Our Science

Biology of Aging

As we age, our cells become less functional because they accumulate errors. These errors such as epigenetic changes subsequently result in cell damage over time. Eventually these cells become pathologic and cause diseases in various organs and tissues. Among these pathologic cells are senescent cells that drive age-related diseases. Senescence is the process by which a cell ages and permanently stops dividing but does not die. Any cell can potentially become senescent. Over time, large numbers of senescent cells can build up in tissues throughout the body and release toxins. When they reach a critical mass, they cause chronic inflammation and damage leading to fibrosis and tissue degeneration which drive many age-related diseases including cancers.

Over the past decade a growing body of scientific evidence has demonstrated the critical role of senescent cells in driving cellular aging and age-related diseases. By selectively clearing the body and tissues of these cells, while preserving healthy cells, the tissues can rejuvenate and disease progression can be reversed to restore cellular health.

At Rubedo, our Alembic drug discovery platform enables us to identify specific druggable targets and then develop them into therapeutics that selectively target the pathologic cells (such as senescent cells) that drive the process of aging. This allows us to address the fundamental cause of age-related diseases and preserve biological youth.

Alembic

Alembic Platform

Our proprietary ALEMBIC™ AI-driven drug discovery platform is based on a synergy between sophisticated computational algorithms and chemistry. Rubedo’s differentiated technology is a therapeutic agnostic platform aimed at addressing a wide variety of diseases beyond senescence and aging.

image001 (3) (1)

How we are differentiated

The use of single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) and spacial multi-Omics is an important differentiator because it provides the resolution to target specific cell types and changes within these cells. In contrast, other methodologies only identify trends across tissue samples. Furthermore, Multi-Omics technologies at single cell resolution allow for superior and highly specific target identification. Through leveraging a combination of our proprietary AI driven Platform (Alembic) and Chemistry (SenTech), Rubedo is able to develop novel compounds that specifically bind to the diseased cells allowing for increased efficacy and fewer unintended side effects rendering safer therapeutics.

pipeline

HOW IT WORKS

The Alembic platform identifies novel druggable targets by leveraging (scRNAseq) and other -omics data to identify the pathologic senescent cells unique to specific cell populations that emerge with diseases of aging. SenTech is a proprietary medicinal chemistry process that engineers small molecules with superior safety and selectivity properties over existing drugs. SenTech’s targeting ability is achieved through drug design (including pro-drugs) which combines specific molecular targets with unique metabolic functions.

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Ted Lain, MD, MBA

Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board Executive Director & Principal Investigator Austin Institute for Clinical Research

Dr Ted Lain is a board-certified dermatologist practicing in Austin, Texas since 2006. He serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Sanova Dermatology, a group practice with locations in Texas and Louisiana, as well as the Executive Director for Austin Institute for Clinical Research (AICR). As the Principal Investigator for AICR, Dr Lain has run numerous medical, cosmetic, device and skincare trials since 2013, including over 20 in psoriasis vulgaris. He uses his clinical and research experience to assist industry with protocol design, marketing strategy, and sales force training. In addition, he enjoys being a faculty member of numerous domestic and international educational conferences, publishing and editing journal articles, and co-directing the Science of Skincare Summit. After graduating with highest honors from the University of Texas, Dr. Lain obtained his joint medical/masters in business administration degrees from Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University in Houston, Texas. He then moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he completed his internship in Internal Medicine and his specialized training in Dermatology.

Cory Hogaboam, PhD

Cedars-Sinai Professor of Medicine, Chronic Lung Diseases

Dr. Cory M. Hogaboam, PhD is a Professor of Medicine in the Women’s Guild Lung Institute at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Hogaboam is also an Adjunct Professor of Pathology at the University of Michigan Medical School. His research group currently employs genomic, proteomic and bioinformatic approaches to analyze mechanisms contributing to fibrotic and immune system-directed responses in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), lung cancer, sarcoid, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and asthma utilizing human tissue- and blood-derived cells including fibroblasts, mesenchymal progenitors and various immune cell types that are typically present in abundance in these pulmonary diseases. His group also uses translational approaches through the development of humanized SCID mouse models of IPF, cancer, and asthma. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of Calgary, AB, Canada in 1989. He also holds a Doctorate in Pharmacology (1993) from the same institution. Dr. Hogaboam then engaged in Postdoctoral training in Immunology at McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada from 1993 to 1996. In 1996, Dr. Hogaboam joined the faculty of the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan Medical School as a Visiting Scholar. He became a faculty member of the Department at the rank of Research Investigator in 1998, Assistant Professor in 2002, Associate Professor in 2004, and full Professor in 2008. Dr. Hogaboam joined the faculty at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in September of 2013. Hogaboam is a member of several professional organizations including the American Association of Immunologists, the American Thoracic Society, and the American Association of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. He is presently serving on the editorial board of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and the Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight. Dr. Hogaboam has authored or co-authored approximately 281 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 31 book chapters. He has authored or co-authored 11 patents on therapeutic interventions for lung and liver. Dr. Hogaboam has received financial research support from the National Institutes of Health, American Lung Association, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and several Industry sponsors.

Marco Quarta, PhD

Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer

Marco Quarta, PhD, he is the founding CEO and President of Rubedo that he led from 2018 to 2024.  He received his doctorate degree in Biotechnology from the University of Bologna and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Padua. He completed a post-doc in Aging and Stem cell Biology in the lab of Prof. Thomas Rando at Stanford University. He continued his work at Stanford directing a research team at the Center for Tissue Regeneration, Repair, and Restoration at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto, CA. While there, he established a translational program in regenerative medicine. He has over 35 publications and patents in the field of aging, stem cells, regenerative medicine, and rejuvenation.Marco also co-founded Wetware Concepts, YEBN, and Turn Biotechnology and served as an executive board member of the European Federation of Biotechnologies. He currently sits on the advisory board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Calpoly Bridge program, and the advisory board at the Center for Healthcare Innovation. Marco is a member of the Paul F Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging Studies at Stanford University, one of the most prestigious institutions supporting the science of aging. He is President and co-founder of the scientific organization Phaedon Institute, focused on Longevity Medicine.

Judith Campisi, PhD

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-024-00603-5

Buck Institute for Research & Aging Professor, Biogerontology

Judith Campisi received a PhD in biochemistry from the State University of New York Stony Brook, and postdoctoral training in cancer biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. In 1984, she joined the Boston University Medical School faculty as Assistant and Associate Professor. She joined the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as Senior Scientist in 1991. In 2002, she started a second laboratory at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, where she is Professor. At both institutions, Campisi established a broad program to understand the relationship between aging and disease, with an emphasis on the role of cellular senescence in promoting inflammation, cancer, and degenerative diseases. Her laboratory made pioneering discoveries in these areas, and continues to challenge and alter existing paradigms. She has several long-standing national and international collaborations, and she mentors many students and fellows. Campisi received numerous awards, including MERIT awards from the National Institute on Aging, and awards from the AlliedSignal Corporation, Gerontological Society of America and American Federation for Aging Research, the Longevity prize from the IPSEN Foundation, and the first international Olav Thon Foundation prize. She is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Association for Cancer Research, and the US National Academy of Sciences. She serves on numerous national and international editorial and scientific advisory boards.

mark gallop,phd

Co-Founder, Chairman Chemistry and Development

Mark Gallop is Executive-in-Residence at 5AM Venture Partners, LLC. He consults with emerging biotechnology companies in oncology, neuroscience, gastrointestinal disorders and drug design on drug discovery technologies and strategies. From 2012 to 2017 he served as the founding Chief Scientific Officer at Nurix, Inc., a venture-backed discovery company formed to explore drug development targeting ubiquitin ligase enzymes, with therapeutic applications spanning across oncology, immunology, inflammation and immuno-oncology. Prior to joining Nurix, he was Senior Vice President of Research and XenoPort, Inc., a company he co-founded in 1999 with the mission of improving the clinical utility of medicines by exploiting active transport mechanisms to optimize their pharmacokinetic properties. While at XenoPort, his team discovered Horizant™, a prodrug of gabapentin that was approved by the FDA in 2011 and the MHW in Japan in 2012 for the treatment of restless legs syndrome. Previously, Dr. Gallop was Senior Director of Combinatorial Chemistry at Affymax. He is recognized as an early pioneer and international expert in solid-phase combinatorial chemistry. He was a recipient of the ACROS award of the Belgian Organic Synthesis Symposium in 1996 for his outstanding contributions to this field. He is an inventor on more than 100 issued or pending U.S., and PCT patents and an author of over 60 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. In 1994, he co-authored a landmark review of the then-emerging field of combinatorial chemistry that has subsequently become one of the most highly cited papers in chemistry. After undergraduate studies in New Zealand, he obtained his Ph.D. degrees in inorganic chemistry from the University of Cambridge and was a Lindemann postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of Profs. Peter G. Schultz and Robert G. Bergman at the University of California, Berkeley.

OFIR MORENO, PHD

SVP Drug Discovery

Ofir brings more than 25 years of pharmaceutical R&D experience, spanning early drug discovery through clinical development. He is a veteran biotech executive, with a passion for integrating advanced techniques and technologies for the discovery and development of new drugs. His experience includes the discovery of novel drugs and prodrugs for oncology, CNS, and cardiovascular indications utilizing a variety of technological platforms, as well as the application of model-informed drug development for the advancement of drugs into first-in-human trials and onward to late-stage clinical trials. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical Sciences at MEI Pharma, where he was instrumental in establishing R&D operations, building MEI’s clinical pipeline, and partnering two drugs for late stage development and commercialization. Prior to MEI, he held positions of increasing responsibility in drug discovery at Merck, Amgen, Corvas International, and Dendreon. Dr. Moreno received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Harvard University under the guidance of Professor Yoshito Kishi, and a BA in Chemistry and Biology from Cornell University.

ALBERTO VITARI, PhD

Senior Director, Discovery Research

Alberto Vitari, PhD has extensive and diverse experience driving and delivering target identification and validation programs. He is proficient in cancer genomics, functional genetics and leveraging bioinformatics tools to identify novel targets that serve as a basis for drug development. ​Prior to Rubedo Life Sciences, he was Group Leader, Molecular and Cellular Biology at Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences) and​ Group Leader at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. At Novartis, Alberto was responsible for the identification of novel oncology molecular targets. He has expertise in cell signaling, cancer genetics, mechanism of action elucidation, and data integration to guide patient selection. ​He served as a postdoctoral scientist at Genentech and at Pharmacy Corporation in Italy. His scientific record includes top tier publications in Cell, Science, and Nature, including a seminal work on proto-oncogenic factors (Vitari et al., Nature, 2011).

alex laslavic, PhD

Chief Technology Officer

Alex Laslavic is an experienced software engineer and team lead. His focus has been in building and leading software and systems engineering teams, designing and building infrastructure software and distributed systems, and building pipelines for large-scale data analysis. Before joining Rubedo Alex was a Team Lead at Facebook, and before that a Lead Engineer at CNN and Turner Broadcasting. Alex is passionate about leveraging his computational skills to help drive advances in aging therapeutics and regenerative medicine.

julian klein

Co-Founder, Research

Julian Klein holds a B.Sc. degree in Biotechnology (Germany) and a M.Sc. in Molecular Medicine (Erasmus University, Netherlands). He completed his graduate program at Stanford University where he focused on aging biology and received certification for completion of Harvard Business School pre-MBA program. The Glenn Foundation for Medical Research has funded his studies on age-related diseases, specifically his work on antisense oligonucleotides targeting muscle stem cells for the treatment of sarcopenia. Previously, he had been involved in the development of a cell permeable peptide for the treatment of cellular senescence in the context of chronic kidney disease and chemotherapy. His results were published in the prestigious Journal Cell (Baar et at, 2017). The study has drawn worldwide public attention, and ignited a venture-backed company, Cleara Biotech, aiming to bring this peptide to the clinic. Moreover, Mr. Klein identified genomic variants that, today, help clinicians to prognosticate the course of sepsis.

MARK gallop, PhD

Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board

Mark Gallop is a veteran drug hunter, chemist and serial entrepreneur. He consults with emerging biotechnology companies in oncology, neuroscience, gastrointestinal disorders and drug design on drug discovery technologies and strategies. He served as Chief Scientific Officer and Director at BlueLight Therapeutics, company that uses a novel structure-function-based approach to develop new therapeutic molecules against challenging drug targets. He is also President at Light Horse Therapeutics, a small molecule drug discovery company employing tools from chemical and computational biology.  From 2012 to 2017 he served as the founding Chief Scientific Officer at Nurix, Inc., a venture-backed discovery company formed to explore drug development targeting ubiquitin ligase enzymes, with therapeutic applications spanning across oncology, immunology, inflammation and immuno-oncology. Prior to joining Nurix, he was Senior Vice President of Research and XenoPort, Inc., a company he co-founded in 1999 with the mission of improving the clinical utility of medicines by exploiting active transport mechanisms to optimize their pharmacokinetic properties. While at XenoPort, his team discovered Horizant™, a prodrug of gabapentin that was approved by the FDA in 2011 and the MHW in Japan in 2012 for the treatment of restless legs syndrome. Previously, Dr. Gallop was Senior Director of Combinatorial Chemistry at Affymax. He also served as executive in resident for 5AM Ventures. He is recognized as an early pioneer and international expert in solid-phase combinatorial chemistry. He was a recipient of the ACROS award of the Belgian Organic Synthesis Symposium in 1996 for his outstanding contributions to this field. He is an inventor on more than 100 issued or pending U.S., and PCT patents and an author of over 60 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. In 1994, he co-authored a landmark review of the then-emerging field of combinatorial chemistry that has subsequently become one of the most highly cited papers in chemistry. After undergraduate studies in New Zealand, he obtained his Ph.D. degrees in inorganic chemistry from the University of Cambridge and was a Lindemann postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of Profs. Peter G. Schultz and Robert G. Bergman at the University of California, Berkeley.

Robert Gould, PhD

Robert Gould, PhD Khosla Venture Partner

Robert is an Operating Partner at Khosla Ventures with focus on health care. He has over 30 years of industry and management experience. Robert serves on the boards of Faeth Therapeutics, Fulcrum Therapeutics, Turnstone Biologics, HemoShear Therapeutics and Spring Arbor University.

Prior to joining Khosla Ventures, Robert was President and Chief Executive Officer of Fulcrum Therapeutics from 2016 the year the company was founded until his retirement in March 2021.  From 2010 to 2015, Robert served as president and CEO of Epizyme, an oncology drug discovery and development company.  Prior to joining Epizyme, Robert served as the director of novel therapeutics at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard from 2006 to 2010.  Robert began his career at Merck where he held a variety of leadership positions over 23 years, culminating in his role as vice president, licensing and external research.

During his career, Robert has been instrumental in advancing more than 20 compounds from discovery into clinical development in multiple therapeutic areas.  

Robert holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Spring Arbor University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Iowa. He completed postdoctoral studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Joanna Green, PhD

Ahren Innovation Capital Investment Professional

Joanna joined Ahren Innovation Capital from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where she worked on strategic projects within healthcare, insurance and the public sector.

Joanna holds a PhD in fetal immunology, focusing on childhood leukemia, and a First-Class Master’s and undergraduate degree from the University of Oxford.

Mario E. Lacouture, MD

Chief, Dermatology, NYU Langone Hospital; Professor of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine; Medical Director of the Symptom Management Program at the Perlmutter Cancer Center on Long Island

Before joining NYU Langone Health, Dr. Lacouture was an Attending Physician and Program Director of Oncodermatology and Research in the Dermatology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in Manhattan. He was also a Professor in the Department of Dermatology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. He conducted his postdoctoral work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA, an internship in General Surgery at Cleveland Clinic and residency in dermatology at The University of Chicago, IL. He received his M.D. degree from Javeriana University in Bogota, Colombia, where he grew up. Dr Lacouture began his career in Oncodermatology at The University of Chicago. During his first faculty appointment at Northwestern University, Dr Lacouture received a Zell Scholarship and a Career Development Award from the Dermatology Foundation, and established the first clinical program focused on dermatologic care in cancer patients and survivors. During this time, he initiated the first clinical trials in Oncodermatology, and described mechanisms and treatments on adverse events to novel cancer therapies, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and Nature Reviews Cancer.

Dr Lacouture founded the Skin Toxicity and the Oncodermatology Study Groups of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, is on the Guidelines Advisory Committee of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the Editorial Board of Cancer.Net. In 2012, CancerCare named Dr Lacouture as Physician of the Year for his contributions to the education of people living with cancer, and he has been selected as a Top Doctor in America and New York by Castle Connolly and New York Magazine since 2014. Dr Lacouture has published over 280 articles in peer-reviewed journals and is the author of Dr Lacouture’s Skin Care Guide for People Living With Cancer and Editor of the textbook Dermatologic Principles and Practice in Oncology. Dr Lacouture is the PI for numerous clinical trials aimed towards the treatment and understanding of adverse events related to cancer therapies and has received funding from the NIH to better understand these untoward events, with the goal of advancing cancer care through skin health.

Paul Insel, MD

University of California San Diego Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology

Paul A. Insel received an M.D. from the University of Michigan and post-M.D. training at Boston City Hospital/Harvard Medical Service, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the University of California. San Francisco (UCSF). He served on the faculty at UCSF and subsequently joined UC San Diego (UCSD), where he is currently Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine and Co-Director of the MD/PhD Training Program. Dr. Insel’s research efforts have focused on G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), including studies of G-proteins and their effectors, signaling compartmentation in caveolae, GPCR expression and identification of novel GPCR therapeutic targets in a variety of disease settings. Dr, Insel is the author of over 470 scientific articles, including original studies, reviews and book chapters. Dr. Insel has been Editor-in-Chief of numerous scientific journals (including Journal of Clinical Investigation, American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology, and Molecular Pharmacology). He is currently Associate Editor of Pharmacological Reviews and Physiological Reviews and Editor-in-Chief of Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology; U.S. Senior Editor, British Journal of Pharmacology and co-Head of Faculty, Faculty of 1000Prime in Pharmacology and Drug Discovery. Dr. Insel holds a Doc. Hon Causa from the University of Paris, is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, a Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science and has received major awards from the American Association of MD/PhD Training Programs, American Physiological Society, Dutch Pharmacology Society, and American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Kim Papp, MD, PhD, FRCPC

Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board President, Probity Medical Research

Dr. Kim Papp is a Member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, a Fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology, as well as a Member of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology. He is a world-renowned dermatologist with a passion for skin conditions. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Dr. Papp has over 25 years’ experience as a Principal Investigator. Dr. Papp is an internationally renowned Key Opinion Leader in clinical research who conducts clinical trials on a wide range of dermatological disorders. With the support of Probity Medical Research, an organization for which he serves as Founder and President, Dr. Papp has earned the distinction of top enrolling investigator in over 70 international dermatology studies. Dr. Papp has acted as consultant and/or advisor to over 40 pharmaceutical companies on the development of dermatological compounds. He is instrumental in improving and refining study designs, and serves on a number of Steering Committees and Advisory Boards tasked with developing effective and efficient strategies for the timely development of new treatments. An author on over 375 publications, he is a highly sought-after speaker known for delivering engaging, thought-provoking and accessible presentations. Academic and medical communities hold Dr. Papp in the highest esteem.

Jeff Jasper, PhD

Scientific Advisor, Drug discovery & Pharmacology

Jeff has over 25 years’ experience in the bio-pharmaceutical industry including
positions at Merck, Roche, Theravance and Cytokinetics. He has expertise in
molecular pharmacology, in vivo pharmacology and translational research with
industrial experience that includes leadership of discovery, preclinical and clinical
development projects. Jeff is a co-founder of Altos Therapeutics developing
gastrointestinal therapeutics (acquired by Takeda Pharmaceuticals in March 2017).

His academic activities include over 18 years as member of the Editorial Board for
the “American Journal of Physiology: Cell Physiology” and 12 years instructing the
“Molecular Pharmacology” course for the University of California, Berkeley
Extension. Jeff has published over 50 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals. He
completed his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, his Ph.D.
in Pharmacology at UCSD and his postdoctoral training at Stanford University.

Lidia Schapira, MD

Stanford School of Medicine Professor, Medical Oncology

Dr. Lidia Schapira is Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and Director of Cancer Survivorship at the Stanford Comprehensive Cancer Institute. She graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and trained at the Beth Israel Hospital in internal medicine and completed a hematology and oncology fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston followed by a research fellowship in Aging at Harvard Medical School.​Dr. Schapira’s clinical focus is in treatment of breast cancer. She is a co-Principal Investigator in a longitudinal study of young women with breast cancer based at Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Institute. Dr. Schapira has pioneered research and training in communication skills for cancer clinicians and initiatives designed to improve awareness of cancer research and clinical trials in underserved communities. She holds leadership roles in national and international societies (American Society of Clinical Oncology and Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer) and serves as Editor-in-Chief of ASCO’s website for the public, Cancer.Net and Consultant Editor for Art of Oncology for the Journal of Clinical Oncology.​Dr. Schapira has contributed to volunteer efforts to improve cancer care globally through education and mentoring and served as past Chair of ASCO’s IDEA program. Throughout multiple clinical, editorial and educational activities, Dr. Schapira has devoted her career to improving the quality of life of patients and families with cancer through improvements in symptom management, improved communication and other strategies designed to support patients’ ability to manage the challenges associated with cancer.

Mark Pegram, MD

Stanford University School of Medicine Professor, Medical Oncology

Dr. Mark Pegram is the Suzy Yuan-Huey Hung Professor of Medical Oncology at the Stanford Cancer Institute. He currently serves as the Associate Director of Clinical Research at the Stanford Comprehensive Cancer Institute (SCCI), and Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Stanford. He also serves as the Associate Dean for Clinical Research Quality at the Stanford University School of Medicine. In collaboration with Dr. Dennis Slamon at UCLA, and scientists at Genentech, Inc. in South San Francisco, CA, Dr. Pegram played a significant role in the pre-clinical and early clinical development of trastuzumab (Herceptin®) for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer. In 2012, he was recruited to the SCCI from the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami School of Medicine, where he served as the Associate Director for Clinical Research, and acting Division Chief of Hematology/Oncology for a faculty of over 70 researchers. Pegram has chaired the U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program panel, and is the recipient of the NCI Director’s Service Award, the Sylvester Outstanding Cancer Research Award, the Hope Award from the HERS Breast Cancer Foundation, and is a Fellow of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. His research focuses on new therapeutic strategies targeting HER2-positive breast cancers. Dr. Pegram was the lead author on the papers describing pre-clinical synergy between multiple chemotherapeutics and trastuzumab, and the first phase II clinical trial of trastuzumab plus chemotherapy. In addition, he was the senior author of the pivotal trial of letrozole plus lapatinib – leading to an FDA approval, and co-author of the pivotal trials of trastuzumab plus chemotherapy, and T-DM1, both published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and leading to FDA approvals.

Francesca Grisoni, PhD

Eindhoven University of Technology Assistant Professor, Molecular Machine Learning

Francesca Grisoni is an Assistant Professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology (Dept. Biomedical Engineering and Institute for Complex Molecular Systems), where she leads the Molecular Machine Learning team. After receiving her PhD in 2016 at the University of Milano-Bicocca, with a dissertation on machine learning for (eco)toxicology, Francesca worked as a data scientist and as a biostatistical consultant for the pharmaceutical industry. Later, she joined the University of Milano-Bicocca (in 2017) and the ETH Zurich (in 2019) as a postdoctoral researcher, working on machine learning for drug discovery and molecular property prediction. Her current research focuses on chemistry-centered AI, aiming to augment human intelligence in drug discovery at the interface between theory and application.second laboratory at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, where she is Professor.

Ali Siam, CBO Rubedo

Ali SIAM, MBA

Chief Business Officer

Ali Siam has a unique combination of operating and strategy experience. He was previously CBO at Celmatix, where he led the team to multi-target R&D collaborations with Evotec SE and Bayer AG, and supported the development of their corporate and portfolio strategy. Prior to Celmatix, he led corporate strategy, R&D prioritization, portfolio strategy, and due diligence engagements for biopharma, diagnostic, healthcare services, and institutional investor clients across therapeutic areas (TAs) as a team leader at L.E.K. Consulting. He also led collaborations in a whitespace team at AbbVie, in addition to developing go-to-market, launch, and lifecycle management strategy across TAs. Ali also has strategic marketing and R&D experience from his time at Johnson & Johnson, and holds an MBA from Boston College and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University.

Marco Demaria, PhD

University of Groningen European Research Institute for the biology of Ageing

Marco Demaria is a Professor of Cellular Ageing and Senescence at the Medical Faculty of the University of Groningen (RUG) and the Group leader of laboratory of Cellular Senescence and Age-related Pathologies at the European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA, Groningen, Netherlands). He obtained his PhD in Molecular Medicine at the University of Torino, Italy, and trained as postdoc in the laboratory of prof. Judith Campisi at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, California USA. His research is focused towards understanding the role of cellular senescence in different physiological and pathological contexts with the goal to identify novel interventions to extend healthy longevity. His laboratory covers fundamental, translational and clinical aspects, and is funded by several intramural and extramural agencies. His work has been published in top journals and he is regularly in the top 1% of most cited researchers in the field of molecular biology. Since 2023, Prof. Demaria also serves as the Director of the Mechanisms of Health, Ageing and Disease (MoHAD) of the University Medical Center Groningen. Additionally, Prof. Demaria is the President of the International Cell Senescence Association and Editor in Chief of the Natural Publishing Group journal npj aging

Frederick beddingfield, md pHD

Chief Executive Officer

Frederick C. Beddingfield III is a physician-scientist and biotech entrepreneur. He is currently CEO and Board Director of Rubedo Life Sciences. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Sagesse Bio and as a director of Cytrellis Biosystems. Previously he was an Executive Partner at Apollo Health Ventures, a longevity and age-related disease fund. He served as CEO and director of Kira Pharmaceuticals developing biologics for immunology, inflammation, and rare diseases from 2020 to 2023. He was founder, president, chief executive and member of the board of directors of Sienna Biopharmaceuticals Inc. and took the company public in 2017. Previously he served as Chief Medical Officer of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, acquired by Allergan in 2015. Frederick worked at Allergan for 10 years (2003-2013) where he served in various roles including the Therapeutic Area Head of Dermatology and Chief Medical Officer Allergan Medical. He has led the development and approvals of global leading brands in medical dermatology, aesthetics, neurology, metabolic, and other therapeutic areas. These brands include Botox (cosmetic, hyperhidrosis, spasticity, and others), Juvederm, Voluma, Kybella, Latisse, Aczone, and Tazorac. Frederick has led four successful FDA advisory committees.

Since completing his training, Frederick has maintained a clinical and teaching practice at UCLA. He is a board-certified dermatologist and emergency medicine physician and fellowship trained in dermatologic surgery and cutaneous oncology. Frederick completed his medical degree with honors at UNC Chapel Hill, his residency and fellowship training at UCLA, and his PhD in Policy Analysis Research at RAND. He serves on the medical advisory board of the Children’s Skin Disease Foundation and Camp Wonder. He is on the board and co-founder of the Dermatology Summit and Dermatology Innovation Forum conferences, and a Board Trustee of Advancing Innovation in Dermatology, a non-profit organization.

Julianne Averill, CPA

Chief Financial Officer

Julianne Averill is a dynamic biotech CFO and business strategist with 20+ years of experience driving innovation in finance across organizations such as Deloitte, Manifest MedEx, and Neumora Therapeutics. Currently a Managing Director & CFO at Danforth Advisors, she leads growth for the San Francisco region, advising boards and investors on funding strategies and leading transformative product & service launches. Her expertise has facilitated over $11 billion in fundraising and M&A initiatives and has led to the worldwide adoption of many AI-enabled digital health & biopharma products designed to improve patient outcomes. Beyond her professional role, Julianne is active in nonprofit board leadership and serves on the boards of CureSearch and the Junior League; further, she is an operating advisor to How Women Invest, a venture fund focused on changing the venture landscape. Julianne holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in business administration from CSU Fresno, a business analytics certificate from Harvard, and is a CPA, SHRM-CP, & NACD.DC. 

Mary Spellman, MD

Chief Medical Officer

Mary Spellman is a board certified dermatologist with extensive experience in drug development and pharmacovigilance in a variety of therapeutic areas, and in rare diseases. Development capabilities in topical and oral small molecules, gene and cell therapies, biologicals, devices, and cosmeceuticals. Indications have included dermatologic, rheumatologic, gastro-intestinal, hematologic, respiratory, and neurological diseases. Primary clinical support for multiple INDs, NDAs, and MAAs in Europe. Nonclinical and clinical development experience with the entire drug development process from discovery to launch, and Phase IV and other commercial support. She is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Catawba Research, and was previously Chief Medical Officer of Castle Creek Biosciences, Menlo Therapeutics and Revance Therapeutics. Prior to her CMO roles, she led dermatology research at Biogen, Stiefel, and Novartis. Before joining industry, she was an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Dermatology at University of California, San Diego. She earned her Doctor of Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Mark Lebwohl, MD

Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board Professor and Chairman Emeritus of Dermatology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai

Dr. Lebwohl has been practicing dermatology since 1983. He is the Dean for Clinical Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Professor and Chairman Emeritus of the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology. Dr. Lebwohl has served as president of the New York Dermatological Society, the Manhattan Dermatologic Society, and the New York State Society of Dermatology, and as chairman of the Dermatology Section of the New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. Lebwohl is a past chairman of the Psoriasis Task Force of the American Academy of Dermatology, and has directed the AAD’s annual Psoriasis Symposium, Diagnostic Update Symposium and Therapeutics Symposium. In 2015-16 he served as President of the American Academy of Dermatology Dr. Lebwohl is chairman emeritus of the Medical Board of the National Psoriasis Foundation. He is the founding editor of Psoriasis Forum as well as medical editor of the bulletin of the National Psoriasis Foundation, Psoriasis Advance. He has been on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology and the Journal of Skin Cancer. He is editor of the Dermatology Section of Scientific American Medicine and co-Editor-in- Chief of Skin, The Journal of Cutaneous Medicine. Dr. Lebwohl has chaired numerous symposia and has written or edited several books including the first atlas devoted entirely to cutaneous manifestations of systemic disease, and the leading book on dermatologic therapy, Treatment of Skin Disease, now in its sixth edition. His books have been translated into numerous foreign languages, including French, Portuguese, Chinese and Polish. Other books include Difficult Diagnoses in Dermatology and Psoriasis, Mild-to-Moderate Psoriasis and Moderate-to-Severe Psoriasis. He has authored or co-authored over 700 publications including articles, chapters and abstracts. Dr. Lebwohl is actively involved in clinical trials of many new dermatologic treatments. Dr. Mark G. Lebwohl graduated summa cum laude from Columbia College in 1974 and graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1978. He completed residencies in internal medicine and dermatology, both at Mount Sinai.

Chris Griffiths, MD, PhD, FRCP

Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board Director of the Manchester Centre for Dermatology Research and Head of the Dermatology National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Manchester Biomedical Research Centre

He was appointed to the Foundation Chair in Dermatology at the University of Manchester in 1994 and is an Honorary Consultant Dermatologist at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust. He founded the Manchester Dermatopharmacology Unit and the Manchester Psoriasis Service in 1994. At the University of Manchester he has held several senior posts including Head of School of Translational Medicine, Faculty Research Dean and Director of the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre. He currently leads for precision medicine in the UK Government’s Greater Manchester Devolution initiative. Chris received a lifetime achievement award from the American Skin Association in 2009. In 2015 he received the Sir Archibald Gray Medal for outstanding service to British Dermatology and the Society of Cosmetic Scientists Medal and in 2018 was made a Pro Meritis laureate of the European Dermatology Forum. He is a NIHR Senior Investigator, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and an elected Member of Academia Europaea. Chris was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), for services to dermatology, in the Queen’s 2018 New Year’s Honours. Professor Griffiths is past-President of the British Association of Dermatologists, European Dermatology Forum, British Society for Investigative Dermatology and International Psoriasis Council (which he co-founded in 2004). He is an Executive Board member of the International League of Dermatological Societies, Chair of the Scientific Programme Committee for the World Congress of Dermatology 2019 and Secretary/Treasurer of the European Society for Dermatological Research. Chris is Director of the UK Medical Research Council funded stratified medicine consortium on psoriasis (Psoriasis Stratification to Optimise Relevant Therapy; PSORT) and Chief Investigator of the British Association of Dermatologists Biologic Interventions Register (BADBIR). He has published 604 Pubmed cited articles in scientific journals (h-index 90), and is Editor-in-Chief of Rook’s Textbook of Dermatology.

Zoe Draelos, MD

Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board Clinical Faculty in the Department of Dermatology at Duke University Founder, Dermatology Consulting Services

Zoe Diana Draelos, a member of Sigma Xi research honorary and Alpha Omega Alpha medical honorary, is author of 14 books including Cosmetics in Dermatology and Hair Cosmetics. She is the editor of Cosmetic Dermatology: Products and Procedures (third edition) and Cosmeceuticals (fourth edition) with translations into 7 languages. She has contributed chapters to 44 textbooks, written 173 posters, served as the principle investigator on 862 studies, written 650 published papers, served on or contributed to 38 journal editorial boards, functioned as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology for 10 years, and was a past member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Dermatology and the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. She was elected Vice-President of the American Academy of Dermatology. She is recognized as a pioneer in cosmetic dermatology and received a lifetime achievement award from Health Beauty America for her research and the 2008 DermArts award for her contributions to dermatology. In 2010, she received the Albert Kligman Innovation Award and in 2016 she was awarded a Presidential Citation from the American Academy of Dermatology for her research contributions to advance the specialty. She received the prestigious Maison deNavarre award from the Society of Cosmetic Chemists for her contributions to the art and science of cosmetics in 2017. In 2019, she was the inaugural recipient of the Florence Wall Award from the Society of Cosmetics Chemists. She has been the principal investigator on over 750 studies and the primary investigator for over 300. She has worked with pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies from Aveda to Colgate to Pfizer. She has published 574 papers and delivered numerous presentations, and she is a member of the Sigma Xi research honorary and the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honorary. Zoe earned both a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering (1979) and a medical doctorate from the University of Arizona (1983), before doing her internship in internal medicine and residency in dermatology here as well. As an undergraduate, she was selected as a Rhodes Scholar, an honor that foreshadowed her remarkable career achievements.

Marco Quarta, PhD

Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer

Marco Quarta, PhD, he is the founding CEO and President of Rubedo that he led from 2018 to 2024.  He received his doctorate degree in Biotechnology from the University of Bologna and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Padua. He completed a post-doc in Aging and Stem cell Biology in the lab of Prof. Thomas Rando at Stanford University. He continued his work at Stanford directing a research team at the Center for Tissue Regeneration, Repair, and Restoration at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto, CA. While there, he established a translational program in regenerative medicine. He has over 35 publications and patents in the field of aging, stem cells, regenerative medicine, and rejuvenation.Marco also co-founded Wetware Concepts, YEBN, and Turn Biotechnology and served as an executive board member of the European Federation of Biotechnologies. He currently sits on the advisory board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Calpoly Bridge program, and the advisory board at the Center for Healthcare Innovation. Marco is a member of the Paul F Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging Studies at Stanford University, one of the most prestigious institutions supporting the science of aging. He is President and co-founder of the scientific organization Phaedon Institute, focused on Longevity Medicine.