AXONIS - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Founder
• Member of the Board of Directors
• Founder / Former Director, Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation / Founder, Cure Medical
• Founder or Board Member

Following a 1981 accident from which Bob became a quadriplegic, Bob has dedicated himself to raising funds for basic research aimed at developing a cure for spinal cord injury. From 1982 to 2011 Bob was a member of the national board of directors of the group now known as the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (until May 1999 known as the American Paralysis Association), a national, not-for-profit organization whose goal is to develop the earliest possible cure for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury. Since he began raising money for spinal cord regeneration research, Bob has raised over $17 million. In 1989 Bob founded Research Medical, a medical supply company, which donated 10% of pre-tax profits to medical research. Research Medical also had a strong interest in hiring people who use wheelchairs, with wheelchair users comprising approximately 50% of the 50 employees in 1996, when the company was sold. Bob has been a founder or board member of 14 different charities. He served on the board of directors of the SEED (Self Employment for the Entrepeneuring Disabled) Institute, a not-for-profit group that seeks to train disabled persons to become business entrepreneurs. Bob co-founded the Newport Elementary School Foundation and the Ensign Fund. For six years Bob was the Vice President of the Newport Harbor Educational Foundation. Bob was a member of the board of directors for the Life Rolls On Foundation, which has a nationwide organization to take disabled people surfing. Bob has been very involved in his neighborhood association, serving as Treasurer, Vice President and as President. In 2007 Bob co-founded the Community Foundation of Balboa Peninsula Point. In 2008 Bob founded Cure Medical, a medical supply manufacturing company that donates 10% of net profits to spinal cord regeneration research. The success of the company has allowed significant donations to be made to spinal cord regeneration research. Bob attended the University of California at Santa Barbara and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from UC Berkeley. He lives in Newport Beach, California.

Job Titles:

• Board Observer / Executive Director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute
• Board Observer / Management
• Executive Director of HSCI

As Executive Director of HSCI, Brock Reeve works in partnership with the Faculty Directors, and has overall responsibility for the operations and strategy of the institute.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Science Advisory Board
• Scientific Advisor
• Scientific Advisor ( Neuropathic Pain ) Director, F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center

Clifford J. Woolf, MD, PhD, works on pain and on the regeneration and degeneration of the nervous system, focusing on neurological disease modeling and drug screening in patient iPSC-derived neurons. Dr. Woolf is the Director of the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center and the Neurobiology Program at Boston Children's Hospital. He trained for his M.D. and Ph.D. at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg South Africa before joining University College London, where he was a professor of neurobiology. Dr. Woolf moved to Boston as the first incumbent of the Richard J Kitz Chair of Anesthesia Research at Harvard Medical School and established the Neural Plasticity Research Group, based in the Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He is a faculty member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Woolf has received numerous prestigious awards, including a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Gill Distinguished Scientist Award, the Kerr Award from the American Pain Society, the Javits Award from NINDS, the American Society of Anesthesiologists Award, the Reeve-Irvine Medal, the Magnes Medal, and the Wall Medal from the Royal College of Anesthetists.

Job Titles:

• Executive Chairman
• Founder
• Member of the Board of Directors
• Member of the Science Advisory Board
• Scientist
• Executive Chairman & Founder / Chairman of the Science Advisory Board
• Executive Chairman & Founder / Managing Partner, VenBio Partners LLC / Co - Founder Exelixis, Renovis ( CEO ) ( Acquired by Evotec ), Labrys ( Acquired by Teva ), ALX Oncology, and Others
• Managing Partner of VenBio Partners
• Member of the National Academy of Sciences

Corey Goodman is a scientist, educator, and entrepreneur. He received his B.S. from Stanford University in 1972 and his Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in 1977. He was a Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellow at U.C. San Diego from 1977 to 1979. He spent 25 years as Professor of Biology at Stanford University and Evan Rauch Chair of Neurobiology at Berkeley (Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology), where he was Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Head of the Neurobiology Division, and co-founder and Director of the Wills Neuroscience Institute. He published over 200 scientific papers. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience in the Wills Neuroscience Institute at U.C. Berkeley. Dr. Goodman is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and American Philosophical Society, and recipient of many honors including the Alan T. Waterman Award, Canada Gairdner Biomedical Award, March-of-Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology, Reeve-Irvine Research Medal, and Dawson Prize in Genetics from Trinity College Dublin. Dr. Goodman moved from academia to biotechnology and pharma to help apply basic biomedical discoveries to human health - to turn great science into impactful medicine. He has co-founded seven biotechnology companies (the first being Exelixis), and led one of them (Renovis) as President and CEO from a private to public company until its acquisition. He was recruited to be President and founder of Pfizer's Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center and a member of Pfizer's executive leadership team. Today Dr. Goodman is a Managing Partner of venBio Partners, a venture capital firm he co-founded that focuses on innovative therapeutics for major unmet medical needs. Dr. Goodman is Chair of the Board of Second Genome, ALX Oncology, and Tollnine. He is a member of the Board of Checkmate and NFlection. He chaired Labrys Biologics until its acquisition by Teva. The drug he championed at Labrys, now called Ajovy, is FDA approved for chronic migraine suffers. Amongst his many public policy roles, Dr. Goodman is former Chair of the California Council on Science and Technology (advising the Governor and State Legislature), a member of the University of California Innovation Council (advising UC President Napolitano), a member of the board of the Pacific Institute, former Chair of the National Research Council's (NAS) Board on Life Sciences (advising the Federal Government), and past President of the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience. He advises numerous foundations. Dr. Goodman is a Managing Partner of venBio, a venture capital firm that focuses on innovative therapeutics for major unmet medical needs.

Job Titles:

• Founder
• Scientific Advisor
• Founder and CEO of BioAxone BioSciences Inc
• Scientific Advisor & Founder / Chief Executive Officer, BioAxone BioSciences Inc

Dr. Lisa McKerracher is Founder and CEO of BioAxone BioSciences Inc, a biotechnology company based in Boston, Massachusetts. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University. Dr. McKerracher spent 15 years as a university professor with an active academic research program, and received multiple awards, including the Christopher Reeve Medal, before leaving a tenured faculty position for leadership roles in biotechnology companies. Dr. McKerracher's current company, BioAxone BioSciences is focused on treating unmet needs in neurotrauma. Under Dr. McKerracher's leadership BioAxone received over $20M in licensing revenue, and $6 M in NIH/SBIR funding. BioAxone's lead drug, developed with SBIR funding, is an orally available kinase inhibitor designed to reduce progression of familial cavernous angioma. Cavernous angioma is a genetic disease where clusters of leaky endothelial cell lesions form in the brain. The company also has development programs for treatment of acute spinal cord injury, and has investigated PTEN as a target to treat spinal cord injury, with funding from SBIR. Dr. McKerracher has deep experience in translational spinal cord injury research. Under Dr. McKerracher's leadership, the intellectual property for BA-210 (Cethrin), originally developed in her academic laboratory, was licensed to a university spin-out company where Dr. McKerracher led drug manufacturing scale up and a Phase 1a/2 clinical trial with 48 patients. In partnership with Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Dr. McKerracher oversaw Phase 2/3 clinical trials in acute spinal cord injury as a member of the Joint Steering Committee. Seventy patients were enrolled in the SPRING trial to treat acute SCI. Dr. McKerracher cares deeply about translational research. She was Scientific Officer for the commercialization panel for the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) from 2011-2018. Currently, Dr. McKerracher is Advisor to the Travis Roy Foundation, a member of the Leaders Council for the Tannenbaum Open Science Institute at McGill University serves on the NIH SBIR grant panel for the Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. She is a past member of the Consortium Advisory Panel for the Christopher Reeve Foundation, and past founding member of the Boston BioPharma Executive Council. She has had past roles in strategic planning for The Institute of Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Addiction of CIHR, and The Rick Hansen Foundation. Dr. McKerracher has published more than 60 research articles in leading journals and has edited a book on spinal cord injury. She has over 30 issued patents as Inventor. Dr. McKerracher holds a BSc from McGill University and PhD from York University, and received post-doctoral training at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology (Massachusetts) and McGill University.

Job Titles:

• Investigator

Job Titles:

• Scientific Advisor

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Director / Vice President, Alexandria Venture Investments / Head of Alexandria LaunchLabs
• Head of Alexandria LaunchLabs

Jeff Stevens is the Head of Alexandria LaunchLabs, Boston's premier biotech incubator at One Kendall Square where he is responsible for operations, strategic programming, and business development. As a Vice President on Alexandria's Science & Technology team, he co-leads the group's venture investment activities in Boston, focusing on early-stage companies. Prior to joining Alexandria in early 2019, Jeff was Vice President of Growth Operations & Strategy at PureTech Health, where he helped build new companies with an eye on operations, pipeline prioritization, competitive intelligence, and storytelling. Jeff has extensive knowledge of healthcare systems and public/private innovative companies around the world from his long tenure as an analyst + portfolio manager at Fidelity Investments. He began his career at Roche in prescription drug commercialization and business development for their US affiliate. Jeff has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Trinity College and a Master of Business Administration in Finance & Management from New York University. Outside of the office, Jeff likes to run, play tennis, and cook. He and his wife are currently working on earning their fifth stars as Uber drivers for their two boys' 24/7 schedule of activities.

Job Titles:

• Chief Executive Officer
• Founder
• Member of the Board of Directors
• President

Job Titles:

• Director - in Memoriam

Job Titles:

• Founder
• Scientific Advisor
• Director of the Reeve - Irvine Research Center at the University of California
• Scientific Advisor & Founder / Professor, Anatomy and Neurobiology, School

Oswald Steward is the Director of the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at the University of California at Irvine, and is a Professor in the Departments of Anatomy & Neurobiology and Neurobiology & Behavior, and Neurosurgery. Dr. Steward is also the Senior Associate Dean for Research at UC Irvine. Named for actor Christopher Reeve and Joan Irvine Smith, the Reeve-Irvine Research Center was established to study injuries to and diseases of the spinal cord and develop strategies to promote repair and regeneration of nerve cells. Prior to July, 1999, Steward held the position of Harrison Foundation Professor of Neuroscience and Neurosurgery at the University of Virginia, and was the Founding Chair of the Department of Neuroscience in the University of Virginia School of Medicine, holding that position from 1986-1999. Dr. Steward's research focuses on how nerve cells create and maintain their connections with each other, how these "synapses" are modified by experience and after injury, and what genes play a role in nerve cell regeneration, growth and function. A more recent emphasis has been on promoting nerve regeneration in the injured spinal cord, and especially the regeneration of the pathway that controls the ability to move voluntarily (the cortico-spinal tract). Dr. Steward was appointed by Governor Schwarzennegar to the 29 member Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee (ICOC) as the representative for spinal cord injury. The ICOC oversees the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine established through Proposition 71 and oversees all expenditures through Proposition 71. Dr. Steward holds federal and private research grants totaling over $1 million annually, and directs a team of over 60 scientists and research physicians in the Reeve-Irvine Research Center. He is the author of two textbooks ("Principles of Cellular, Molecular and Developmental Neuroscience", Springer-Verlag, 1989, and "Functional Neuroscience", Springer Verlag, 2000). He has authored over 280 research articles and invited reviews.

Job Titles:

• Director
• Director / Partner, Wendel Rosen LLP

Mr. Sipos has been a practicing attorney in Northern California for 34 years, and has been a principal/partner in the firms of Aiken, Kramer & Cummings, Huddleston & Sipos and his current firm, Wendel Rosen LLP, specializing in business, real estate and construction law. He received his B.A. in Political Science from U.C.L.A. in 1983, and his J.D. from Santa Clara Law School in 1986. He also studied Comparative Law at Magdalen College, Oxford. Mr. Sipos spent 20 years as a mediator for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and as a Settlement Facilitator for the Alameda Superior Court. As a Board of Director and later Chairman of the Board for Beard Land, an industrial real estate development company, Mr. Sipos oversaw the expansion of the Company's real estate assets from 3 million square feet to 4.6 million square feet. Mr. Sipos served in the same Board of Director roles for Beard's sister company, the M&ET, a short line railroad and transload business serving Beard's Modesto industrial business park. Mr. Sipos has been a practicing attorney in Northern California for 34 years, specializing in business, real estate and construction law.

Job Titles:

• Chief Scientific Officer
• Co - Founder
• Founder
• Chief Scientific Officer & Founder / Former Research Fellow, Boston Children 's Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Dr Shane Hegarty is Chief Scientific Officer, Co-Founder and IP Co-Inventor at AXONIS Therapeutics, a seed-stage, Boston-based biotechnology company. He has >12 years of experience leading cutting-edge, award-winning neuro-protection, -modulation and -regeneration research for neurological disorders. In recent years, Shane has completed a number of competitive biotech entrepreneurial programs, such as Creative Destruction Labs and Harvard I-Labs. As a Research Fellow in Professor Zhigang He's lab in Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Hegarty led a genome-wide AAV-CRISPR screen for neuro-protection and -regeneration in vivo. Before moving to US, he was Faculty Member in Neuroscience Department of University College Cork, Ireland, and received the prestigious Neuroscience Ireland Investigator Award in 2016. A highly productive researcher with 29 research papers (22 as first/senior author), >1,000 citations and h-index = 15, and serial grant awardee. Dr. Hegarty has acted as an Editor for Frontiers and The Biochemist, and expert reviewer for a number of esteemed journals and international funding agencies. He is an experienced university lecturer, research supervisor and mentor, who also graduated top of his Neuroscience BSc class.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Science Advisory Board
• Scientific Advisor & I.P. Co - Inventor
• Scientific Advisor ( KCC2 & Pain )

Dr. Yves de Koninck is a Professor of Psychiatry & Neuroscience at the University of Laval, Quebec, where he studies the physiological, pharmacological and anatomical bases of the transmission of signals between neurons. Dr. De Koninck also holds positions as Director of Research, Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux (CIUSSS) de la Capitale-Nationale; Scientific Director, Quebec Mental Health Institute; Director, Neurophotonics Centre; Canada Research Chair in Chronic Pain and Related Brain Disorders; and Founder of the Quebec Pain Research Network. Dr. De Koninck's primary scientific interests are in neuroscience, nociception, peripheral nerve injury, neuropathic pain and chemical mechanisms associated with the integration of sensory signals in the spinal cord, specifically those related to the transmission of pain influx. He has expertise in synaptic physiology, biophysics, in vivo and patch clamp electrophysiology, cellular imaging in brain slices, confocal and non-linear microscopy, optical super-resolution, fiberoptics-based applications, optogenetics, noise analysis and computational approaches.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Science Advisory Board
• Scientific Advisor & I.P. Co - Inventor