About Us

Locus Biosciences is a precision medicine company that is developing bacteriophage products that remove disease-causing pathogenic bacteria from the human body

A new approach is desperately needed to fight antibiotic resistance.

Antibiotics were the wonder drugs of the 20th century, dramatically reducing the burden of bacterial infections on human health. This, however, 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 have 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 a 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 Garofolo
Paul Garofolo
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer

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.

Paul Kim, PhD
Paul Kim, PhD
Chief Development Officer

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, MBA
Joseph Nixon, MBA
Chief Financial Officer

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.

Nick Conley, PhD
Chief Technology Officer

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.

Ana Sanchez, PhD
Ana Sanchez, PhD
Vice President of Research and Development

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.

Jamie Kime
Jamie Kime
Vice President of Clinical Operations and CMC Operations

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
Wendy Summers
Vice President of Pharmaceutical Operations and Technology

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

Ashley Trama, PhD, MBA
Ashley Trama, PhD, MBA
Vice President, Program Management

Ashley Trama, PhD, MBA is Vice President, Program Management at Locus Biosciences. Ashley leads Locus’ Program Management Office and Human Resources. She is responsible for delivery of drug development programs and internal projects including the build of our award- winning viral vector manufacturing facility along with talent acquisition and retention. Prior to Locus, Ashley worked as a Program Manager at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute where she managed cross-functional teams to deliver government and institute funded research programs. Ashley earned her PhD in Immunology at Duke University and her MBA from Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. 

Paul Garofolo
Paul Garofolo
Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board, & Co-Founder

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.

Stuart Peterson
Stuart Peterson
Director

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.

Bary Bailey
Bary Bailey
Director

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
Austin Walne
Board Observer

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.

Sean Evans, PhD
Board Observer

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.

Souwelimatou Amadou Amani, PhD
Souwelimatou Amadou Amani, PhD
Translational Medicine Scientist
Ethan Baker
Ethan Baker
Scientist I
Michelle Baldassare
Michelle Baldassare
Research Associate
Brandy Barber
Brandy Barber
Research Associate II
Charity Bass
Charity Bass
Quality Associate
Maggie Boyer
Maggie Boyer
Research Technician
Barrington Briggs
Barrington Briggs
Staff Accountant
Blair Cape
Blair Capel
Director of Finance
Naomi Chavez Castillo
Naomi Chavez Castillo
Research Associate
Sidra Dorofi
Sidra Dorofi
Research Technician
Anyssa Fisher
Anyssa Fisher
Development Technologist
Noah Franz
Noah Franz
Research Associate II
Megan Frisbee
Megan Frisbee
Research Associate I
Frank Gillam, PhD, MBA
Frank Gillam, PhD, MBA
Associate Director, Manufacturing Science and Technology
Alyssa Grube, PhD
Alyssa Grube, PhD
Project Manager
Taylor Henson
Taylor Henson
Development Specialist II
Joe Kenny
Joe Kenny
Translational Medicine Research Technician
David Kingsley, PhD
David Kingsley, PhD
R&D Project Manager
Aaron Le
Aaron Le
Development Technologist
Nathan MacGregor
Nathan MacGregor
Associate Director of Quality
Paige Mason
Translational Medicine Research Technician
Ellie McCabe, PhD
Ellie McCabe, PhD
Translational Medicine Scientist II
Robert McKee, PhD
Robert McKee, PhD
Principal Scientist
Lana McMillan, PhD
Lana McMillan, PhD
Director of Discovery
Robert Mills
Robert Mills
Development Specialist II
Smit Miyani
Smit Miyani
Development Technologist
Daniel Mun
Daniel Mun
Associate Development Scientist
Dalena Nguyen
Dalena Nguyen
Development Technologist II
Spencer Nystrom, PhD
Spencer Nystrom, PhD
Data Scientist
Ryan O'Grady
Ryan O’Grady
Development Technologist
Alexander Pantelakos
Alexander Pantelakos
Financial Analyst
Taylor Penke, PhD
Taylor Penke, PhD
Director of Automation and Informatics
Kevin Potter, PhD
Kevin Potter, PhD
Assay Development Scientist II
Cameron Prybol, PhD
Cameron Prybol, PhD
Senior Scientist, Group Leader of Informatics
Susan Renfro
Susan Renfro
Quality Specialist
Jami Robinson
Jami Robinson
Senior Human Resources Coordintor
Brooke Sauder, PhD
Brooke Sauder, PhD
Scientist
Tautvydas Shuipys, PhD
Tautvydas Shuipys, PhD
Scientist I
Robert Shumate
Robert Shumate
Development Technologist
Jaden Skelly
Jaden Skelly
Research Technician
William Slone, PhD
William Slone, PhD
Director of Development
Luke Sobolewski
Luke Sobolewski
Development Technologist II
Jennifer Spagnolo, PhD
Jennifer Spagnolo, PhD
Project Manager II
Aaron Stepanek
Aaron Stepanek
Associate Scientist
Matthew Sweede
Matthew Sweede
Director of Business Development and Strategy
Ashley Trama, PhD, MBA
Ashley Trama, PhD, MBA
Senior Director, Research and Development Program Management
Julia Trautman
Julia Trautman
Development Technologist II
Hannah Tuson, PhD
Hannah Tuson, PhD
Director of Discovery
Morgan Wall
Morgan Wall
Data Engineer
Megan Welch
Megan Welch
Research Technician II
Kate Zulauf, PhD
Kate Zulauf, PhD
Scientist II

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.