SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pendulum Therapeutics, an evidence-based microbiome company, announced today the formation of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and Medical Advisory Board (MAB). The two boards comprise experts in metabolic disease, computational biology, genetics and microbiology who are faculty members at world-leading medical institutions.
Pendulum Therapeutics is the first and only microbiome company to apply the discoveries of high-resolution, long-read DNA sequencing to the development and commercialization of microbiome interventions targeting specific diseases. Advisory board members are working closely with Pendulum’s leadership team as the company seeks to apply genomic discoveries to the continued development of microbiome interventions.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have these world-class experts support our work by providing ongoing guidance to our scientific and medical strategy and tactics,” said Colleen Cutcliffe, co-founder and CEO. “Together, we have created the first microbiome intervention for type 2 diabetes with both scientific and medical data. We are excited to work with our advisors, both collectively and individually, to further our mission of making millions of lives healthier through microbiome-targeted medical probiotics.”
“I’ve long believed that the next major medical breakthroughs would come from analyzing and deciphering the complex world of the microbiome through rigorous excellent DNA science,” said Eric Schadt, dean for Precision Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and founder and CEO of Sema4. “Pendulum Therapeutics has built a microbiome discovery and development platform that stands at the center of this new field of medical innovation and is poised to revolutionize how we address chronic diseases through paradigm-shifting medical innovations.”
Pendulum’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB):
- Christopher E. Mason, PhD, is an associate professor of integrative functional genomics, clinical genetics and synthetic biology at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is a published expert on sequencing-based methods to generate cell-specific molecular maps of genetic, epigenetic and transcriptional activity to provide multidimensional molecular portraits of development and diseases.
- Eric Schadt, PhD, is the dean for Precision Medicine and Mount Sinai professor in predictive health and computational biology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. An expert on constructing predictive models of disease that link molecular biology to physiology to enable clinical medicine, he has published more than 350 peer-reviewed papers in leading scientific journals and contributed to discoveries relating to the genetic basis of common human diseases such as diabetes, obesity and Alzheimer’s disease. Over the past 20 years, he has built groups and companies (Merck, Rosetta, Sage Bionetworks, Pacific Biosciences, Icahn Institute and now Sema4) to elucidate the complexity of human diseases.
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Alfred Spormann, PhD, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, specializes in the metabolism of anaerobic microbes in disease, bioenergy and bioremediation and has been published in more than 120 peer-reviewed publications in microbiology and disease.
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Dietrich Stephan, PhD, the CEO of NeuBase Therapeutics and former professor and chair of the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, has published more than 140 peer-reviewed scientific articles.
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Peter Turnbaugh, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology for the G.W. Hooper Research Foundation at the University of California, San Francisco, is also faculty director of the Gnotobiotic Mouse Core Facility, where he studies the impact of the gut microbiome on nutrition and drug metabolism.
- Marion Leclerc, PhD, of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, is an expert in microbial ecology and on the human gut microbiome, with published work in 60 publications. She completed a three-year (2010-13) sabbatical at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and received a France-Berkeley award in 2011 with Trent Northen.
Pendulum’s Medical Advisory Board (MAB):
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John Buse, M.D., PhD, is chief of the Division of Endocrinology, director of the Diabetes Center, director of the NC Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute and executive associate dean for Clinical Research at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Dr. Buse works at the leading edge of developing innovative therapeutic approaches to type 2 diabetes and has served as the lead investigator for multiple international diabetes intervention trials.
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Anne L. Peters, M.D., is professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and director of the USC Clinical Diabetes Programs.
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Robert Ratner, M.D., is the former chief scientific and medical officer for the American Diabetes Association; he is currently a professor of clinical medicine at Georgetown School of Medicine.
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Davida F. Kruger, MSN, APN-BC, BC-ADM, is a certified nurse practitioner in diabetes at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit and has been a co-investigator on numerous studies of diabetes interventions and care, including the National Institutes of Health-funded multi-center EDIC and ACCORD trials.
- Carol Wysham, M.D., is a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a clinical endocrinologist at Rockwood Multicare Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology in Spokane, Washington.
About Pendulum Therapeutics
Pendulum Therapeutics is the first and only microbiome company to apply the discoveries of high-resolution, long-read DNA sequencing to the development and commercialization of microbiome interventions targeting specific diseases. Pendulum’s proprietary innovation platform enables identification of microbiome mechanisms of action and rapid translation from discovery and development through human clinical validation. Founded in 2012 by a diverse team of scientists with deep microbiology, biochemistry, computational and clinical expertise, Pendulum has raised $57 million to date. Sequoia Capital led its Series B with repeat participation from Mayo Foundation, True Ventures, Khosla Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures and others. Formerly Whole Biome, Pendulum Therapeutics is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, please visit www.Pendulum.co.
Formal press release here.