World Renowned Ribosome Expert Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan Joins Rib-X Pharmaceuticals' Scientific Advisory Board
New Haven, Connecticut. January 8, 2003 — Rib-X Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., a privately held biotechnology company focused on the design and
development of the next generation of antibiotics to fight
multi-drug resistant bacteria, announced today the appointment of
another world-renowned ribosome scientist Venki Ramakrishnan, Ph.D.
to the Rib-X Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).
Dr. Ramakrishnan joins the Company founder team of advisors who are also ribosome structure experts. This team includes Drs. Thomas Steitz and Peter Moore of Yale University and Dr. Harry Noller of University of California, Santa Cruz, and Dr. John Abelson of the California Institute of Technology. This appointment brings the total number of SAB members to eight.
"One of our greatest accomplishments at Rib-X has been the success we have had in bringing the best possible people onto our team," said Dr. Susan Froshauer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rib-X. "Venki is a world leader in research focused on the structure and function of the ribosome, having received international recognition for his determination of the atomic structure of the 30S subunit of the ribosome, and we are very fortunate to have him join our Scientific Advisory Board."
Dr. Ramakrishnan is currently a Group Leader in the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. He has published approximately 50 research papers pertaining to ribosomal studies. Internationally recognized for his achievement in determining the atomic structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit and its complexes with several antibiotics, he mapped the arrangement of proteins in the 30S subunit by neutron diffraction and solved X-ray structures of individual components and their RNA complexes early in his career. Dr. Ramakrishnan earned his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Baroda University in India and his Ph.D. in Physics from Ohio University. He pursued further post-graduate studies at The University of California, San Diego. Recently, Dr. Ramakrishnan received the high honor of election to the Royal Society.
"It is a pleasure to be invited to work along side people who share my level of commitment to the study and utilization of the ribosome as a drug discovery target," said Dr. Ramakrishnan. "Rib-X has made remarkable strides in the relatively short life of the company and I am confident their extraordinary technology will serve an instrumental role in our collective quest for a new class of antibiotics."
About Rib-X Pharmaceuticals
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a product-driven small-molecule drug discovery and development company focused on developing and commercializing antibiotics to treat highly-resistant bacterial infections. Based in New Haven, Connecticut, the Company has raised over $170 million and has two programs, delafloxacin and radezolid, in advanced clinical trials. In addition, a preclinical program featuring an entirely new class of broad-spectrum antibiotics with the potential to treat even highly- resistant Gram-negative infections is scheduled to begin clinical trials in 2011.
Rib-X designs and develops novel small-molecule antibiotics by leveraging the Company's Nobel Prize- winning discovery platform to perform structure-based design and optimization. While many commercially valuable classes of antibiotics bind to the bacterial ribosome, including oxazolidinones, tetracyclines and macrolides, traditional antibiotic discovery relies heavily on serendipity. Rib-X's key competitive advantage is its proprietary understanding of ribosome structure, which enables it to generate antibiotics that overcome known resistance mechanisms and have broad-spectrum activity.
Rib-X's integrated research strategy combines state-of-the-art, proprietary computational analysis, X-ray crystallography, medicinal chemistry, microbiology and biochemistry, thereby allowing Rib-X to rapidly synthesize new agents designed to avoid typical antibiotic resistance mechanisms. Rib-X's iterative intelligent engine has yielded several distinct new antibiotic classes.
Dr. Ramakrishnan joins the Company founder team of advisors who are also ribosome structure experts. This team includes Drs. Thomas Steitz and Peter Moore of Yale University and Dr. Harry Noller of University of California, Santa Cruz, and Dr. John Abelson of the California Institute of Technology. This appointment brings the total number of SAB members to eight.
"One of our greatest accomplishments at Rib-X has been the success we have had in bringing the best possible people onto our team," said Dr. Susan Froshauer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rib-X. "Venki is a world leader in research focused on the structure and function of the ribosome, having received international recognition for his determination of the atomic structure of the 30S subunit of the ribosome, and we are very fortunate to have him join our Scientific Advisory Board."
Dr. Ramakrishnan is currently a Group Leader in the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. He has published approximately 50 research papers pertaining to ribosomal studies. Internationally recognized for his achievement in determining the atomic structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit and its complexes with several antibiotics, he mapped the arrangement of proteins in the 30S subunit by neutron diffraction and solved X-ray structures of individual components and their RNA complexes early in his career. Dr. Ramakrishnan earned his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Baroda University in India and his Ph.D. in Physics from Ohio University. He pursued further post-graduate studies at The University of California, San Diego. Recently, Dr. Ramakrishnan received the high honor of election to the Royal Society.
"It is a pleasure to be invited to work along side people who share my level of commitment to the study and utilization of the ribosome as a drug discovery target," said Dr. Ramakrishnan. "Rib-X has made remarkable strides in the relatively short life of the company and I am confident their extraordinary technology will serve an instrumental role in our collective quest for a new class of antibiotics."
About Rib-X Pharmaceuticals
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a product-driven small-molecule drug discovery and development company focused on developing and commercializing antibiotics to treat highly-resistant bacterial infections. Based in New Haven, Connecticut, the Company has raised over $170 million and has two programs, delafloxacin and radezolid, in advanced clinical trials. In addition, a preclinical program featuring an entirely new class of broad-spectrum antibiotics with the potential to treat even highly- resistant Gram-negative infections is scheduled to begin clinical trials in 2011.
Rib-X designs and develops novel small-molecule antibiotics by leveraging the Company's Nobel Prize- winning discovery platform to perform structure-based design and optimization. While many commercially valuable classes of antibiotics bind to the bacterial ribosome, including oxazolidinones, tetracyclines and macrolides, traditional antibiotic discovery relies heavily on serendipity. Rib-X's key competitive advantage is its proprietary understanding of ribosome structure, which enables it to generate antibiotics that overcome known resistance mechanisms and have broad-spectrum activity.
Rib-X's integrated research strategy combines state-of-the-art, proprietary computational analysis, X-ray crystallography, medicinal chemistry, microbiology and biochemistry, thereby allowing Rib-X to rapidly synthesize new agents designed to avoid typical antibiotic resistance mechanisms. Rib-X's iterative intelligent engine has yielded several distinct new antibiotic classes.
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Kari Watson
MacDougall BioMedical Communications 781-235-3060 kari@macbiocom.com |
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Sarah Cavanaugh
MacDougall BioMedical Communications 781-235-3060 scavanaugh@macbiocom.com |