Dr. Lee received his BA and M.S.-Ph.D. from the Ohio State University and University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, respectively, and held postdoctoral fellowships at U. Illinois and Harvard University (NIH). He has held leadership and technical positions at Lederle Laboratories (Cyanamid), Microcide Pharmaceuticals, Iconix Pharmaceuticals (Iconix Biosciences), Anacor Pharmaceuticals and CB Research and Development.

For most of his career, Dr. Lee has conducted multi-disciplinary programs with significant research components in discovery and preclinical technology. From 2002 to 2004, Dr. Lee was Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President, Discovery Research at Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he directed research on boron-based therapeutics with support from a $22.6M Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract. At Microcide, Dr. Lee held various positions including Vice President, Chemistry and Pre-clinical Research; Research Operations and Technology Assessment; and Senior Research Advisor responsible for research in beta-lactams for problematic gram-positive pathogens, uridyl-peptide antibiotics for problematic gram-negative pathogens, and inhibitors of bacterial efflux pumps. While at Lederle, he was responsible for the discovery of new anti-infectives, including the glycylcyclines, carbapenems, enhanced third-generation cephalosporins, beta-lactamase inhibitors, and new oncology agents.

Thematically, Dr. Lee’s research has encompassed i) eukaryotic systems biology considerations in the design of new molecular entities against prokaryotes based on natural product scaffolds, ii) understanding the function of eukaryotic transporters in drug deposition and metabolism, and iii) prokaryotic resistance factors. On the chemistry side, he has exploited i) the subtle reactivity found with certain natural products and ii) novel heterocycles with newer synthetic methods to create new molecular entities. This is exemplified by the incorporation of biological and metabolic considerations in the design of building blocks in the Adesis Catalog of Heterocyclic Intermediates initiative.

Dr. Lee is also advisor for several private and public biotech companies, venture capital firms and co-founder of another biotech firm. He also serves on several National Institutes of Health study sections.

Dr. Cottone began his career in chemistry with CB Research and Development. This work focused on early stage process development and scale-up chemistry for the CB Catalog of Advanced Intermediates. Dr. Cottone then became one of the founders of Adesis, Inc. He holds an undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Biochemistry from LaSalle University, and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Florida, with a post-doctoral experience at the University of Delaware. His doctoral research experience on substrate-metal complex interactions has provided insights into new reactions for preparative scale functionalization of azoles. He is the Vice-President of Chemistry for Adesis. Dr. Cottone has been a member of the Board of Directors for the Delaware Bioscience Association since 2007.

Ms. Baylis-Powell has over 25 years of fiscal and contract management experience in the private and municipal sectors. She joined CB Research and Development, Inc. 2001 and Adesis, Inc. in 2005. Ms. Baylis-Powell is responsible for the areas of contract management, finance, and operations. Her first career position was in a chemical manufacturer as a quality control chemist, supervising a 24 hour laboratory. Ms. Baylis-Powell holds a Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Maryland.

Mr. Beard joined CB Research and Development in 2004 working as a synthetic organic chemist within the catalog group. His primary roles at Adesis include new business development, marketing, and contract negotiation. He received a dual degree from the University of Richmond in Chemistry and Modern French Language; and in 2008 received his MBA from Babson College with the focus on entrepreneurial business.

Dr. Hay received his BA (Chemistry & Math) and MS (Chemistry) from Murray State University, his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, and carried out post-doctoral research at Virginia Tech. He held both technical and managerial positions at DuPont Crop Protection for 27 years. At DuPont Dr. Hay co-managed the massive sulfonylurea herbicide discovery effort. The sulfonylurea herbicides exhibited unprecedented levels of field activity, as low as 1 g per hectare. Sulfonylurea herbicides products have been discovered for use in all the major food crops. Dr. Hay is the inventor or co-inventor of 25 US patents covering fungicides, herbicides and insecticides. Dr. Hay joined Adesis in 2001 where he has held positions of increasing responsibilities providing technical leadership in discovery and process research projects.

Dr. Chiarello received his BS and Ph.D. from the College of New Jersey and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively.  He has held positions of technical and managerial responsibilities, in animal husbandry drug discovery and selective agricultural growth regulants, as well as insect control agents at American Cyanamid, Fort Dodge Animal Health (Wyeth) and FMC.  Dr. Chiarello joined Adesis in 2006 and has held positions of increasing responsibilities including multi-project leadership in process and discovery projects.

It is with regret that we announce the death of Charles D. Beard, who passed away on April 6, 2012. Charles 'Chuck' Beard was a visionary and pioneer in creating CB Research and Development, Inc. (CBRD, 1991), which provided contract chemistry services for biomaterials and pharmaceutical research and development. This was a decade before the age of strategic research outsourcing was in vogue. In 2005, CBRD was transformed into Adesis, which offered expanded research services to various private and governmental research organizations in the life sciences.

Dr. Beard received his BS and Ph.D. from the University of Richmond and University of Pennsylvania, respectively, and held postdoctoral fellowships at Ohio State University and the University of California Medical Center at San Francisco. He subsequently held positions of increasing responsibility at Fluorochem, Inc., Union Carbide, Hughes Aircraft, and J&J, prior to the creation of CB Research and Development and later Adesis, Inc.

Dr. Beard pioneered the translation of academic chemical research into high-value commercialization, especially in the realm of materials and biomaterials research for medical applications and the defense industry. Some of his early advances, for space applications, included new energetic materials for propellants, inorganic polymers for high-temperature aviation applications, and monomers for electronic applications.

At Johnson & Johnson, he worked on specialized monomers for ophthalmology applications of UV-protective intraocular lenses (IOLs) and absorbable sutures. These items are used by millions of patients, with significant improvements in their quality of life.

His entrepreneurial spirit went beyond traditional chemistry pursuits, as demonstrated by the creation of the Catalog of Advanced Heterocyclic Intermediates in 1999. This initiative arose from his recognition that there were unmet needs in orthogonally-functionalized azoles for research.

The Adesis community and clients will miss Chuck's laser-like attention to technical details and experimentation. His strong moral principles, entrepreneurship, and work ethic will continue into the future as hallmarks of Adesis.