Jay Knowles joined Mass General Brigham Ventures in 2014 as a Partner. Previously, Jay was Chief Executive Officer of X-BODY Biosciences, which was acquired by Juno Therapeutics.  Prior to X-BODY, he was at Novartis in charge of the Platforms team for Strategic Alliances, responsible for global technology and drug discovery collaborations. Jay was also President of Novalar Pharmaceuticals, Vice President of Business Development at Novacea, and Director, R&D Planning at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. He represents Mass General Brigham Ventures on the boards of Apres Therapeutics, Keros Therapeutics, SwanBio Therapeutics, and Triplet Therapeutics. Jay earned his M.B.A in Finance from Wharton Business School, an M.Sc. in Chemistry from UC Berkeley, and a B.A. with Distinction in Chemistry from Carleton College.

Jason P. Hafler is the Managing Director of Sanofi Ventures. Prior to joining Sanofi in 2014, Jason was the Director of Corporate Development at RaNA Therapeutics, a company co-founded by his previous firm Atlas Venture. While at Atlas, Jason was an Associate in the Life Sciences group. Previously, he was a Flagship Ventures Entrepreneurial Fellow, and consulted for the technology transfer company at the University of Cambridge while performing his doctoral research. Before his time at Cambridge, Jason was an analyst at JSB Partners LP, an investment banking firm.  Jason’s active investments include Abcuro, Amathus Therapeutics, Escient Pharmaceuticals, Expansion Therapeutics, Glycomine, Q32 Bio, ReCode Therapeutics, Rome Therapeutics and Navitor Pharmaceuticals. Jason graduated with honors from Bowdoin College and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.

Iyona Rajkomar joined Pontifax as a Partner in February 2019. She spent the previous four years at Advent Life Sciences where she founded and served on the board member of several of their early-stage companies. She was previously an equity research analyst and also worked in strategy consulting. At Pontifax, Iyona is responsible for generating deal flow, diligence and transactional work across both the equity and venture debt funds. In addition to Abcuro, Iyona is a director on the boards of ARMGO, Antios, and is an observer on the board of StrideBio and Amolyt. Iyona qualified as a medical doctor with Honors from St George’s Hospital Medical School and holds the CFA Charter.

Mike Dybbs is a Partner at Samsara BioCapital, where he invests across all stages of the life science sector from seed stage to public equities. He currently serves on the board of several Samsara portfolio companies, including Enara Bio, IONpath, Levo Therapeutics, Nkarta Therapeutics and Sutro Biopharma. Prior to Samsara, Mike was a Partner at New Leaf Venture Partners. He has served on the boards of Versartis, Dimension Therapeutics, Advanced Cell Diagnostics, (acquired by Bio-Techne) and Principia Biopharma. Before joining New Leaf, Mike was a Principal at the Boston Consulting Group, where he was a core member of their health care practice. Mike received an A.B. in biochemical sciences from Harvard and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from UC Berkeley, where he was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellowship.

Ms. Deptula-Hicks currently serves as F-star’s Chief Financial Officer. In addition, Darlene has operated Crimson Advisors, a strategic and financial consulting services company, and has served as acting Chief Financial Officer for Northern Biologics as well Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of T2 Biosystems. Previously she was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Pieris Pharmaceuticals and Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Microline Surgical.  Darlene currently also serves on the board of directors and as audit committee chair of Aerami Therapeutics and previously served on the board of directors and as audit committee chair of Giner Life Sciences, Xentic Biosciences, and IMCOR Pharmaceuticals. Darlene received an M.B.A. from Rivier University and a B.S in Accounting from Southern New Hampshire University.

Dietmar Berger is currently the Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Development at Sanofi, where he oversees the clinical portfolio of Sanofi across all therapeutic areas. With over 20 years of experience in leadership positions across both large pharmaceutical companies as well as innovative biotech companies, Dr. Berger brings extensive expertise in clinical development and advancing programs all the way to market approval to Abcuro. As a trained hematologist and oncologist, Dr. Berger  has extensive experience in therapeutic areas of high relevance to Abcuro’s programs. Prior to Sanofi, he was Global Head of R&D at Atara Biotherapeutics, an off-the-shelf cell therapy company. Previously he held senior positions in clinical development at Amgen, Bayer and Genentech where he served as the Senior Vice President of Global Clinical Development, Hematology/Oncology. Dr. Berger holds an M.D. and Ph.D. from the Albert-Ludwigs University School of Medicine in Freiburg, Germany, where he still maintains an adjunct faculty position.

Yajun Xu is currently president of Hongsen Investment Group. She also serves as Senior Advisor for Shangbay Capital, co-founder of Epimab, and board member and advisor on numerous biotech companies in U.S. and China. Previously, she was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Shangpharma, Executive Vice President of Biology and Pre-Clinical Service at Chempartner in Shanghai, China. Prior to Joining Shangpharma, Yajun was Director of Inflammation at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Senior Scientist at BASF Bioresearch (now AbbVie Bioresearch). She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Brandeis University and postdoctoral training at Harvard School of Public Health.