About Us

Paul Billings, MD, PhD, FACP, FACMG is the Chief Medical Officer at Life Technologies and is a highly regarded expert in genomics and molecular medicine. Previously, Dr. Billings served as CEO of CELLective DX and on the Board of Directors at Signature Genomic Laboratories. In addition, Dr. Billings was previously the Vice President of Biotechnology and Healthcare Strategy at LabCorp. Dr. Billings is an internationally recognized authority on genetic testing and diagnostics and has published more than 130 scholarly articles. His expertise has been called upon in testimony before the United States Congress on human genetics ethics issues. Prior to joining LabCorp, Dr. Billings was a Vice President for Life Sciences and Clinical Affairs for WIPRO, Ltd. He was also the co-founder of Genesage, Inc and Editor-in-Chief of GeneLetter.

Ralph Dewey, Ph.D. is a Professor of Crop Science at North Carolina State University. Dr. Dewey is an expert in the field of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Molecular Biology and has been extensively published in this focus area. In addition, Dr. Dewey holds several patents concerning plant genetics and plant transformations. Dr. Dewey received his graduate training in Plant Molecular Biology at North Carolina State University with Dr. C. S. Levings III and Dr. David Timothy as his mentors. Funded by an NSF postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Dewey received additional experience at the Waksman Institute, Rutgers University under the direction of Dr. Daniel F. Klessig.

June Medford, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biology in the Department of Biology at Colorado State University. Dr. Medford has received numerous recognitions for her work in the advancement of plant biology and is regularly asked to present her findings at seminars nationally. In addition, Dr. Medford holds several issued and pending patents for her discoveries in gene expression in plants. Dr. Medford earned a B.S. in Botany from the University of Maryland and a Ph.D. in Biology from Yale University.

Jon Stonehouse is the President and Chief Executive Officer of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, a leader in the use of crystallography and structure-based drug design for the development of novel therapeutics to treat cancer, autoimmune diseases and viral infections. Previously, Mr. Stonehouse served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Merck KGaA with responsibility for global licensing and business development, corporate mergers and acquisitions, corporate strategic planning and alliance management. Among his accomplishments, he was responsible for leading the effort to develop a strategy for Merck that significantly changed the company. This culminated with the acquisition of Serono, S.A., the largest biotechnology company in Europe at the time of the agreement.

Scott Uknes, Ph.D. is the Director of Business Planning, M&A at Bayer CropScience. Prior to his work at Bayer, Dr. Uknes was the Vice President of Business Development at Athenix, which was acquired by Bayer CropScience for $400M in 2009. Prior to Athenix, Dr. Uknes was the President of CropSolution, a venture-backed agbio company. Dr. Uknes was a co- founder and Vice-President of Business Strategy at Paradigm Genetics. Prior to Paradigm Genetics, he managed the scientific effort aimed at understanding the mode-of-action of “plant activators” at Novartis. Dr. Uknes has authored more than 40 scholarly works, is an inventor on more than 20 patents, helped negotiate $200 million in R and D deals and has helped raise more than $70 million in public and private equity capital.

Esmail Zirakparvar, Ph.D. was previously the President & CEO of Bayer CropScience LP, USA plus Head of Region Americas (Canada and all countries of Mid and South Americas). Previously, as Board member and COO of Bayer CropScience AG, Dr. Zirakparvar played a key role in the formation of Bayer CropScience following the merger of the agricultural businesses of Aventis and Bayer in 2004. Dr. Zirakparvar is a Scientist by education, (Postdoctoral, Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Plant Pathology) and has extensive leadership experiences in General Business Administration, New Business Development, Regulatory Affairs, New Product and Project Management. During his 25 year career in the agricultural industry, Dr. Zirakparvar led and managed agro businesses for Union Carbide, Rhone-Poulenc Agro, Aventis CropScience, and Bayer CropScience in North and South Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific countries.

Our Mission

is to utilize our revolutionary DNE nucleases to become the world leader in the field of Genomic Molecular Biology.

Our Vision

is to energize the field of Genomic Molecular Biology with our rational protein design principles and ethical business practices, which provide our partners, customers, and patients with unprecedented scientific and human benefits.