About Us
Locus Biosciences is a precision medicine company that is developing bacteriophage-based products to precisely remove pathogenic bacteria from the human body and to leverage the microbiome to treat diseases across multiple therapeutic areas.
A new approach is desperately needed to fight the scourge of antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotics were the wonder drugs of the 20th century, dramatically reducing the burden of bacterial infections on human health, but created a reliance on broad-spectrum drugs that indiscriminately remove bacteria from the body despite only one species of bacteria being the culprit in a typical infection. In recent decades, bacteria have evolved resistance to nearly all commonly used antibiotics, threatening the progress that we had made and increasing the risks involved with common medical procedures from knee replacements to childbirth.
Along the way, we have learned that many bacteria contribute positively to human health and should be maintained in the body. Broad-spectrum antibiotics disrupt the normal balance of the microbiome, often leading to serious side effects or secondary problems such as C. difficile infections.
At Locus Biosciences we are on mission to change the future of medicine by developing precision medicines that target only the pathogenic bacteria causing an infection, leaving the other bacteria in the microbiome unaffected. In parallel, we are developing biotherapeutics that leverage the microbiome to treat common diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and cancer.
Meet the Team
We have assembled an experienced team of leaders in precision antibacterial drug development to drive our products into clinical development.
Paul is the CEO & Co-founder of Locus Biosciences. With a career that spans manufacturing, research & development, information technology and corporate transformations, Paul brings a broad range of experience and capability to deliver on the Locus vision. Prior to Locus, Paul was Chief Technology Officer at Patheon Pharmaceuticals and also held the role of Global Head of Operations for Patheon’s Pharmaceuticals Development Services business unit. Paul previously served as Global Head of Manufacturing and Chief Information Officer at Valeant Pharmaceuticals, amount other roles. Paul was a Visiting Professor at North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management and volunteered as an executive-in-residence for the HiTEC Graduate Program, NCSU’s Entrepreneurship Collaborative, where he identified the technology that would form the basis for Locus. Paul earned a BSBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
Dr. Paul Kim is the Chief Development Officer or Locus Biosciences. Paul is an experienced leader in the pharma/biotech industry spending over 17 years in drug development and commercialization. He has expertise in project and portfolio management, and has worked extensively leading cross-functional asset development teams at all phases of drug development including several global regulatory submission efforts. Paul has also worked with both large and small sized companies as well as helped organizations manage periods of significant growth and change.
Paul received a bachelors degree in biology and genetics at the University of British Columbia and his graduate degree in Cellular and Molecular Pathology from Vanderbilt University specializing in neuropathology. He formerly held the position of Vice President of Program Management at Puma Biotechnology where he recently provided project management oversight to the recent NDA and MAA regulatory submissions and currently provides portfolio level oversight to development stage projects and is the executive sponsor in charge of leading the build-out of Puma’s commercialization business systems infrastructure to support their first successful product launch.
Joseph Nixon is Chief Financial Officer for Locus. Before joining the company in 2017, Joseph led the investment team at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center where he led or supervised investments in more than 60 early-stage life science companies. Joseph previously held business development and licensing positions with Novartis and Alkermes, was Product Manager for a venture-backed bioinformatics start-up company, and helped launch five start-up companies at the Cleveland Clinic. Joseph earned a BS in Biology from Case Western Reserve University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Ana Sanchez, PhD is Vice President, R&D at Locus Biosciences. In this role, Ana is responsible for leading early research and development to build clinically-relevant phage cocktails. Ana brings a wide breadth of experience to this role, focusing on operations across the drug development pipeline. Prior to joining Locus Ana worked at Duke University in the Human Vaccine Institute where she had nine years of experience as a program manager for government grants and contracts. Throughout her career, she has been a program manager for translational discovery science, clinical trials, and GMP manufacturing. Prior to becoming a program manager, she earned her PhD in Immunology at Duke University.
Nick Conley, PhD is the Vice President of Technology at Locus Biosciences. As co-founder of EpiBiome, a San Francisco-based, venture-backed biotech company acquired by Locus, Nick brings a wealth of experience in next-generation sequencing, high-throughput automation, and advanced manufacturing technologies. Nick developed Locus’s platform phage manufacturing process used to generate drug product for the world’s first clinical trial testing a recombinant bacteriophage therapy. Nick earned his PhD in Chemistry at Stanford University, where he also completed a postdoc in developmental biology.
Jamie Kime is the Vice President of Clinical Operations for Locus Biosciences. Jamie is an experienced leader focused on the operational delivery of patient-centric Phase 1 – 4 clinical studies through clinical service partnerships and providers. Prior to joining Locus, he spent 18+ years at UCB in multiple leadership positions including the Global Head of Clinical Project Management and the Global Head of Outsourcing, Contracts, and Strategic Partnerships, where he led teams based in the US, Europe, and Asia. Over the course of his career, Jamie has held clinical development positions at a sponsor, a contract research organization, and research positions in academia which has provided for a well-rounded approach to operational implementation and execution of clinical studies. Jamie received a BS and MA from the University of Alabama and a MPA from Louisiana State University.
Wendy Summers, an experienced leader in Research and Development QA as well as Commercial Quality serves as our Vice President of Pharmaceutical Operations and Technology.
Prior to Locus, Ms. Summers was Head of Research and Development QA for Novartis Gene Therapies and has held multiple roles including Head of Quality for Chiesi, USA and also headed regional QA roles for UCB and Biogen. Through her career she built and lead teams in the US, EU and Asia and has supported many regulatory licenses for biologic and gene therapy products.
Ms. Summers holds an B.S in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Campbell University
Joe Larsen is Vice President, Clinical Development at Locus Biosciences where he leads development programs for Locus’s clinical stage assets. Previously, Dr. Larsen was Vice President, Strategic Portfolio Development at Venatorx Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel antibiotics. Prior to that, Dr. Larsen spent ten years in the federal government, including serving as Deputy Director of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) medical countermeasures at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), where he oversaw the $2.8B Project Bioshield fund for the late-stage development and procurement of medical countermeasures. Dr. Larsen received his Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and a B.A. in microbiology from the University of Kansas.
Paul has been a member of multiple Executive Management teams of both publicly traded multi-national corporations and successful startup opportunities. He currently serves as the CEO of Locus Biosciences, an emerging biotech focused on the discovery and development of a novel class of CRISPR/Cas Antimicrobials.
Paul also serves as Vice President of the Friends Board at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and as a Visiting Professor at North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management. He serves as an executive-in-residence for the HiTEC Graduate Program, the University’s Entrepreneurship Collaborative.
A 2017 Forbes Midas List honoree, Stuart Peterson is the Founder and Managing Partner of ARTIS Ventures, a San Francisco-based VC firm that partners with entrepreneurs driven to positively impact their world through disruptive technological innovation. ARTIS led early-stage investments in media giant YouTube and cancer-curing Stemcentrx, which in 2016 became the largest-ever venture-backed life sciences acquisition.
Stuart also serves on the Board of Directors for IDbyDNA, an end-to-end and universal metagenomics platform, Versa Networks, the leading vendor in the SD-WAN and SD-Security markets, and Practice Fusion, the largest cloud-based electronic health records (EHR) platform in the U.S.
He is a Board Advisor for Fabric Genomics, a genomic interpretation platform, Cohesity, an infinitely scalable, intelligent enterprise data storage platform, Bracket Computing, a cloud workload protection platform built for the enterprise, and Excision BioTherapeutics, a gene editing company focused on curing deadly viruses like HIV.
Stuart also currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the SFMOMA.
Mr. Bailey is an Operating Partner with Cressey & Company, a private investment firm focused exclusively on investing in and building leading healthcare businesses. Prior to joining the C&C team, Bary served as the Chief Financial Officer of AMN Healthcare Services Inc. and prior to that as Chief Financial Officer of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, a global specialty pharmaceutical company. He has also served in executive roles with a variety of other healthcare companies, including PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. where he oversaw Pharmacy Benefit Management and Information Technology, Premier Inc., Tenet Healthcare and Arthur Andersen & Co. and has served on several boards as a director of both public and private companies.
Austin Walne is a Partner with ARTIS Ventures where he invests in biotech, software, and frontier technology, often with a focus on the enterprise and health. He is a board observer at Locus Biosciences. Previously, he was a board director at Stringify and a board observer at Looksharp.
Before ARTIS, he advised institutional investors in the secondary market for private company shares. He also held positions in product management and growth marketing in a variety of technology sectors and was the digital director for a major presidential campaign. He’s been quoted in the following publications on a wide range of topics: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and Inc.
Austin received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Communication Studies from the University of Tennessee and holds FINRA Series 62, 63, 65 licenses.
Dr. Kyle Kurpinski is a Partner with the Tencent Exploration Team, a strategic investment group supporting breakthrough technologies that address complex global challenges. Kyle is a scientist by training, and focuses heavily on the medtech, biotech, and healthcare portions of Tencent’s portfolio.
Prior to joining Tencent, Kyle was Executive Director for the UC Berkeley / UCSF joint Master of Translational Medicine Program (2011-15) – a professional master’s degree program for bioengineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Kyle was also Senior Product Development Engineer for NanoNerve, Inc. (2008-11) – a medical-device startup company building next-gen tissue grafts for neurosurgical applications.
Kyle earned a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He also earned a joint doctorate degree in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley and UCSF.
Sean Evans is Senior Associate, Venture Investments at Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, the strategic investment arm of Johnson & Johnson where he identifies and invests in East North America-based biotechs that are strategically aligned to Johnson & Johnson. He currently serves as a board observer for Locus Biosciences and Aro Biotherapeutics. Prior to J&J, Sean was Director, Business Development & Alliances with Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures (JHTV) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
Sean received an M.S. in Biotechnology and a Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology from JHU. His doctoral work culminated in the discovery and characterization of a novel host factor critical for viral infectivity and has been published in several leading journals, including Nature and Cell Reports.
Careers
We are on a mission to revolutionize the treatment of disease. We need intelligent, open, hard-working people who thrive in a fast-paced environment to join us on our quest.
Programs
We are developing precision medicines designed to target
the route cause of disease. Learn more about our programs
in infectious diseases and the microbiome.
