Benitec has named two additional members to its scientific advisory board: David Engelke is director of the University of Michigan program in biomedical sciences, and is also professor of biological chemistry. He is an expert on small RNAs, including those that induce RNA interference, the company said. Cy Stein is head of medical genitourinary oncology and professor of medicine, urology and molecular pharmacology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. For the past 15 years, he has been involved with nucleic acid therapy for cancer, and of late, has focused on RNA interference in this area.
Both professors will assist the SAB, which is headed by John Rossi of the City of Hope National Medical Center to provide guidance to Benitec in meeting its goal of developing therapeutics using its DNA-directed RNA interference technology, the company said.
Mark Schwartz has been appointed president and CEO of Bayhill Therapeutics, the Palo Alto, Calif., firm said this week.
Schwartz comes to Bayhill, which is developing therapeutics for autoimmune disease, from Calyx, where he was CEO. Before that, he was chief commercial officer at Trega BioSciences, where he facilitated the company’s merger with Lion Bioscience. He has also held management positions at Synteni, Incyte Genomics, and Tripos. Schwartz received a BA in chemistry from Grinnell College and a PhD in biochemistry from Arizona State University.