Management and Directors | |
 | Dr. Roger Freedman - Chairman Roger Freedman works for David Sainsbury, the settlor of the Gatsby Foundation and until recently the UK Minister of Science and Innovation. Dr. Freedman established the Gatsby Foundation's programs in plant science and neuroscience and continues to serve the Foundation's much expanded plant science program. He has been a member of the governing council of the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich since its establishment and is a member of the management board of the second Sainsbury Laboratory now established in Cambridge. He initiated development of JICI (now PBL), the technology licensing company based at the John Innes Centre, remaining as a non-executive director of the company for the first ten years of its operation. In parallel with these activities, he has also been involved in developing the practical applications of new technologies through commercial development. Dr. Freedman has advised venture capital funds in the US and Europe on plant biotechnology investments and has acted as a scientific advisor, research director, director or chairman of start up technology companies in the UK and the US. Dr. Freedman got his B.A. at Cambridge and received his Ph.D. for research in molecular genetics at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, before getting his first introduction to America as a postdoc at the Stanford Department of Biochemistry. |
.jpg) | Dr. Diana Horvath - Chief Operating Officer, Director Diana Horvath’s interests are in the applications of molecular biology to crop improvement. Before joining Roger Freedman to set up 2Blades, she served as Science Director at ATP Capital, a New York venture capital firm that invested in start-up companies developing agricultural biotechnologies. Focusing on technology and intellectual property, she helped to build and manage a portfolio of companies involved in forestry biotechnology, transcriptome and proteome analysis, small molecule discovery, and embryonic stem cells. Prior to that, Dr. Horvath conducted research on the molecular mechanisms of plant disease resistance as a National Science Foundation fellow and Zeneca Plant Science fellow at the Rockefeller University. Dr. Horvath received her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Northwestern University. She spent a year conducting research on problems in maize and millet production in southern Africa at the Department of Agricultural Research in Botswana, after graduating from Tufts University with a BS in Biology. |
 | Susan Nycum - Director Susan H. Nycum, Esq. provides mediation and arbitration services in domestic and international IP and technology related disputes. Formerly, she was an international partner of Baker & McKenzie where she was chair of the firm’s North America Intellectual Property (IP) and Information Technology (IT) practice group, a coordinator of the firm’s global IT practice group and a member of the firm’s governing bodies for North America and for Asia Pacific. Ms. Nycum was a member of the National Science Foundation advisory board that approved funding for the Internet. She has been an advisor to the governments of Brazil, Canada, Finland, Germany, India, Israel, Singapore, Thailand and the United States for IT and IP policy. Susan Nycum is the former Chair of the ABA section of Science and Technology and former President of the Computer Law Association. She was the Chair of the International Bar Association committee on software protection and committee on computer crime. She was twice the ABA appointee to the National Conference of Lawyers and Scientists. She is a member of the IP panel, the Commercial panel and the Large Complex Case panel of the American Arbitration Association; member of the CPR Technology panel and the Electronic Discovery panel; fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, fellow of the American Bar Foundation, fellow of the ACM, fellow of the College of Law Practice Management; member of the California Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, Board member of the Mediation Society and several other international mediation organizations. She is listed in the Best Lawyers of America and the Northern California Super Lawyers. |
 | Dr. Michael Pauly - Project Support Michael Pauly has over 20 years experience at the intersection of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology in both multinational and start-up company settings. Following completion of a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota, he worked in maize research for Novartis, eventually assuming responsibility for vegetable breeding research and technology. Following this were assignments in Europe and the U.S. directing research in applied breeding technologies, including molecular markers, cell biology, biochemistry and transformation. In 2001, Dr. Pauly began work with Epicyte Pharmaceutical working on the expression of pharmaceutical proteins in plants. That was followed by a position as CSO of Chromatin, Inc., a company pioneering the application of artificial chromosomes. He is currently the CSO of Mapp Biopharmaceutical and holds an appointment at the BioDesign Institute of Arizona State University. Dr. Pauly has worked part time with 2Blades since 2005. |
 | Dr. Eric Ward - President, Director Eric Ward served most recently CEO of Cropsolution, Inc., a crop protection chemical discovery company. Prior to that, he was Co-President of Novartis (now Syngenta)
Agribusiness Biotechnology Research, where he was responsible for a staff
of 270, including researchers and all administrative functions, including
finance, patents, business development, public affairs, human resources,
and facilities. Simultaneously, he was head of target discovery
for Novartis Crop Protection AG, where he implemented a fully integrated
agricultural chemical lead discovery program based on proprietary molecular
targets. This program relied on extensive interactions with biotech
firms and academic labs. Prior to that, he was a Research Director
for the Novartis herbicide business unit, during which time his team
invented Acuron™ herbicide tolerance technology, developed corn
and sugar beet varieties engineered with the Acuron™ gene, and
built the patent strategy to protect the technology. In 1994-5,
he worked in Basel, Switzerland as a project leader for Ciba Crop Protection
in the Weed Control business unit. Dr. Ward began his career in
1988 with Ciba-Geigy as a postdoctoral associate, during which time he
pioneered methods for cloning of large DNA fragments from plants. He
received his Ph.D. in plant biology from Washington University in St.
Louis in 1988, where he was a graduate fellow of the National Science
Foundation. He received his B.S in biology magna cum laude from
Duke University in 1982. Dr. Ward has authored more than 65 scientific
publications and is inventor on more than 20 issued patents. Dr. Ward joined 2Blades in 2007. |
