playing video games, airsoft, mixing every flavor at the soda fountain.

                        Carlos Ponce

                        Carlos Ponce, Ph.D.

                        SCIENTIST II

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                          Antibody Development

                          Ph.D. Biochemical Sciences, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

                          Favorite outside work or activity:

                          Cooking, watching series, listening to music.

                          Swastik Sen

                          Swastik Sen, Ph.D.

                          SCIENTIST I

                          LinkedIn Icon

                            Antibody Development

                            Ph.D., 2022, Iowa State University

                            Favorite outside work or activity:

                            Cooking and hiking.

                            Abalone Bio logomark

                            Adnan Shah

                            LAB MANAGER

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                              Lab Operations

                              Biotechnology, 2017, UC Davis

                              Favorite outside work or activity:

                              Reading, hiking, and spending time with family.

                              Board of Directors

                              Richard Yu, Ph.D.

                              Rich Yu, Ph.D.

                              CEO, Founder - Abalone bio

                              LinkedIn Icon

                              Director

                              • Ph.D., Molecular Biochemistry & Biophysics, 2000, Yale University
                              • Scientific and Operations Director, qb3@953
                              • CSO, Green Pacific Biologicals, Inc.
                              UC Berkeley logoYale University logoqb3@953 logoGreen Pacific Biologicals logoMSI logo
                              Nathan Caffo

                              Nathan Caffo

                              CBO, Candel Tx

                              LinkedIn Icon

                                Independent Director: BD, Executive Strategy

                                • Chief Business Officer, Candel Tx (IPO 2021)
                                • Chief Business Officer, ALX Oncology (IPO 2020)
                                • CEO and President, Presage Biosciences
                                • Sr. Director BD, Perlegen Sciences
                                Candel Therapeutics logoALX Oncology logoPresage Biosciences logoPerlegen Biosciences logo
                                Neil Berkley

                                Neil Berkley

                                CBO & COO, JUVENA TX

                                LinkedIn Icon

                                Independent Director: BD, Executive Strategy

                                • Chief Business Officer, AbCellera
                                • Vice President, Head of Business Development, Halozyme Therapeutics
                                • Business and corporate development roles at Axerovision, COI (Avalon Incubator), Acadia, and GSK
                                • Head of Business Development, Cadence Pharmaceuticals (Acquired for $1.3B in cash)
                                • Co-founded Mpex Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Aptalis) and Vaxiion (a clinical stage bladder cancer company)
                                AbCellera logoHalozyme Therapeutics logoGSK logoCadence Pharmaceuticals logo

                                Scientific Advisory Board

                                Jeff Greve Ph.D. headshot

                                Jeff Greve, Ph.D.

                                CSO, Founder - Kyverna TX

                                LinkedIn Icon

                                Biotechnology, immunology, drug development

                                • Ph.D. Biochemistry
                                • CSO and founder, Delinia (acquired by Celgene,  $775M)
                                • Executive Director, Exelixis Stem Cell Sciences
                                • Director of Research, Bayer
                                Bayer logoExelixis logoCelgene logoKyverna logo
                                Charles Craik, Ph.D.

                                Charles Craik, Ph.D.

                                Professor, UCSF

                                LinkedIn Icon

                                  Antibody technologies and drugs, biotech

                                  • Ph.D. Chemistry
                                  • Co-founder Catalyst Biosciences
                                  Catalyst Biosciences logoUC San Franscisco logo
                                  Tracy Handel Ph.D. headshot

                                  Tracy Handel, Ph.D.

                                  Professor, UCSD

                                  LinkedIn Icon

                                    GPCR and chemokine structure-function; I/O

                                    • Ph.D. Biophysical Chemistry
                                    Caltech logoUC Berkeley logoUC San Diego logo
                                    Aashish Manglik M.D., Ph.D. headshot

                                    Aashish Manglik, M.D. Ph.D.

                                    Associate professor, UCSF

                                    LinkedIn Icon

                                    GPCR drug development; GPCR nanobodies

                                    • M.D., Ph.D.  Biophysical chemistry
                                    • Co-founder, Ab Initio Biotherapeutics (acquired by Ligand)
                                    • Co-founder, Epiodyne
                                    Stanford University logoEpiodyne logoAb initio logoUC San Franscisco logo

                                    Advisors

                                    Bob Kay, Ph.D.

                                    CEO, Epalex, Origen; FoUNDING ROLES, GenPharm/Medarex, Genetics Institute/Wyeth

                                    Expertise: Executive, growth and business development

                                    Dr. Kay is nearly a 40 year veteran in the biotech industry. He was an early member of Genetics Institute, acquired by Wyeth, in the early 80s at the dawn of the biotech era, and quickly ascended to executive roles at GenPharm (VP), acquired by Medarex; Origen (CEO), and Epalex (CEO). Some of these companies were involved in cutting-edge platform technologies in the therapeutic antibody space, including some of the first biologic drugs and the first transgenic animals to produce humanized antibodies. He has a broad experience base across multiple indication areas, from discovery to clinical trials, with a firm rooting in antibody discovery platform technologies.

                                    Nigel Beeley, Ph.D.

                                    CCO, Arena; VP of Discovery, Senomyx; CEO/CSO Ab-vax

                                    Expertise: Executive, drug discovery and development

                                    Dr. Beeley is a 30+ year veteran in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. His scientific background started in organic chemistry, but over his years grew into both small molecule and antibody drug development, with particular experience in oncology and in GPCRs. Most relevant to Abalone, he was VP and Chief Chemical Officer at Arena Pharmaceuticals, a GPCR drug company; VP of Discovery at Senomyx, finding GPCR and ion channel small molecule agonists; and as CSO and CEO of Ab-Vax, which developed therapeutic antibodies. His experiences in both small molecules and antibodies gives us insight into the relative advantages of each and gives us clarity into indications and drug profiles that are especially well-suited for our discovery platform (i.e., functional antibodies). Dr. Beeley has co-authored over 70 scientific publications and abstracts and is a co-inventor on over 90 patent applications, including over 40 issued US patents.

                                    David Rabuka, Ph.D.

                                    CEO, Acrigen; Redwood Biosciences/Catalent

                                    Expertise: Startup operations and growth, antibody drug development, and business development

                                    Dr. Rabuka is a returning therapeutics biotech entrepreneur. Most relevant to Abalone Bio, his first company, Redwood Biosciences, developed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology that was acquired by Catalent (2014). Through his run at Redwood as CEO then CSO, then at Catalent, he saw development of multiple programs, including the development from discovery to clinical trials of an anti-CD22 ADC for lymphoma. He has an amazing perspective from growing Redwood in its early days during the last financial crisis, so he has a lot of insights into creating value quickly and inexpensively, leveraging select pharma partnerships and non-dilutive grant funding.

                                    Javier Szwarcberg, M.D.

                                    Clinical Developer and Vice President, BioMarin; Ultragenyx, Intermune

                                    Expertise: Portfolio development, clinical and regulatory guidance.

                                    Dr. Szwarcberg is a clinical researcher and biotech executive with an exceptionally rich set of experiences in clinical research and drug development. He has led more than 22 clinical trials, many successful ones, for a variety of drugs, including small molecules, peptides and biologics. While trained as a pulmonologistr, his work spans many fields, including lung fibrosis and infectious disease (HIV).  In recent years, Dr. Szwarcberg has worked in orphan diseases, and has directed and managed preclinical and clinical pipelines, comprising small molecules, antibody drugs, enzyme therapies and gene therapy approaches. Dr. Szwarcberg presented and defended results at the FDA multiple times, including four drug approvals, one for pirfenidone (Esbriet) for lung fibrosis.

                                    Dr. Szwarcberg advises Abalone in pre-clinical and clinical drug development, and also in target and indication choices and program and portfolio strategies, including research of unmet needs, market adoption, competition and risk assessment. Through his extensive network, Dr. Szwarcberg has provided invaluable connections to discovery, development and clinical researchers and business development and other executives in biotech companies.

                                    Todd Morrill, B.A. M.B.A.

                                    Faculty Director, NSF iCorps

                                    Expertise: Business development, and partnerships.

                                    Todd is currently leading the NSF iCorp program, a national program that teaches customer discovery and company development to early stage technical startup companies. His background in pharma and biotech finance at Burrill and Craves led to VP sales, executive, and senior BD development roles. Most important for Abalone, his roles at platform drug discovery biotech companies Trellis Biosciences and Crystal Biosciences (another antibody platform company acquired by Ligand Pharmaceutics) gives him unique insights and opinions in our early business development efforts as a therapeutics platform company ourselves.

                                    Advisors and Collaborators

                                    Obesity

                                    Matthew Hayes, Ph.D.

                                    Professor of Psychiatry, Director, Molecular and Neural Basis of Psychiatric Disease, Perelman School of Medicine, U.Penn
                                    Neurobiology of obesity, food intake, and weight regulation

                                    CaNCER
                                    J. Silvio Gutkind, Ph.D. headshot

                                    J. Silvio Gutkind, Ph.D.

                                    Professor, Associate Director of the Moores Cancer Center, UC San Diego
                                    GPCRs and cancer

                                    Inflammation

                                    Javid Moslehi, M.D.

                                    Professor in Residence, Dept. of Medicine; Chief, Cardio-oncology and Immunology, UCSF
                                    ‍‍GPCRs and cancer

                                    Cannabinoid Receptor Biology
                                    Keith Sharkey, Ph.D. headshots

                                    Ken Mackie, M.D. Ph.D.

                                    Distinguished Professor,  Jack and Linda Gill Chair at the Gill Center for Biomolecular Science, Indiana University
                                    Pain biology; cannabinoid receptor biology

                                    Peripheral NeuropathIC PAIN (Diabetic and Chemotherapy induced)
                                    Andrea Hohmann Ph.D. headshot

                                    Andrea Hohmann, Ph.D.

                                    Professor, Jack and Linda Gill Chair at the Gill Center for Biomolecular Science, Indiana University
                                    CB2 biology; CIPN preclinical studies

                                    Ron Burch, M.D., Ph.D.

                                    Ron Burch, M.D., Ph.D.

                                    CMO, Gate Neurosciences; former CMO, Naurex
                                    Neurology antibody drug development; neuropathic pain clinical trial design and coordination

                                    NASH and Liver Fibrosis
                                    Scott Friedman, M.D. headshot

                                    Scott Friedman, M.D.

                                    Professor, Dean for Therapeutic Discovery and Chief of the Division of Liver Diseases, Mt Sinai School of Medicine
                                    Liver fibrosis

                                    Dvid Shapiro headshot

                                    David Shapiro, M.R.C.P., M.D.

                                    President and CEO, Integrated Quality Resources
                                    Former CMO & Head of R&D, Intercept Pharmaceuticals
                                    ‍‍Liver physiology and disease; liver fibrosis

                                    Camelid Antibody Engineering and Development

                                    Dr. Reza Hassanzdaeh-Ghassabeh, Ph.D.

                                    Sr. Technology Expert, VIB, Belgium
                                    Camelid development, optimization, and engineering

                                    STRategy

                                    Bob Kay, Ph.D.

                                    CEO, Epalex, Origen; Founding Roles, GenPharm/Medarex, Genetics Institute/Wyeth
                                    Executive, growth and business development

                                    Javier Szwarcberg, M.D.

                                    CEO, Spruce Biosciences; Biomarin, Ultragenyx, Intermune
                                    Portfolio development, clinical and regulatory guidance

                                    Todd Morrill, B.A. M.B.A.

                                    Faculty Director, NSF iCorpsBusiness development, and partnerships

                                    In memoriam

                                    Gustavo Pesce

                                    Gustavo Pesce, Ph.D.

                                    Co-Founder and founding CSO

                                    August 4, 1967 - February 18, 2021

                                    Abalone Bio carries on the legacy of co-founder Gustavo Pesce. His scientific vision, rigor, and curiosity - and one-of-a-kind personality- are deeply encoded in Abalone Bio's DNA.

                                    Gustavo started his scientific journey working on gene regulation with Alberto Kornblihtt at the University of Buenos Aires and then in cell biology and genetics with Peter Walter at UCSF. He then expanded his research toolset into experimental and computational systems biology and synthetic biology with Roger Brent and Sydney Brenner at the Molecular Sciences Institute, where he met co-founder Richard Yu in 2003. He co-founded the algae biofuel startup GPB in 2008 with Rich, and then worked on industrial synthetic biology projects at Bolt Threads and Amyris Biotechnologies before starting Abalone Bio in 2018.

                                    Abalone Bio was seeded by his shared desire with Rich to apply their complementary skillsets, experiences, and personalities to developing uniquely impactful therapeutics. The company is the namesake of the delicacy that Gustavo, an avid open ocean swimmer and diver, used to hunt in Northern Californian waters.