Top Cancer Genomics Expert Joins New Lifespan Extension Start-up as COO
Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) April 09, 2014 -- Today Insilico Medicine, Inc., a Baltimore-based company using advances in genomics to discover new therapies to target aging and age-related diseases, announced the appointment of cancer genomics expert Dr. Qingsong Zhu to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Dr. Zhu holds a bachelors degree in biology from the Beijing Forestry University in Beijing. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry under Dr. Karl Kramer and Dr. Subaratnam Muthurishnan from Kansas State University Manhattan, Kansas US where his research focused on insect genome sequencing, annotation and new gene identification. Dr. Zhu spent seven years as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University where he worked with Dr. Nancy Davidson in the breast cancer program and Dr. Robert Arceci in pediatric oncology. He was experienced in biomarker identification and drug development using both microarray and next generation sequencing techniques. Dr. Zhu has a broad professional network in the US and internationally and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
Insilico Medicine, Inc. holds an exclusive license to drug discoveries made using Hong Kong based Pathway Pharmaceuticals’ OncoFINDER tool, which predicts drug efficacy through a proprietary gene expression analysis algorithm. Dr. Qingsong Zhu will be responsible for operations and drug discovery research initiatives. He has over 15 years of experience in genomics with an emphasis on bioinformatics and the use of microarray and next generation sequencing (NGS) in cancer research. He has been involved in the identification of several novel drug targets and preclinical development programs. In addition, he has over three years experience managing clinical trials.
His latest entrepreneurial endeavors focused on improving the early diagnosis and personalized treatment of cancer and other diseases. He published his research in reputable peer-reviewed journals including Nature and as the first author in PNAS and Bioinformatics.
“The capabilities of drug discovery and personalized medicine companies are no longer constrained by the ability to afford and operate expensive sequencing equipment, but by the ability to interpret the data, make connections and extract valuable knowledge. Building on years of research in bioinformatics and equipped with powerful resources like the OncoFINDER and GeroScope, Insilico Medicine has set itself the most challenging of goals possible in biomedical research: finding drugs that combat age-related diseases and even aging itself. I am very excited to join this fast-paced and ambitious company and contribute to the revolution in cancer and aging research”, said Qingsong Zhu, PhD, Chief Operating Officer of Insilico Medicine, Inc.
Insilico Medicine, Inc. joins Google Ventures’s Calico and Craig Venter’s Human Longevity. Inc. in the hunt for novel solutions to age-related disease.
Dr Zhu notes that “Whilst other recently announced companies plan to use Big Data to find solutions for healthy aging without clearly defining the methods, Insilico Medicine, Inc has a very specific approach to high-throughput in silico drug discovery, screening and ranking of the many potential drugs and drug combinations.”
“We are very excited about Dr. Zhu joining our team. He spent many years working at the top cancer lane at Johns Hopkins Medicine as well as an independent consultant on application of NGS to diagnostic and personalized medicine. His philosophy of combining corporate goals with academic excellence is aligned with the spirit of Insilico Medicine, Inc. Dr. Zhu will coordinate the internal team as well as the sponsored research projects and collaborations with our partners. Together we will relentlessly pursue the ambitious goals of the company to discover new drugs and drug combinations to combat age-related diseases and develop new methods for tailoring drug regiments of the individual patients”, commented Professor Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Insilico Medicine, Inc.
About Insilico Medicine, Inc
Since 2008 the research team behind In Silico Medicine has worked hard to develop the most comprehensive scalable drug knowledge management system of annotated drugs, small molecules, biologics and all other factors that may influence the many events on the molecular, cellular and tissue levels. The company uses their expertise in targeted drug selection based on individual patient’s gene expression data and signaling cloud regulation for drug discovery in oncology and aging. The longer term goal of In Silico Medicine is to partner with the top pharmaceutical companies to help analyze their drug databases and lead compounds, improve enrollment into clinical trials, and to enable them to accurately predict the efficacy of their drugs on patient groups and individual patients. For more information, please visit http://www.insilicomedicine.com
Biography: Dr. Qingsong Zhu
Dr. Qingsong Zhu is responsible for Insilico Medicine, Inc operations and drug discovery research initiatives. He has over 15 years of experience in genomics research with the emphasis on bioinformatics and the use of microarray and next generation sequencing (NGS) in cancer research and drug target identification and evaluation using in vitro and in vivo models. In addition, he has over three years of clinical trials experience. His latest entrepreneurial endeavors focused on improving the early diagnosis and personalized treatment of cancer and other diseases. Dr. Zhu spent seven years as a postdoctoral research fellow in the leading laboratories at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine at Baltimore. He published his research in reputable peer-reviewed journals including Nature and as the first author in PNAS and Bioinformatics.
Dr. Zhu holds a bachelors degree in biology from the Beijing Forestry University in Beijing, China. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry under Dr. Karl Kramer and Dr. Subaratnam Muthurishnan from Kansas State University where his research focused on insect genome sequencing, annotation and new gene identification. He received his postdoctoral training in the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University. He worked with Dr. Nancy Davidson in the breast cancer program and Dr. Robert Arceci in pediatric oncology. He was experienced in biomarker identification and drug development using both microarray and next generation sequencing techniques. Dr. Zhu has a broad professional network in the US and internationally and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
Charles Groome, Insilico Medicine, Inc, http://www.insilicomedicine.com, +44 2032891994, [email protected]
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