Tom Cech | On CNBC Squawk Box

Tom Cech recently appeared on the CNBC pre-market morning program Squawk Box to discuss a variety of topics including the future of biomedical research, the Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology and the 1989 Nobel Laureate’s return to the University of Colorado where he will also be resuming teaching freshman chemistry.

It is always fascinating to listen to Dr. Cech but what made this particular interview so special was the combination of not only who was answering the questions but who was asking the questions, that was CNBC Squawk Box anchor and University of Colorado, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology graduate Joe Kernen. After Joe graduated CU MCDB he went on to graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where his work focused on erythroleukemia cells, and led to publications in CELL, Developmental Biology, and Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, and then focused his career on Wall St.

The eight minute interview is embedded below. If you are reading this post via an email or RSS subscription please click [HERE] to watch the video at http://CLSDF.com.

Thom Cech on 60 Minutes

Colorado life scientist’s and life science companies have recently been appearing left and right in the national spotlight, first in Popular Science then in Newsweek and now…Did you happen to catch 60 Minutes this past Sunday night? If not, the segment on Howard Hughes and how the Howard Hughes Medical Institute came to fruition featured one Colorado-bound Thom Cech. If you have a few moments you can watch the video below, in addition is a video interview of Thom that I find very interesting and hope you will too [if you are reading this via email or RSS aggregator you will have to click over to http://CLSDF.com to view the videos].





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Thom Cech, Ph.D.: Sweet Home Colorado!

Thom Cech who has been serving as the President of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) since 2000 announced that he will be stepping down in the spring of 2009 and returning to Colorado. Dr. Cech plans to resume his position as an HHMI investigator at the University of Colorado, where he has been a faculty member since 1978. In 1989 Dr. Cech won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Sidney Altman of Yale University (who just happened to have received his Ph.D. from the University Colorado in 1967) for their discoveries that illuminated the catalytic properties of RNA.

In 1982, Dr. Cech and his research group announced that an RNA molecule from Tetrahymena, a single-celled pond organism, cut and rejoined chemical bonds in the complete absence of proteins. And from what I understand the pond was adjacent to the quad on the Boulder campus where the Tetrahymena was fished out of. Below is an embedded satellite view of the famous pond courtesy of google maps - be sure to zoom in on it using the + in the upper-left, located between University Ave. and Pleasant St. (if you are reading this as an email or in your RSS reader you will have to pop over to the site http://CLSDF.com to see the famous pond). This discovery of self-splicing RNA provided the first exception to the long-held belief that biological reactions are always catalyzed by proteins.

It is exciting news for the entire Colorado life science eco-system to have Dr. Cech return home. Stay tuned for more detail on planned activities…


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Dr. Hang Yin: Kimmel Scholar Award Recipient

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Hang (Hubert) Yin, University of Colorado at Boulder Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry who has received the Kimmel Scholar Award from the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research. Dr. Yin is the first CU Boulder researcher to accept the prestigious award.

The Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research funds the Kimmel Scholars Program, which each year, through a distinguished medical board of advisors, provides research grants to the nation's most promising young cancer researchers. To date there have been 145 recipients of these awards. The goal of the grant program is to improve the basic understanding of cancer biology and to develop new methods for the prevention and treatment of cancer.

Dr.Yin is developing exogenous peptide and small-molecule agents that target transmembrane helices to study the little-understood membrane protein-protein interactions in order to further understanding of molecular recognition in membranes. A component to this work includes development of novel peptide-peptidomimetic reagents to target the latent membrane proteins found on the Human herpesvirus and to control blood clotting by modulating integrin receptors on platelets. The findings from these studies may lay the groundwork for the discovery of new pharmaceutical agents with which may diagnose, prevent and treat herpesvirus-dependent cancers and cardiovascular diseases.

Dr. Yin came to the CU-Boulder chemistry and biochemistry department in 2007 from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he was a postdoctoral fellow from 2004 to 2007. He received his doctorate in chemistry from Yale University in 2004.In addition to his faculty position at CU-Boulder, Yin is an associate member of the University of Colorado Cancer Center in the Developmental Therapeutics Program. In 2007 Dr. Yin received the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Wood-Whelan Research Fellowship, the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Young Investigator Scholarship and the Elsevier Most Cited Paper Award.

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Bill Freytag, Ph.D. Appointed AlphaSniffer Board Chair

What do you get when combing Colorado-based Nobel Laureate technology (Dr. John Hall, 2005-Physics) with Colorado-based All-Star management (Dr. Bill Freytag, Chair & CEO Aspreva Pharma, Chair & CEO Myogen)? Answer…alphsniffer…who announced the appointment of Dr. J. William Freytag as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors. Congratulations to Founder and CEO Misha Plam, Ph.D. for assembling such an outstanding team around an outstanding platform technology.

To say Dr. Freytag has been busy these last few years would be an understatement. Read more about his value creating ways (here). In addition to his current work with AlphaSniffer Dr. Freytag is also serving on the Board of Directors for Sierra Neuropharmaceuticals, ARCA Discovery and Immunicon (NASDAQ: IMMC), and brings particular expertise in the filed of diagnostics having formerly served as President of Molecular Diagnostics at Boehringer Mannheim (acquired by Roche).

AlphaSniffer continues to make incredible progress having already established proof-of-concept with their proprietary technology for real-time, sensitive, label-free detection of medically and commercially important molecules such as DNA, proteins, toxins, contaminants and other molecules. There are numerous potential applications of this real-time detection platform including:

• Medical research
• Personalized medicine and diagnostics
• Pharmaceutical process control
• Defense and homeland security
• And, a host of industrial applications
  

It will certainly be interesting to observe the developing commercialization trajectory. Learn more about the technology and applications at the new alphasniffer website (here) or http://alphasniffer.com

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Norm Pace, Ph.D. Named CU Distinguished Professor

Norm Pace, Ph.D. of CU Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology was honored by the CU Board of Regents with the distinction of Distinguished Professor. Dr. Pace can now add this title to his impressive list of accomplishments which include member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Microbiology, as well as a MacArthur Fellow.

Dr. Pace received the Ph.D. degree at the University of Illinois, Urbana. He held positions at the National Jewish Hospital and Research Center, the University of Colorado Medical Center, Indiana University and the University of California, Berkeley, before moving to the University of Colorado department of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology. Dr. Pace wears two scientific hats. He is a molecular biologist whose laboratory has made substantive contributions to our understanding of nucleic acid structure and processing. He is also a microbial ecologist whose laboratory has been conspicuous in the adaptation of molecular tools to the study of microbial ecosystems.

More information on the work of Dr. Pace (HERE).

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Michael Bristow, M.D., Ph.D. Wins 2008 PhRMA Award

Congratulations to Michael Bristow, M.D., Ph.D., the S. Gilbert Blount Professor of Medicine at University of Colorado, Head of Cardiology, Co-director of the University of Colorado Cardiovascular Institute, co-founder of Myogen (acquired by Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD), founder of ARCA Discovery and now add to that list winner of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) 2008 Discoverers Award - Clinical Trial Exceptional Services Award. The distinguished award was given for discoveries made in the early 1980’s where Dr. Bristow found the failing human heart was subjected to harmful amounts of increased adrenergic activity, and the logical therapeutic response to that activity was beta-blockade; as well as for being the Principal Investigator and Chair of the Phase II and Phase III trials for Coreg (carvedilol) where Dr. Bristow’s work also helped to characterize the receptor and molecular profiles of the drug in the human heart. Coreg a medication by GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) was the first beta-blocker approved by the FDA for the treatment of heart failure.

PhRMA represents the country’s leading pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. PhRMA companies are leading the way in the search for new cures. PhRMA members alone invested an estimated $43 billion in 2006 in discovering and developing new medicines. Industry-wide research and investment reached a record $55.2 billion in 2006.

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Northern CO Bioscience Cluster

All along the Front Range I can hear the sound of patents and articles-of-incorporation being filed, and new life science entities opening their doors. Larimer County is a concentrated region certainly a-buzz with such entrepreneurial activity. If you have not done so yet be certain to take a look at the Larimer Bioscience Cluster web site (here or http://larimerbioscience.org) to get a feel for the energy.

The mission of the Larimer Bioscience Cluster is to mobilize resources, coordinate actions and identify long-term partnerships to grow Larimer County into an important regional and national center for the biosciences. Kathy Kregel is doing a fantastic job aggregating vigor as the Director and deploying the LBC key strategies:

1. Improve the availability of funding for bioscience companies, especially seed and early stage assistance.
2. Enhance the success rate of small/startup bioscience companies, and support the needs of existing firms in the region.
3. Support Colorado State University’s critical role in the statewide bioscience effort, including maximizing the commercialization of bioscience discoveries at the University.
   

Finally, be certain to take a look at the Building Northern Colorado’s Bioscience Future (here) chock full ‘o great stuff and updated in January 2008. CLSDF is eager to be featuring even more great technologies and companies sprouting to our north.

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Sandeep Wadhwa: Director CO Medicaid Program

At FBBp we are afforded the opportunity to work with people of extraordinary caliber. One such individual is Sandeep Wadhwa, MD, MBA who has accepted a position within the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing where he will be functioning as the State’s Medicaid Program Director. In his new role Dr. Wadhwa will oversee in addition to Medicaid, the Child Health Plan Plus as well as the Colorado Indigent Care Program. In all, Dr. Wadhwa will manage the healthcare delivery to over 600,000 of Colorado’s underprivileged and elderly. Thank you Dr. Wadhwa for what you have done and what you are about to do. The bar for the caliber of individuals we have in our ecosystem is high, Dr. Wadhwa raises is that much more.

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Kythera Lands Joe Turner on Board

Joe Turner, former Chief Financial Officer at Myogen (now Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD)), has joined the privately held Los Angeles-based Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Board of Directors. Not only is Joe an incredibly talented executive and individual but most selfishly he too has had a profound impact upon my personal life and professional development, and for that I will always be grateful as well as look forward to some day being positioned to pass along a fraction of the insight and wisdom that was bestowed onto me.

To attempt to summarize the value Kythera is receiving in only a sentence or two seems unfitting nevertheless…a few highlights of Joe’s track record include: responsibility for eight equity offerings which include three public offerings (IPO’s) raising in aggregate approaching approximately half-a-billion dollars, truly amazing! Most recently Joe helped to orchestrate San Diego-based NovaCardia’s $350M exit to Merck (NYSE: MRK) and he continues to sit on additional Boards including privately held Sequel Pharmaceuticals, a NovaCardia spin-out and SGX Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SGXP).

Kythera with two Phase II compounds and a third preparing for PII along with financial backers Arch Venture Partners, Prospect Venture Partners, Versant Ventures and Altitude Life Science Ventures and now Joe Turner on the Board one might venture to guess that perhaps an IPO may be in their not too distant future?

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Hiberna: In the Spotlight

Very stealthy Boulder-based Hiberna Corporation has landed rather subtly on the radar, appearing in a Forbes article last week (read the article (here)). The piece is focused upon a variety of companies and technologies who are pursuing the potential clinical application of hibernation in order to slow metabolism thereby extending survival limits in traumas that reduce oxygen to certain cells, e.g. in the heart and brain.

Hiberna, founded in 2007 by Gordon Van Dusen, MS, MBA former VP of business development with Myogen (IPO NASDAQ: MYOG then acquired by Gilead) and Tom Marr, Ph.D. former founder of Genomica (IPO NASDAQ: GNOM then acquired by Exelixis) have been backed by Boulder Ventures and the Peierls Foundation and are pursuing drug development efforts based upon novel model organisms that exhibit profound biology and are using microarrays to screen a variety of genes that may be critical in the tissue protection process during hibernation.

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N30 Pharma Completes Phase I Study

N30 Pharma is developing s-nitrosothiol therapies for critical unmet needs in respiratory diseases such as cystic fibrosis, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A Phase I study of their lead molecule N30-201 used in healthy volunteers has been successfully completed. Safety and adverse events were characterized in addition to collecting pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data of ascending doses of N30-201.

The company is chaired by physician and serial entrepreneur Charles H. Scoggin, MD. Dr. Scoggin is also currently a Director of Nitrox, a privately held North Carolina-based biopharmaceutical company founded on technology developed at Duke University. Companies previously founded or co-founded by Dr. Scoggin include: Somatogen, a biopharmaceutical company that successfully synthesized and genetically modified the human hemoglobin molecule, for which Dr. Scoggin served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman through its initial public offering, several secondary financings and strategic alliances; Somatogen Instruments, a biomedical and scientific instruments company, for which Dr. Scoggin served as President and Chief Executive Officer until its sale to Beckman Instruments; Rodeer Systems, a biomedical informatics company, for which Dr. Scoggin served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; Dr. Scoggin also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of both Medrock, a medical information company; and Sagemed, a company focused on strategic healthcare information services.

S-nitrosothiols are endogenous molecules that store and transduce nitric oxide, and are critical modulators of airway and vascular smooth muscle tone, as well as having other effects.

N30-201 is a proprietary nebulized formulation of s-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), an endogenous bronchodilatory molecule that serves as a crucial store of nitric oxide (NO) bioactivity in the human airway. Recent research has shown that endogenous GSNO levels are elevated in the airway of patients with pneumonia and reduced in those with severe asthma.

NO acts as a neuronal and vascular messenger implying diffusion through intracellular environments containing glutathione. NO reacts with glutathione under aerobic conditions generating GSNO. S-Nitrosothiols like GSNO have generated considerable interest due to their ability to act as NO donors and due to their possible involvement in bioregulatory systems as NO transfer reactions. Many of the biological functions that have been described for S-Nitrosothiols have clinical correlates such as:

• Functioning as a guanylate cyclase signaling intermediate
• May inhibit platelet activation in angioplasty and angina
• May reduce the rate of embolization in humans
• Has been shown to be a powerful bronchodilator agent

Last year N30 completed aa licensing agreement with Lexington, MA-based NitroMed (Nasdaq: NTMD) for the respiratory use of a s-nitrosothiol drug candidate. NitroMed is an emerging pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of proprietary pharmaceuticals based on the therapeutic benefits of the naturally occurring molecule nitric oxide.

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Array Biopharma: CLSDF Reader’s Take

A few weeks back I posted (here) about the news on Array BioPharma's (NASDAQ: ARRY) outcome for ARRY-886 and the response Wall Street was having as well as AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), Array’s development partner, and Schering Plough (NYSE: SGP) and their competitive oncology product, reactions . My argument was that matching standard of care as an outcome in this particular trial should not necessarily be considered a failure, semantics?

Well I love when CLSDF readers call me out, when necessary and especially when not. I encourage you to keep the emails (arubenstein [at] rnaventures [dot] com) and the comments (to be entered at the bottom of each post) coming!

I would like to extend my most gracious appreciation to Eric Austin, Ph.D., DABT, Senior Tox Consultant with Redmond, WA-based Veritox who had the following to say,

“I work in cancer drug development and being equivalent to standard of care is considered a failure in drug development unless you can demonstrate some sort of significant advantage (e.g. greatly improved side-effect profile). This has everything to do with reimbursement. Managed healthcare will not pay a premium (which is what is charged for novel compounds to recoup costs) unless there is a demonstrated advantage, and the FDA will not approve a drug unless there is a demonstrated advantage over standard of care."

Net Eric’s point was that if the architected endpoint was improved survival and not matching SOC then, well then there is your failure.

But I’ll continue to maintain my stance that though this trial failed that new potential studies perhaps in combination with another drug may work to move ARRY-886 forward of course with the caveat that going somewhat back to the drawing board is a slow and expensive process. We’ll have to wait and see to hear about managements intentions. A quarterly conference call date has not been set yet.

So what are your thoughts? Is ARRY a bargain south of $8.00?

***Update*** Today is the final day to be entered in the CLSDF t-shirt giveaway simply by leaving a comment. Yes, haute couture finds its way to CLSDF!

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Victoria, BC and Back

King of Pessinus, a city of Phrygia, Midas he was and everything he touched turned to gold. What then do you call the individual who accounts for nearly $4B in shareholder value creation in less than one-year? …King Freytag is he!

So how does one follow-up with directing Myogen’s November 2006 $2.5B exit to Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD)? Simple…with Aspreva’s (NASDAQ: ASPV) $915MM exit to the Galencia Group (SWX: GALN) in October 2007.

Not to sound like a broken record but…Congratulations Dr. Freytag! The deal is slated to close on 3 January 2008. What a coup it would be for Colorado to attract Dr. Freytag back to the region! A boy could dream…

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Now That is Giving Back!

(Amgen logo circa 1983)
Thanks to my biobeer buddies who beat me to the punch on this not so small tidbit. Dr. Marvin H. Caruthers professor in the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado donated a whopping $20MM to be allocated towards the construction of the $115MM Systems Biotechnology Building which will be home to the new Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology that is gaining traction under the leadership of Leslie Leinwand, Ph.D. (former chair of MCDB and co-founder of Myogen now Gilead-Colorado (NASDAQ: GILD)).

For those who pay close attention to CLSDF you may have observed my mention of Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) in yesterday’s post re: public company’s related to Colorado. Amgen has two major manufacturing facilities in Boulder and Longmont, these facilities did not emerge here by happenstance…rather Dr. Caruthers just happens to be a co-founder of Applied Molecular Genetics or for most who know it simply as…Amgen. Back in 1980 he and his colleagues pioneered the mechanisms for the synthesis of nucleic acid which formed the foundation of recombinant technologies. In addition, Dr. Caruthers is also co-founder of another little company known as Applied BioSystems (NYSE: ABI). In July Dr. Caruthers was also awarded the 2005-2006 NSF National Medal of Science.

This gift is the largest ever by a faculty member of the University. Without a doubt the community is showering Dr. Caruthers with the appropriate praise and appreciation. At this time however, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Caruthers for his monetary generosity yes, but in my humble opinion, equally as important is that as a wildly successful serial entrepreneur I also appreciate Dr. Caruthers for giving back to the Colorado life science community by making himself incredibly accessible to the next generation of Colorado life science entrepreneurs with his keen insight, wisdom and guidance. The gift of getting ones hands dirty is not only priceless but is of paramount importance for the continued build-out of Colorado as an epicenter of bioscience innovation.

Thank you Dr. Caruthers!!!

An Illuminating Review

Continuing the literary theme for a bit…

When Jeff Bojar attorney extraordinaire at Snell & Wilmer passed along his recent review of Marc Zimmer’s Glowing Genes: A Revolution in Biotechnology I was quickly transported to a time when I was helping to create a series of Plakoglobin deletion mutants to be used for experiments in deriving the adhesive and signaling functions of the molecule. Each construct in this series had the good old GFP cloned in. When I saw those puppies light up a wonderful fluorescent green glow for the first time I was simply floored, and I continue to be blown away by each new biotechnological innovation. It is a blessing to be positioned to observe all that I am able to observe from the halls of academia to the shelves of commercialization.

It is not my intention to ‘review the review’ here but if the sign of a good review is that it motivates one to read the book, well let’s just say as soon as I complete this post I plan to click over to Amazon and place my order.

To read Jeff’s full review please click (here) for the .pdf

Here is a taste…

"As evidenced by biomedical equipment manufacturer Beckman Coulter’s recent acquisition of Lumigen, a Michigan chemiluminescence company, for $185 million in cash, bioluminescence has come of age. Glowing Genes: A Revolution in Biotechnology describes the incremental phases of the evolution of bioluminescence technology from the days when investigators paid children to collect fireflies for the McElroy lab and jellyfish for the Shimomura lab to today when green fluorescent protein (GFP) is used in virtually every molecular biology lab. In recounting the story, Zimmer implicitly reminds us of, and makes the case for, the importance of the Federal government’s continued funding of basic science research."

To read Jeff’s full review please click (here) for the .pdf

Following Along With Dr. Bill Freytag…

The following is a message from Dr. J. William Freytag, President and CEO of Aspreva Pharma (NASDAQ: ASPV) and former helmsman of Myogen who lead the $2.5 billion exit to Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD). If one subscribes to the notion of “betting on management” such an investor may be unquestionably moved to pick up some shares of ASPV*. *Please note: this is in no way shape or form investment advice.

And now a word from Dr. Freytag:

When I was approached to consider the position of CEO and Chairman at Aspreva, it didn't take long for me to realize the unique opportunity that this company represents. As a profitable company with significant cash reserves, a talented pool of management and employees, a global infrastructure and a solid corporate foundation, this company has the ability to chart its destiny and fulfill its tremendous potential.


Aspreva has already done groundbreaking work through its innovative partnership with Roche. By conducting valuable research in the use of CellCept for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, Aspreva has already had a significant impact on the treatment options available to patients suffering from life-threatening diseases such as lupus nephritis, a manifestation of lupus erythematosus affecting renal function, for which there had not been an approved drug in forty years.


Our work in this field continues as we analyze the data from the induction phase of our lupus nephritis clinical trial and conduct the maintenance phase in this trial to further the evidence available to support the treatment of this disease. We are also conducting a phase III trial evaluating the effectiveness of CellCept for the treatment of pemphigus vulgaris, a severe and chronic autoimmune disease that causes blisters of the skin and mucous membranes. Aspreva's work in these areas over the past few years has given the company significant clinical and regulatory expertise and we plan on leveraging these resources as we look to expand our clinical pipeline.


Aspreva is ready for the next transformational steps in its young and exciting history as an innovative pharmaceutical company. My goal as Aspreva's new CEO is to help guide our company through these steps and unlock the potential that Aspreva has. As a recent addition to the family, I've had the privilege of looking at the company both as an outsider and an insider. And now, as the CEO and a shareholder, I'm enthusiastic about Aspreva on both counts.

J. William Freytag: CEO of Aspreva Pharma

It appears as though Bill Freytag, Ph.D. former chief executive of Myogen will be assuming the CEO and chair positions with Aspreva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ASPV) effective immediately. We wish him the best of luck in this next chapter and appreciate all that Dr. Freytag has done for the Colorado life science landscape. Aspreva, based in Victoria, British Columbia has two Phase III trials underway for the autoimmune diseases lupus nephritis and pemphigus vulgaris.

More news to come…

New Bioentrepreneur Director at Bard

Congratulations to Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA who has been appointed as the Academic Director of the Bard Center Bioentrepreneurship Program.

Program details may be found (here). The inaugural Class I Bard Bio Fellows are off to the races. The Fellows among others will be taking Dr. Meyers Fundamentals of Bioscience Technology Transfer course beginning in August at the Anschutz Medical Campus across the street from the Colorado Bioscience Park (both campuses residing within the Fitzsimons Life Science District).

Take a look at the course sample syllabus (here) and note the star-studded academic and industry faculty who will be team teaching the course for sixteen weeks beginning 21 August and meeting once per week from 2:30 – 5:00, day TBD.

Also keep your eyes peeled (or tuned into CLSDF) for more information on a variety of new short course offerings from the Bard Center beginning in ’08 to include:

• Bioscience New Product Development
• Regulatory Affairs and Reimbursement
• Financing Startup Bioscience Ventures
• Marketing Bioscience Ventures

These non-degree, non-credit courses are designed for the Bio Fellows, students, bioentrepreneurs, and service providers.

Contact Dr. Meyers directly via (email) for additional info.

Leslie Leinwand: Marsico Endowed Chair

Congratulations to Leslie Leinwand, Ph.D., who is the recipient of a Marsico Endowed Chair of Excellence. The busy Dr. Leiwand is professor and former chair (1995-2006) of molecular, cell and developmental biology at CU Boulder and of cardiology at CU Health Science Center, directs the CU Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology, was a co-founder of Myogen, Inc. (who was recently acquired by Gilead for approximately $2.2B), is one of a handful of prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators, an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancements of Science, winner of National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Merit, and American Heart Association awards.