SCALE 2025 Symposium

Prof. Carolyn Bertozzi is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University and a recipient of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. She is also the Baker Family Director of Stanford’s Sarafan ChEM-H Institute and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Carolyn is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and a Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society (UK). She is a member of the Board of Directors of Alnylam and of OmniAb, Inc. and a former Director of Eli Lilly.

Dr. Scott Zugel is Vice President of Analytical Research & Development. Dr. Zugel joined Veranova earlier this year with 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with expertise in analytical development including both drug substance and drug product spanning early-stage development through commercialization. Prior to joining Veranova, Dr. Zugel served as the Head of Analytical Development (USA) at Takeda Pharmaceuticals where he led analytical activities across multiple sites in both synthetic and biological molecules including traditional small molecules, tides, antibodies and ADCs. Dr. Zugel holds a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Purdue University and was a long-standing member in the Analytical Leadership Group in the IQ Consortium.

Dr. William Sanders joined Veranova in Sept. 2023 as Vice President of Chemical Development. In this role, he has overall responsibility for process development at all Veranova sites. Will earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Wisconsin under the supervision of Prof. Laura Kiessling, studying protein-carbohydrate interactions. He began his professional career as a medicinal chemist, holding senior research positions at Wyeth-Ayerst and Abbott Laboratories. He subsequently made a shift to process chemistry and spent 17 years with SAFC (now MilliporeSigma), where he developed small molecule APIs with a focus on highly potent compounds and payload-linkers for antibody-drug conjugates.

Dr. Srinath (Sri) Thirumalairaja is currently the Director of Process Engineering at Pfizer in Bothell. He joined Seagen in 2020, which was acquired by Pfizer in 2023. Since then, he has led both early and late-phase development of several drug-linkers for novel ADCs.

Before his time at Seagen, Sri played a key role at two CDMOs, Abzena and NJ Bio, where he contributed to the establishment of process and analytical development, bioconjugation, and GMP manufacturing services.

Sri earned his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Leeds in the UK and completed postdoctoral research in Enzymology and natural product synthesis at Dalhousie University in Canada.

Tom Hotchkiss is Chief Infrastructure Officer at Curie.Bio, where he focuses on helping biotech startups establish the right foundations for success.

Tom began his career as an investor at Marianas Fund Management and Ospraie Management, gaining insight into what makes businesses thrive. He later transitioned into entrepreneurship, co-founding multiple companies across software, healthcare, and biotech, including Diffusion, Sensorum Health, Athae Bio, and Imagen Technologies (where he also served as Co-CEO).

Drawing on this experience, Tom specializes in early-stage strategy, team formation, and capital-efficient growth—ensuring companies minimize costly missteps and achieve key milestones.

Lazar Bojic, Ph.D. is Vice President of the Investor Network at Curie.Bio, where he helps biotech founders sharpen their story, structure successful financings, and connect with the right partners to scale transformative science.

Over the past decade, Lazar has worked at the intersection of science and business—as a drug hunter at Merck and Ohana Biosciences, a company builder at Flagship Pioneering, and most recently in corporate development at enGene. His experience spans early discovery through clinic-entry, including two concept-to-clinic programs and leadership on debt and equity financings totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

Lazar brings deep insight into how great science becomes compelling strategy—and how that strategy can be communicated to attract capital and long-term partners. At Curie.Bio, he works closely with founders throughout their Series A journey, helping them retain control, avoid common missteps, and build enduring biotech companies with real impact.

Dr. David Kolesky is a Principal at MPM BioImpact. He is responsible for driving investments and company creation activities.

Before joining MPM BioImpact, David was a Principal at Flagship Pioneering, where he focused on conceiving, creating, and operating new bioplatform technology companies. David co-founded and helped launch several companies, notably Senda Biosciences and Montai Health, where he held key leadership roles at early stages of development including Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at Montai, and Head of Platform at Senda. David has developed a wide range of scientific and technical experience by working across diverse platforms, including AI-enabled small molecule discovery, programmable delivery of genomic medicines, and cell & tissue engineering.

David received his Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University and conducted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Working with Professor Jennifer Lewis at Harvard, he invented various technologies for creating vascularized kidney tissues for drug screening and tissue replacement. His work has been published in top journals and he is co-inventor of several issued patents. David has received numerous awards, including the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame Collegiate Inventor Prize.

A native of South Florida, David received his B.S in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida.

Vyas Ramanan, Ph.D. is a Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures and helps to build new companies where new biological insights and technological and drug discovery capabilities intersect, to discover and advance new medicines for treating serious diseases. He is passionate about working with incredible colleagues at Third Rock on advancing exciting new ideas for these companies across the portfolio. When Vyas first joined Third Rock in 2016, he was involved in the launch of Maze Therapeutics and spent the subsequent years helping create and empower an amazing team at Maze with the hope for multiple meaningful, first-in-class medicines.

Vyas holds a B.S. in Economics, a B.S.E. in Bioengineering, and an M.S.E. in Bioengineering, all from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a Ph.D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Dr. Ruth Lunt completed her PhD at the University of Bath as part of the Centre for Continuous Manufacturing and Crystallization (CMAC), where she specialized in the preferential crystallization of metastable forms using both batch and advanced continuous crystallization platforms. During her PhD, she completed industrial placements with Pfizer and a secondment at GSK, gaining hands-on experience in applying crystallization science.

Since joining Veranova in 2019, Ruth has become a key contributor to the crystallization development team, leading a wide range of projects focused on solid form optimization, scale-up, and process robustness. Her work integrates state-of-the-art technologies including in situ process analytical tools (PAT) and data-driven process design.

Promoted to Senior Scientist in 2022, Ruth has taken on expanded responsibilities, including technical leadership, project strategy, and the management of strategic client accounts. She continues to drive innovation within Veranova’s crystallization offerings, ensuring alignment with the latest scientific advancements and the evolving needs of the pharmaceutical industry.

Prof. Marvin H. Caruthers is a distinguished American biochemist internationally recognized for his pioneering work in nucleic acid chemistry. A member of the University of Colorado Boulder faculty since 1973, he currently serves as a Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry. His research has been foundational to the development of gene sequencing technologies, molecular diagnostics, and therapeutic oligonucleotides. Dr. Caruthers is also a successful biotechnology entrepreneur, having co-founded leading companies such as Amgen and Applied Biosystems. His contributions to science and innovation have been honored with numerous prestigious awards, including the National Medal of Science (2006) and the inaugural Merkin Prize in Biomedical Technology (2023). He is an elected member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, reflecting the broad impact and enduring significance of his work.

Dr. Matteo Villain, VP of Peptides and Oligonucleotides at Veranova, leads the biopolymers initiatives at Veranova. Dr. Villain has previously occupied leading positions in peptide API development, and managed GMP peptide API production for 20 years at Bachem Americas. During his tenure he was responsible for defining chemistry and bringing to the market multiple peptide drug substances. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Tides and of the Boulder Peptide Symposium.

Dr. Bradley L. Pentelute, a Professor of Chemistry at MIT, is renowned for his groundbreaking research in developing innovative chemistries and technologies to accelerate the manufacturing and delivery of therapeutic biopolymers including peptides and oligonucleotides. Dr. Pentelute is an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, an Extramural Member of the MIT Koch Cancer Institute and a Member of the Center for Environmental Health Sciences at MIT. He has been recognized with numerous accolades from institutions such as the American Chemical Society and the American Peptide Society, underscoring his contributions to the field.

Dr. Daniel Coughlin, Technical Director of R&D has been at Veranova and its predecessor Johnson Matthey for over 22 years. In his role, he has supported a variety of programs including chemistry planning for new generic APIs, process improvements for Veranova’s commercial APIs and planning and developing new technologies for Veranova’s peptide and oligonucleotide synthesis initiatives. He has over 35 years of experience in pharmaceutical R&D ranging from positions in small start-up biotech to large pharma companies. He has worked in the areas of medicinal chemistry, peptide chemistry, combinatorial chemistry, antibody drug conjugates and process chemistry R&D. Dr. Coughlin received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University followed by a 2-year NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Chemistry Department at MIT.

Mike Riley joined Veranova as Chief Executive Officer in May 2023. Mike has over 25 years of professional experience, the majority of which has been spent in the pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) industry. Prior to joining Veranova, he spent 19 years at Catalent, Inc., most recently serving as President of Biotherapeutics. During his tenure at Catalent, Mike led and built Catalent’s biologics business into a leading service provider for advanced biologics modalities, including proteins, monoclonal antibodies and Antibody Drug Conjugates. Mike served in multiple executive positions at Catalent and was part of the core leadership team that transformed Catalent from its inception into an S&P 500 company. He began his career as a management consultant for Marakon Associates, providing strategic advisory to companies across multiple industries. Mike holds a B.A. degree from Duke University, and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Rohtash Kumar joined Veranova as SVP, Development Operations and Chief Technical Officer in May 2023. Rohtash brings deep experience in the CDMO industry, leading technical teams engaged in the discovery and development of new products for use in clinical trials, as well as successfully running programs for commercial supply of APIs in the branded market. Prior to joining Veranova, Rohtash served as Site Head at Bachem Americas Inc. where he worked for 8 years holding different positions including VP of API Manufacturing. Prior to Bachem, Rohtash worked with Sigma-Aldrich as Manager of R&D and Manufacturing. In the early part of his career, Rohtash worked at Toronto Research Chemicals as a Group Leader, and at Apotex as Senior Research Scientist. Rohtash holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Delhi University, and an MBA – Production Management from Chaudhary Charan Singh University. Rohtash completed postdoctoral work at the University of Alberta, and at the National Research Council of Canada.

Dr Craig Grant is Veranova’s Vice President and General Manager in Cambridge, UK where he has responsibility for all operational and technical activities at the site. Craig has a Ph.D. in structural inorganic chemistry from the University of Edinburgh and has over 25 years’ experience in the health and pharmaceutical industry. He has worked across a range of service-based companies, including Cambridge Combinatorial, Exova and Solid Form Solutions, as well as pharma companies, such as Millennium.

In 2003, Craig co-founded Pharmorphix^® Ltd which was acquired by Sigma-Aldrich in 2006, later by Johnson Matthey in 2015 and is now part of Veranova, a standalone CDMO with a global footprint and particular expertise in the development and manufacture of highly potent and controlled substances.

Under the Pharmorphix brand, Veranova offers one of the most comprehensive arrays of integrated solid form, pre-formulation, particle engineering and chemical development capabilities available to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Dr Dom Hebrault is Associate Director in the Process Engineering team at Veranova, where he leverages over 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical development across CDMOs and large pharma, including Boehringer-Ingelheim.

He holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Mainz and a Ph.D. in Synthetic Chemistry from the European School of Chemistry in Strasbourg. Dom specializes in crystallization, particle engineering, flow chemistry, and process analytical technologies (PAT), with a track record of scaling multi-step processes from pre-IND to Phase 3.

A technological pioneer, he has developed autonomous chemistry and crystallization platforms integrating PAT and data modeling to accelerate First-in-Human timelines and enhance IP strategies. Dom has presented at numerous international conferences.