A two-time biotech operator. A scientific co-founder of ORNA Therapeutics. A 40-year biotech veteran. The team has built RNA platforms before — and exited them.
Runs company strategy, partnerships, and fundraising. 20+ years of operations leadership across General Motors, FCA Chrysler and Bank of America. Former Business Operations Director at Ocuphire Pharma. Co-founded Great Lakes Biologics.
BA · University of Michigan · Executive MBA, Eli Broad College, Michigan State.
Crystal Brown at TEDxDetroit — on rethinking intelligence, and why design beats luck in drug discovery.
Owns scientific strategy and the discovery of circular RNA–based therapeutics for undruggable targets. 40+ years in biotech, including roles at Apex Bioscience (founder, CSO), Curacyte AG (CDO), and Neochromosome (former CEO).
BS, MS · Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Owns the underlying RNA science. Created a novel RNA circularization technology during his PhD at MIT. Co-founded ORNA Therapeutics (acquired by Eli Lilly, $2.4B, 2026). Built the RNA Therapeutics Core at Mass General Brigham.
Harvard Medical School Instructor.
AI-driven protein and RNA structure prediction. Ranked first in multiple CASP challenges. Published in Nature Biotechnology, Nature Communications, Nature Methods.
15+ years in molecular biology, computational genomics, and AI-driven research. Previously Harvard Medical School (Genetics) and Aarhus University.
Leads oncology drug discovery programs. PhD work at the University of Michigan in cancer biology.
15+ years in nucleic acid biochemistry. Owns NovaLab™ infrastructure, operations, and compliance.
Drives aptamer research and business development. Master of Biotechnology, San Jose State.
API strategy, developer platforms, and cloud-native software. Director of Product Management at Gravitee.io.
20+ years in IT operations, infrastructure, and compliance.
Computer Science, Eastern Michigan University.
Deep learning applied to biomolecular structure and function.
Globally recognized leader in RNA biology. Co-founder of the Center for RNA Biomedicine and the SMART Center.
Owns finance strategy, FP&A, grant management, and board reporting.
Supports the CEO on budgeting, forecasting, and investor materials.
Manages the company data room (200+ legal and financial assets) and investor outreach. University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
We don’t claim something works until a lab has confirmed it. Ideally, an independent lab.
RNA is complicated. Our job is to make it feel simple. If we can’t explain it to an 8th grader, we haven’t understood it yet.
Drug discovery shouldn’t be a guessing game. We replace trial-and-error with intention.
Every program we run produces IP. That IP belongs to the partner, not to us.
Our platform is designed to improve. Every experiment makes the next one faster and smarter.
The best ideas often come from the places people overlook — in problems, in people, and in molecules.
One Broadway, 14th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
NovaLab
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
For a scoped pilot, yes — we need a specific biological problem to design against. For exploratory conversations, no. We’re happy to talk through fit before you commit to a target.
Yes — typically a mutual NDA before any target details are exchanged. We have a standard template; we’re also happy to use yours.
The partner. Every program we run produces IP — that IP belongs to the partner, not to Novarna. We retain rights to platform-level methods and improvements.
Yes — completing a $5M seed round led by South Loop Ventures at $35M pre. Select follow-on capacity remains.
We’re hiring scientists, and we want to hear from partners. Our science team responds to every qualified inquiry within 48 hours — first conversation to scoped pilot in 6–8 weeks.
