Unchained Labs | Life Sciences Tools

Vision

Build the first Biologics tools pure play.

Path

Acquire right. Invest like crazy. Create something UNbelievable.

People

The right group of people can accomplish anything.

Products

Biologics are a pain. That’s why we uncaged the right tools for the job. Ones that make a big-time difference in figuring them out. Products that characterize even the most unruly molecules and totally crank up your research.

Events

CONFERENCES & WORKSHOPS

PepTalk

Jan 20-24, San Diego, CA. Booth 407. Register.

SLAS

Jan 25-29, San Diego, CA. Booth 637. Register.

OPRD

Mar 9-11, Clearwater, FL. Register.

ISBER

Apr 14-18, Anaheim, CA. Booth 306. Register.

Formulation & Drug Delivery Congress UK

Apr 22-23, London, UK. Booth 15. Register.

American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

Apr 24-29, San Diego, CA. Booth 740. Register.

Protein & Antibodies Congress

Apr 27-29, London, UK. Booth 42. Register.

PEGS Boston

May 4-8, Boston, MA. Booth 319. Register.

American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT)

May 12-15, Boston, MA. Booth 1309. Register.

ESHG

Jun 6-9, Berlin, Germany. Booth 650. Register.

ACS National Meeting Fall

Aug 16-20, San Francisco, CA. Booth 1217. Register.

Bioprocessing Summit

Aug 24-27, Boston, MA. Booth 200. Register.

AAPS

Oct 25-28, New Orleans, LA. Booth 1847. Register.

ASHG

Oct 27-31, San Diego, CA. Booth 1011. Register.

PEGS Europe

Nov 9-13, Lisbon, Portugal. Booth 213. Register.

UPCOMING WEBINARS

CHI Webinar: Thermal unfolding and aggregation analysis of lead antibodies and variants derived from synthetic antibody libraries

Feb 11, 2020 Register.

PAST WEBINARS

Demand more: fast and accurate DNA quantification with Lunatic

Nov 19, 2019 Watch recording.

American Pharmaceutical Review Webinar: Dodge the particle panic: Visible and subvisible ID made easy with Raman spectroscopy and LIBS

Sep 26, 2019 Watch recording.

Tech Networks Webinar: Raise the bar for protein analysis with the newest and best tools on Uncle

Aug 27, 2019 Watch recording.

Select Science Webinar: Identifying the unknown: Easily ID particles in drug formulations

Aug 22, 2019 Watch recording.

News

Jul 30, 2019

Unchained Labs keeps on bringing it with Uncle 4.0! Read more.

Unchained Labs keeps on bringing it with Uncle 4.0!

July 30, 2019 – Pleasanton, CA – Unchained Labs, the life sciences company that’s all about getting biologics researchers the right tool for the job, rolled out its Uncle 4.0 software today. This release is chock-full of new data analysis tools and expands the biologics application space for Uncle, the undisputed all-in-one stability screening platform.

When developing a protein or formulation, aggregation is always a no-go. Right from the start, Uncle’s been giving researchers insight into the connection between protein unfolding and aggregation with its combo of fluorescence and static light scattering. Uncle 4.0 software helps them dig even deeper with a beefed-up dynamic light scattering application that grabs more data points during thermal ramps. The higher resolution that comes with it gives scientists a much closer look at aggregation events.

Uncle’s always delivered the complete protein stability story using full-spectrum fluorescence. The Uncle 4.0 update lets researchers choose exactly what part of the spectrum they want to analyze, so they can focus in on even subtle changes happening to their protein. Being able to dial up a specific wavelength band of interest gives them the option to work with many fluorescent dyes, making it possible to characterize membrane proteins and other tricky molecules.

“Uncle didn’t become the gold standard for assessing protein stability overnight,” said Taegen Clary, VP of Marketing at Unchained Labs. “We listen to our customers and their input is all over this software update. It’s packed with all kinds of analysis tools and capabilities that will let them score info they haven’t been able to before.”

About Unchained Labs

Here’s the deal. We’re all about helping biologics researchers break free from tools that just don’t cut it. Unleashing problem-tackling products that make a huge difference in the real science they do every day. That’s our mantra, our promise and we own it. We’re located in Pleasanton, CA and can be found online at www.unchainedlabs.com.

Contact:

Taegen Clary
VP of Marketing, Unchained Labs
taegen.clary@unchainedlabs.com
925.587.9806

Download PDF of press release.

Jul 16, 2019

Unchained Labs takes the panic out of particle ID, launches its new Hound! Read more.

Unchained Labs takes the panic out of particle ID, launches its new Hound!

July 16, 2019 – Pleasanton, CA – Unchained Labs, the life sciences company that’s all about getting biologics researchers the right tool for the job, launched the new Hound today. Hound is the only platform out there that combines a trifecta of lasers into a single instrument, cementing its status as the go-to platform for particle identification in quality control.

Nothing freaks out a drug manufacturer more than seeing mysterious particles floating in their product. Hound identifies the chemical fingerprints for a wide range of organics like fibers or protein aggregates using red and green Raman. For inorganic particles like glass and metal fragments, Hound brings in Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) to nail the ID based on the elemental makeup. Scientists can now rest easy knowing that Hound can get them out of any jam.

“Our new Hound builds on what was already an indispensable particle ID tool for our customers,” said Taegen Clary, VP of Marketing at Unchained Labs. “The hardware and software have been completely overhauled, making the platform super easy to use and the total package for particle identification.”

About Unchained Labs

Here’s the deal. We’re all about helping biologics researchers break free from tools that just don’t cut it. Unleashing problem-tackling products that make a huge difference in the real science they do every day. That’s our mantra, our promise and we own it. We’re located in Pleasanton, CA and can be found online at www.unchainedlabs.com.

Contact:

Taegen Clary
VP of Marketing, Unchained Labs
taegen.clary@unchainedlabs.com
925.587.9806

Download PDF of press release.

May 13, 2019

Unchained Labs gets teed up for the future, snags $50 million debt facility with Silicon Valley Bank Read more.

Unchained Labs gets teed up for the future, snags $50 million debt facility with Silicon Valley Bank

May 13, 2019 – Pleasanton, CA – Unchained Labs, the life sciences company that’s all about getting biologics researchers the right tool for the job, today announced it has closed a $50 million debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) to further support its working capital growth, along with adding dry powder for future acquisitions.

The agreement allows the company to retire its existing $18.5 million debt facility and complements the $86 million raised in equity over the last four years from Novo Ventures, Canaan Partners, TPG Biotech and Tri-Valley Ventures.

“We are thrilled to partner with Unchained Labs,” said Kristina Peralta, Vice President, Life Sciences at Silicon Valley Bank. “We are proud to support a team that is paving the way for better biologics research and therapeutic options.”

“We are fired up about the opportunity to work with SVB as we continue to scale our business around the globe,” said Jason Novi, Chief Financial Officer of Unchained Labs. “This financing supports our mission to build the largest biologics tools pure-play out there.”

About Unchained Labs

Here’s the deal. We’re all about helping biologics researchers break free from tools that just don’t cut it. Unleashing problem-tackling products that make a huge difference in the real science they do every day. That’s our mantra, our promise and we own it. We’re located in Pleasanton, CA and can be found online at www.unchainedlabs.com.

Contact:

Taegen Clary
VP of Marketing, Unchained Labs
taegen.clary@unchainedlabs.com
925.587.9806

Download PDF of press release.

Jan 15, 2019

Unchained Labs cuts the ribbon on new contract testing lab in North America! Read more.

Unchained Labs cuts the ribbon on new contract testing lab in North America!

January 15, 2019 – Pleasanton, CA – Unchained Labs, the life sciences company that’s all about getting biologics researchers the right tool for the job, opened the doors to its new contract testing lab today. The lab is located at the company’s headquarters in Pleasanton, California and provides identification of unwanted particles in drug products and quality assessment of the silicone layers on drug delivery devices.

Two Unchained Labs instruments are heavily used for contract testing. For visible particles, Hound determines the count, size, shape and identity with either Raman or LIBS spectroscopy. If clients have particles in the sub-visible range, the lab has the tools to hunt down those too. Bouncer is used to measure the silicone thickness and distribution on syringes, cartridges and vials.

All sample preparation and testing are handled by trained experts who deliver detailed reports that document the test plan, measurement parameters and results. Turnaround time for results can be as quick as 3 days.

“If someone has particle problems or wants to confirm that the right amount of silicone is on their device, we’ve got their back,” said Taegen Clary, VP of Marketing at Unchained Labs. “The new Pleasanton contract testing lab makes it easier for more customers in North America to take advantage of these services and expands capacity beyond our current test lab in Europe.”

About Unchained Labs

Here’s the deal. We’re all about helping biologics researchers break free from tools that just don’t cut it. Unleashing problem-tackling products that make a huge difference in the real science they do every day. That’s our mantra, our promise and we own it. We’re located in Pleasanton, CA and can be found online at www.unchainedlabs.com.

Contact:

Taegen Clary
VP of Marketing, Unchained Labs
taegen.clary@unchainedlabs.com
925.587.9806

Download PDF of press release.

Nov 5, 2018

Unchained Labs takes the chore out of buffer exchange, reels in the Big Tuna! Read more.

Unchained Labs takes the chore out of buffer exchange, reels in the Big Tuna!

November 5, 2018 – Pleasanton, CA – Unchained Labs, the life sciences company that’s all about getting biologics researchers the right tool for the job, launched Big Tuna today – the ultimate automated solution for buffer exchange – a mission-critical step in biologics formulation.

The buffer exchange process moves proteins from one solution into another and is used to find the best condition to keep them stable. It’s a major bottleneck and quality concern for protein characterization, development and formulation teams. Because the process needs lots of hands-on time and eyeballing to do it right, it’s one of the most annoying things researchers have to do.

Big Tuna solves all of this. It wipes the bottleneck by letting scientists automate buffer exchange at whatever throughput they want – just a few samples or up to 96 simultaneously. It nails quality using a unique pressure-based exchange process that lets scientists pick how slow or fast they want their protein to move between solutions. Final protein concentration is dead-on, cutting out extra steps usually required after manual buffer exchange. Big Tuna is also the only system that exchanges anywhere from 100 µL to 8 mL at a time, so it’s right at home in any stage – from early screening and optimization to final formulation development.

“Biologics researchers have bigger fish to fry than buffer exchange,” said Taegen Clary, VP of Marketing at Unchained Labs. “Big Tuna provides complete relief from one of their biggest pains in the neck. It eliminates the whole hands-on process and delivers better results to boot.”

About Unchained Labs

Here’s the deal. We’re all about helping biologics researchers break free from tools that just don’t cut it. Unleashing problem-tackling products that make a huge difference in the real science they do every day. That’s our mantra, our promise and we own it. We’re located in Pleasanton, CA and can be found online at www.unchainedlabs.com.

Contact:

Taegen Clary
VP of Marketing, Unchained Labs
taegen.clary@unchainedlabs.com
925.587.9806

Download PDF of press release.

Oct 8, 2018

Unchained Labs blows minds with biologic quant and quality mashup, launches Stunner! Read more.

Unchained Labs blows minds with biologic quant and quality mashup, launches Stunner!

October 8, 2018 – Pleasanton, CA – Unchained Labs, the life sciences company that’s all about getting biologics researchers the right tool for the job, launched Stunner today — the first instrument to combine protein concentration and size-based quality measurements under the same hood.

Every day, biologics researchers ask themselves two critical questions about their samples: How much protein do I have, and is it in good shape? To get the answers, they typically need to run experiments on multiple instruments, which eats up time and sample. Stunner gives them both in one shot by combining UV/Vis concentration and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) quality measurements from the same tiny sample.

Stunner gives scientists the best of two worlds — the dead-on UV/Vis accuracy Unchained Labs’ Lunatic is known for, and the company’s fresh take on DLS technology, which is super easy to use compared to other systems out there. With just 2 µL, Stunner bangs out concentration and quality measurements like hydrodynamic size, polydispersity and detection of aggregates in 1 minute. Researchers dealing with a full plate can knock out 96 samples in an hour. For heavy duty workflows, they can hook Stunner up to their favorite robot to add more zip.

“Biologics researchers have needed a solution like this forever, which makes Stunner a real head-turner,” said Taegen Clary, VP of Marketing at Unchained Labs. “Concentration is something they check constantly and DLS has been notoriously hard to use. Stunner makes it ridiculously easy to get these measurements at the same time on one system and literally makes DLS a push button activity.”

About Unchained Labs

Here’s the deal. We’re all about helping biologics researchers break free from tools that just don’t cut it. Unleashing problem-tackling products that make a huge difference in the real science they do every day. That’s our mantra, our promise and we own it. We’re located in Pleasanton, CA and can be found online at www.unchainedlabs.com.

Contact:

Taegen Clary
VP of Marketing, Unchained Labs
taegen.clary@unchainedlabs.com
925.587.9806

Download PDF of press release.

Aug 20, 2018

Unchained Labs just couldn’t take it anymore, frees the Big Kahuna! Read more.

Unchained Labs just couldn’t take it anymore, frees the Big Kahuna!

August 20, 2018 – Pleasanton, CA – Unchained Labs, the life sciences company that’s all about getting biologics researchers the right tool for the job, renamed its flagship workflow solution today. Freeslate is now the Big Kahuna.

“We really love this product and it deserved to be a part of the Unchained Labs family,” said Taegen Clary, VP of Marketing at Unchained Labs. “It’s always been the Big Kahuna to us and from here on out that’s what we’re going to call it.”

About Unchained Labs

Here’s the deal. We’re all about helping biologics researchers break free from tools that just don’t cut it. Unleashing problem-tackling products that make a huge difference in the real science they do every day. That’s our mantra, our promise and we own it. We’re located in Pleasanton, CA and can be found online at www.unchainedlabs.com.

Contact:

Taegen Clary
VP of Marketing, Unchained Labs
taegen.clary@unchainedlabs.com
925.587.9806

Download PDF of press release.

Apr 30, 2018

Unchained Labs brings in the muscle with Bouncer and releases the Hounds! Read more.

Unchained Labs brings in the muscle with Bouncer and releases the Hounds!

April 30, 2018 – Pleasanton, CA – Unchained Labs, the life sciences company that’s all about getting biologics researchers the right tool for the job, launched Hound and Bouncer today at the PEGS conference in Boston. The QC duo are the ultimate tools for getting biopharmaceutical manufacturers to particle-free biologics and trouble-free drug delivery devices faster.

Particles in a drug formulation throw a wrench into development and manufacturing. Hound uses Raman spectroscopy to fingerprint protein and organic particles. Metal, glass, and other inorganic particles get blasted by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) to identify their elemental makeup. In just minutes, researchers can fully ID unwanted particles, find their source and fix their process.

Silicone oil makes a drug injection smooth and easy. Too little and the device can get jammed up. Too much and silicone can ooze into the drug and may cause aggregation. Bouncer lets manufacturers measure the thickness of sprayed-on and baked-on silicone coatings using a combo of reflectometry and interferometry. Scientists can get a handle on their coatings in minutes and fine-tune their process accordingly for top-notch device performance.

“This tag team of QC tools for biologics labs has no equal”, said Taegen Clary, VP of Marketing at Unchained Labs. “Hound goes way beyond just finding particles – it forensically identifies them by what they’re made of. Bouncer helps dial in the silicone coating process, ensuring delivery devices work every time and are as safe as possible.”

About Unchained Labs

Here’s the deal. We’re all about helping biologics researchers break free from tools that just don’t cut it. Unleashing problem-tackling products that make a huge difference in the real science they do every day. That’s our mantra, our promise and we own it. We’re located in Pleasanton, CA and can be found online at www.unchainedlabs.com.

Contact:

Taegen Clary
VP of Marketing, Unchained Labs
taegen.clary@unchainedlabs.com
925.587.9806

Download PDF of press release.

Old News

Need more? Check out news from prior years.

Our Tribe

READ BIO

Tim Harkness

Founder and CEO

Tim Harkness, Founder and CEO

Building great teams and great life sciences companies is just in Tim’s DNA. He has 2 successful exits under his belt and brings 20+ years of life science leadership experience to the Unchained Labs table. As CEO of ProteinSimple, Tim and team built a unique protein analysis pure-play from scratch and sold it for $300M. Prior to that he helped build Molecular Devices into a diversified life science tools provider and sold it for over $600M. In his early career as a healthcare investment banker, Tim helped raise over $1B for life science companies in the public equity markets. He enjoys his work on corporate boards and has been part of 4 successful exits as an independent board member. He is a Founding Venture Partner at Tri-Valley Ventures, has an M.B.A. from Stanford and a B.B.A from the University of Wisconsin. Tim is married with 3 children, is out hacking around on the links or riding his bike whenever he can, and happily gets up at the crack of dawn to coach his son’s hockey and lacrosse teams.

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Jason Novi

CFO

Jason Novi, CFO

Jason leads the finance team for Unchained Labs, and is on the front line of fundraising, acquisitions and integrations. Prior to joining Unchained Labs, Jason was the CFO and VP of Operations at ProteinSimple, a part of Tim’s team that raised $60M, acquired four businesses and built a $60M+, profitable life sciences tools company over a six year period. That business was sold to Bio-Techne in July 2014 for $300M. Prior to joining ProteinSimple, Jason was VP of Finance at Nektar Therapeutics. Earlier in his career, he spent nearly seven years in various senior financial leadership roles at Molecular Devices, responsible for the worldwide accounting, finance and treasury functions, and Jason played a key role in the execution and integration of its corporate development activities. He began his career with Ernst & Young, based in San Francisco, California, holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and is a CPA (inactive). Jason and his wife Erin have two kids, and when he isn’t coaching their softball and baseball teams, you can find him hacking away on the golf course or cheering on the SF Giants and 49ers.

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Will Lachnit

VP Corporate Dev

Will Lachnit, VP Corporate Dev

Will’s been around the Life Sciences block a time or two, and can’t get enough when it comes to making companies thrive. He has over 25 years of experience in the life sciences industry across multiple functions. Prior to joining Unchained Labs, Will was the Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Solutions Development at Freeslate. Prior to Freeslate, he was the Vice President of Sales and Service for ProteinSimple. While there, his other roles included leadership of the marketing and applications functions and he played a key role in integrating 4 acquisitions. Previously, at Molecular Devices Corporation, Will had leadership roles for the North American Drug Discovery sales organization, an entrepreneurial product development organization in Switzerland, and Corporate Development. Dr. Lachnit started his career in Pharmaceutical R&D in scientific and research management positions at Roche and Syntex, including running a best-in-class HTS organization. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Pharmacology and his B.S. in Physiology from the University of California, Davis. Will has a passion for cooking for his family and loves tinkering around in his woodshop.

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Krista Witte

VP Product Dev

Krista Witte, VP Product Dev

Krista loves building assays and analytical tools to do great science. She has over 15 years of experience in life sciences instrumentation and application development. Prior to joining Unchained Labs, Krista was a founding team member of ForteBio, now Pall ForteBio. In her decade at the company, she held many roles including heading up Applications, Assay Development, System Integration, QC and R&D. She saw the company from angel-funded start-up to a leading provider of label-free instrumentation. Prior to ForteBio, Krista headed up the Applications team at Zyomyx, taking a lead role in developing their protein microarray technology. Krista holds a Ph.D. in Carbohydrate Chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute and a B.S. in Chemistry from Texas A&M (Gig ‘em Aggies!). When not doing science, Krista is obsessed with being around the water and can be found swimming, diving or sailing.

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Taegen Clary

VP Marketing

Taegen Clary, VP Marketing

Taegen loves marketing life science tools. He has over 15 years of experience using and marketing enabling life science instrumentation and consumables. As the Director of Pharmaceutical Segment Marketing at Agilent Technologies, he led the marketing organization focused on the company’s largest customer segment, which has experienced consistent, above-market growth rates and 2014 sales revenues of $1B. Over his 7 years at Agilent, Taegen was the Product Manager for Proteomics and Protein Chemistries and also led the Life Science group’s efforts in the area of protein therapeutics. He began his career at Berlex Biosciences, now a part of Bayer Healthcare, running mass spectrometers and developing assays to measure drug passage across the blood brain barrier. Taegen has an M.B.A. in Marketing from St. Mary’s College of California and a B.S. in Biotechnology from the University of California, Davis. Taegen is married with two children, loves mountain biking, camping, fishing, golfing and is huge fan of the San Francisco Giants and 49ers.

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Dustin Giberson

VP Operations

Dustin Giberson, VP Operations

Dustin lives to build great products, solve tough problems and help make customers successful. He started his career applying automation to advance life science research and then never looked back. He leads the Operations and Global Service & Support organizations including Manufacturing, Tech Support, Field Service, and Contract Testing teams that delivers products to customers and helps them get the most out of their automation and analytics tools. Prior to Unchained Labs, Dustin was head of Operations at Freeslate providing workflow automation tools to biologics, chemicals, and energy researchers. Before that he held leadership positions at Affymetrix and Beckman Coulter developing commercial, high throughput automation systems and assays. Dustin has a B.S. in Biology from the University of Vermont, a Master of Software Engineering from Brandeis University, and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Apart from work, Dustin enjoys traveling, cooking, and being outdoors with his wife and 3 kids and when he’s not doing that you can probably find him at the gym pumping iron while listening to heavy metal.

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Steve Cypes

VP Workflow Sales

Steve Cypes, VP Workflow Sales

Steve’s all about building commercial teams that get disruptive technologies into the hands of scientists. He started his career at Merck and has been passionate about getting to the bottom of life science R&D challenges ever since. He leads the global Workflow and QC sales team, collaborating with customers to leverage Unchained Labs’ automated instrumentation and know-how to tackle their biggest development problems. Prior to Unchained Labs, Steve was the VP of Sales for automated workflows at Freeslate, with a focus on biologics and small molecule applications. Before that, Steve held a number of positions at Symyx Technologies, including leadership roles in engineering, product management, contract testing and sales. Steve has a B.S. and M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University, and an MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell. He loves being active outdoors with his wife and 2 kids, playing golf, hiking, running and helps coach youth lacrosse on the side.

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Todd Lewis

VP Analytical Sales

Todd Lewis, VP Analytical Sales

Todd can’t wait to dig in and help scientists find ways to hit their research goals. He’s got 20 years under his belt in both direct sales and managing sales teams in the life science instrument space. At Unchained Labs, Todd leads the global Analytical sales team, focusing on bringing tools to researchers in the biologics drug discovery and development arena. Prior to Unchained Labs, Todd was the Director of Sales for North America at MilliporeSigma, where he led the largest-revenue market. Before that, he honed his commercial expertise at companies like BD, PerkinElmer and Guava Technologies. Todd has a B.S. in Biological Sciences from North Carolina State University. In his free time, Todd’s typically on either the soccer field or the volleyball court, and loves traveling with his wife and kids.

jobs

Unchained people get amazing amounts of work done, focus on what matters and never give up. They thrive on mind-blowing results and make decisions with incomplete information on a daily basis. They’re team players that always know it’s all about we, not I.

We move fast and expect a lot. So if you’re not down with the unknown, making mistakes and feeling accountable, stop reading. But if a fast pace, autonomy, flexibility and real responsibility float your boat, just hit the button and send your resume on in. We’re hiring for the following positions:

Admin

No positions are currently available.

Service

No positions are currently available.

Product Development

No positions are currently available.

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Board

READ BIO

Tim Harkness

Founder and CEO, Unchained Labs

Tim Harkness, Founder and CEO, Unchained Labs

Building great teams and great life sciences companies is just in Tim’s DNA. He has 2 successful exits under his belt and brings 20+ years of life science leadership experience to the Unchained Labs table. As CEO of ProteinSimple, Tim and team built a unique protein analysis pure-play from scratch and sold it for $300M. Prior to that he helped build Molecular Devices into a diversified life science tools provider and sold it for over $600M. In his early career as a healthcare investment banker, Tim helped raise over $1B for life science companies in the public equity markets. He enjoys his work on corporate boards and has been part of 4 successful exits as an independent board member. He is a Founding Venture Partner at Tri-Valley Ventures, has an M.B.A. from Stanford and a B.B.A from the University of Wisconsin. Tim is married with 3 children, is out hacking around on the links or riding his bike whenever he can, and happily gets up at the crack of dawn to coach his son’s hockey and lacrosse teams.

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Brent Ahrens

General Partner, TMIVCITW, Caanan Partners

Brent Ahrens, General Partner, TMIVCITW, Caanan Partners

His term sheets make the NY Times best seller list. His patents file themselves. Other venture capital-ists go through his trash can looking for business plans. He is…The Most Interesting Venture Capitalist in the World.

Brent Ahrens joined Canaan in 1999 as a member of the Kauffman Fellows Program. A raconteur ex-traordinaire, in his work hours, Brent focuses on healthcare investments and has led investments in life sciences companies such as DexCom (DXCM), Revivant (acquired by ZOLL), Peninsula Pharmaceuti-cals (acquired by JNJ), Cerexa (acquired by FRX), Calixa (acquired by CBST), Durata Therapeutics (DRTX), and Elevation Pharmaceuticals (acquired by DNPUF).

Brent serves on the board of Durata Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company pursuing late-stage clinical development of novel antibiotic programs. He is also on the boards of EndoGastric Solutions, the leading company offering medical devices for treatment of reflux disease; Minimally Invasive De-vices, a developer of a franchise of products that substantially improve visualization during laparoscop-ic surgery; Relievant MedSystems, a maker of minimally invasive devices to relieve chronic back pain; Semnur, a developer of pain managements solutions; and Spinifex, a biotech company developing new treatments for chronic pain.

Prior to joining Canaan, Brent worked in both commercial and technical roles at General Surgical Inno-vations, Ethicon Endo-Surgery (J&J), and IAP Research. He also has several surgical instrument patents to his credit.

Brent earned an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College after graduating with a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dayton.

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Scott Beardsley

Senior Partner, Novo Ventures

Scott Beardsley, Senior Partner, Novo Ventures

Scott is employed as a Senior Partner at Novo Ventures (US), Inc., which provides financial investment consultancy services to Novo A/S. Prior to joining the Novo Ventures team in 2012, Scott was employed from 2009 through 2012 as a Senior Partner with Novo A/S’ Growth Equity team. Before joining Novo, Scott was an investment banker for 20 years in various capacities. Most recently, Scott was a Managing Director at JP Morgan in San Francisco, where he led the firm’s West Coast biopharmaceuticals effort. Before that, Scott led Piper Jaffray’s US biopharmaceuticals investment banking practice, was a banker in the Health Care Group at Montgomery Securities and a junior banker at Kidder, Peabody. Scott currently is a member of the board of directors of Inogen and served on the board of directors of Aerocrine AB, both publicly-traded medical technology companies. Scott received his Masters of Business Administration from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA and his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Colorado State University.

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Heather Preston, MD

Managing Partner, Pivotal BioVentures

Heather Preston, MD, Managing Partner, Pivotal BioVentures

Prior to joining Pivotal BioVentures in July 2018, Dr. Preston was a Firm Partner and Managing Director with TPG Biotech for 13 years, where she invested in tools, biotech platform technologies and biopharmaceutical products across all stages of development and commercialization. Prior to TPG, she invested with JP Morgan Partners and New Enterprise Associates. Dr Preston also spent five years at McKinsey & Co. in New York, where she was a leader of their pharmaceutical and medical products consulting practice. She advised large pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies on critical strategic issues such as R&D portfolio prioritization, M&A opportunities, new technology acquisitions, new product launches and product growth strategies. Dr. Preston has an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of London and a medical degree from the University of Oxford. Dr. Preston completed a post-doctoral fellowship in molecular biology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University and trained in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and subspecialized in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at UCSF. During her academic medical career, she was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, a Fulbright Cancer Research Scholarship, a Har-lech Scholarship and a Science and Engineering Research Council Post-doctoral Fellowship Award.

Dr. Preston co-founded Virobay Inc., a biotechnology company which is seeking to develop new therapies for the treatment of pain and auto-immune diseases. Dr. Preston currently serves on the board of directors of Oxford Biomedica (OXB); Alder BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. [ALDR]; Otonomy, Inc. [OTIC]; Avalyn Therapeutics, Azura Opthalmics and Unchained Labs. She previously served on the boards of Aptalis Pharma (acquired by Forest Labs in February 2014), Albireo (ALBO) and Elevation Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Sunovion in September 2012) and is responsible for overseeing TPG Biotech’s investment in Par Pharmaceuticals.

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Max Carnecchia

CEO, Illuminate Education

Max Carnecchia, CEO, Illuminate Education

Max Carnecchia was the Chief Executive Officer of Illuminate Education, which creates cloud delivered tools for educators that promote student success. Over 7 million K-12 students benefit from the Illuminate Education solutions. Illuminate Education is an Insight Venture Partners portfolio company.

Before joining Illuminate Education, Max was the Chief Executive Officer of BIOVIA-Dassault Systèmes. After acquiring Accelrys in 2014, Dassault Systèmes announced the creation of the BIOVIA brand combining Dassault Systèmes’ own efforts in BioIntelligence, their collaborative 3D EXPERIENCE technologies and leading life sciences and materials science solutions from Accelrys. Prior to this, Mr. Carnecchia had served as President and CEO of Accelrys and as a member of the Board of Directors since 2009. Mr. Carnecchia led Accelrys through significant growth and transformation, successfully transitioning the company to the leading global provider of Scientific Product Lifecycle Management software and services.

Prior to Accelrys, Mr. Carnecchia served as President of Interwoven, a global leader in content management solutions, having previously served as Vice President of Alliances and Senior Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations after joining Interwoven in 2001. Prior to this, Mr. Carnecchia served as Vice President of Global Sales for Xoriant; Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations for Smart DB Corporation sales; and he held management positions at Intel and Group 1 Software.

Mr. Carnecchia holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from The Stevens Institute of Technology. He served on the Board of Directors of Guidance Software (NASDAQ: GUID), which develops and provides software solutions for cyber security. He also served on the Board of Directors of ALDA (Analytical Life Science & Diagnostics Association), an industry trade association for companies that develop and supply life science, analytical and diagnostics products and services.