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. 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 held positions at Fluorochem, Inc., Union Carbide, and J&J (IOLAB Corp. and Noramco) prior to creation of CB Research and Development (1991-2004) and Beard Research.

CB Research and Development, Inc. (1991) and Adesis (2005) were created to fill needs in contract research environment. Throughout this period, the Catalog of Heterocyclic Intermediates initiative was established as a business component.

Dr. Beard has significant expertise in managing and transitioning research projects through GMP scale-up, including process development. Notable project highlights (1971-1991), material science and pharmaceutical based, include:

• Discovery: Four compounds were commercialized in Medical Devices and Electronics.
• Scale Up/process Development: Approximately 20 processes were developed and scaled up to the pilot plant/semi works; most were med chem products by cGMP and were demonstrated to be robust. This included purification of high value compounds at production scale through a combination of distillation and crystallization.

Additional details below:

At Fluorochem, Inc., he conducted research on new energetic materials (aliphatic triflates and perchlorates) sponsored by the Office of Naval Research.

At Union Carbide and Hughes Aircraft, he conducted research and production on carboranes (propellant for the Viper Missile) and very high temperature carborane-siloxane polymers, which were extremely air sensitive. For manufacturing purposes, constant flow processes were developed. The Ultra High Molecular weight carborane-siloxane polymer was a candidate adhesive for attachment of solar cells and heat-reflecting tiles on the space shuttle.

While at Hughes, a new diamine monomer was invented with functionality that could withstand episodic high temperatures. This became the basis of Hughes “colorless polyimides” for electronic applications, with low metallic content, that became a key component of several advanced electronic devices. During the course of this research, Dr. Beard was the first to demonstrate industrial scale up of the Sonogashira reaction in 1980.

-- Johnson & Johnson (IOLAB Corporation) worked on ophthalmology applications, primarily polymerizable UV absorbers for attachment to intraocular lenses (IOLs). Several polymerizable benzotriazaole UV absorbers were identified and rigorous production methods developed at the Noramco cGMP facility in Wilmington, DE. These compounds are currently utilized in a variety of IOLs and have been implanted in millions of humans.

Dr. Beard was also instrumental for the optimized production of the glycolide monomer for absorbable sutures for the Ethicon franchise.

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.

Dr. Yarger received his PhD in Organic Chemistry from Syracuse University, where he studied insect pheromone chemistry with Prof. Robert M. Silverstein, and later conducted post-doctoral studies in mammalian pheromone chemistry with Prof. Amos B. Smith at the Monell Chemical Senses Center (Philadelphia).

Dr. Yarger has held positions of increasing business responsibilities at deCODE chemistry & biostructures, most recently serving as Director of Business Development, where he grew its drug discovery and preclinical contract research business from 1999-2009. Dr. Yarger also conducted research and development activities for novel dipeptide sweeteners and taste modifiers with General Foods and created low calorie lipid substitutes at Nabisco, Inc.

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.