Xi Zhao-Wilson, Ph.D., MBA Chief Executive Officer, Founder, Director Dr. Zhao-Wilson has more than 15 years experience as a senior executive of start-up, early stage and established companies in the biotech industry. She was a corporate development executive at Aviron, a biopharmaceutical company that merged with MedImmune. She was a founder and CEO of InCell, a biomedical company. Dr. Zhao-Wilson served as board director and senior executive officer at Baekon, a biotech company.
Dr. Zhao-Wilson is Professor at the Chinese Academy of Preventative Medicine in Beijing. As a Research Scientist at Stanford Medical Center, she conducted research focused on gene regulation in various cancers that are related to steroid hormone receptors. Dr. Zhao-Wilson received her M.S. in molecular genetics and Cell Biology from the Institute of Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and her Ph.D. in Cellular and Developmental Biology from The Ohio State University. Her MBA, from Fisher School of Business, MIIS focused on international business management.
Dr. Zhao-Wilson has been awarded four U.S. patents and has published numerous research articles and book chapters. She has successfully obtained research funding through an SBIR Grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and an award from the Katharine McCormick Fund. She has also lectured extensively at international research institutions including the U.S. National Institute of Health, the Max-Planck-Institute in Germany and at numerous universities in the U.S., China, and European countries.
Victor V. Vurpillat, Ph.D., MBA Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Director Dr. Vurpillat, a co-founder of BioMarker, has been involved with biotech companies for nearly a decade, serving as CEO of Transgenic Technologies, Inc. a startup in genetic research. He was a founder, officer or director of sixteen early-stage companies including Novell, Telerate, Optogenetics, LV Computer Systems, Compucom, Spear Information Systems, InCell, IDR-Reuters and Spanworks Inc. Dr. Vurpillat holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Newport University, an MBA from Pepperdine University and a B.S. in Math from California Polytechnic University.
Paul C. Watkins, S.M. Vice President, Business Development
Mr. Watkins has over 20 years of experience in biotechnology, life science, genomics and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to BioMarker, he was responsible for business development, scientific affairs, new product identification and intellectual property strategy and portfolio management at Ancile Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Watkins held senior management positions in business and corporate development at Axys Pharmaceuticals (formerly Sequana Therapeutics) specializing in licensing, technology transfer, strategic alliances and joint ventures. Mr. Watkins directed R&D groups in molecular genetics while at Life Technologies Inc. and Integrated Genetics Inc. He has been awarded an issued U.S. patent and is an author on over 80 international scientific publications. Mr. Watkins obtained his B.S. in Microbiology & Public Health at Michigan State University and his S.M. in Interdisciplinary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mike Kope Vice President, Corporate Development
Prior to BioMarker, Mr. Kope was Director of Corporate Development for MedImmune, Inc., serving the MedImmune Vaccines unit formerly known as Aviron. He came to Aviron a few years after having licensed the company its core FluMist™ technology from the University of Michigan , where he served as the University's Intellectual Property Counsel. Mr. Kope has negotiated a broad range of business acquisition and partnership agreements, designed strategies for technology protection and promotion in many fields of research, and facilitated a number of successful university spin-offs. He received his JD from the University of Michigan in 1990.
Ivan Labat, Ph.D. Senior Director, Research & Product Development
Prior to joining BioMarker, Dr. Labat worked as a Senior Director at Hyseq, Inc.(now Nuvelo) in Sunnyvale, California. Dr. Labat has more than 10 years of experience in Biotech Research and Development. He brings significant expertise in the development and implementation of genomic and proteomic biomarker characterization and analysis to BioMarker's discovery's programs. Dr. Labat leads the development of applications to facilitate BioMarker's data integration and analysis, by applying bioinformatics tools for nutrigenomics studies.
