Technical
Professor Istvan Toth
Chair in Biological Chemistry, School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences
Professor of Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy
The University of Queensland
Professor Toth is a renowned chemist and an internationally recognised expert in drug delivery. He leads a strong research team comprising 20 members in his UQ laboratory. The team'smajor research interests are drug delivery, immuno-adjuvants, carbohydrates, lipids, peptides, nucleosides and nucleotides.
Professor Toth has extensive experience in the commercialisation of intellectual property. He was a founder of Alchemia Ltd, a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, synthesis and development of complex and diverse products for pharmaceutical applications; Implicit Bioscience Pty Ltd; and TetraQ, which is an Integrated Preclinical Drug Development facility.
Professor Toth is an author on more than 170 peer-reviewed publications and is a listed inventor on over 40 patents. He is the Editor in Chief of Current Drug Delivery.
Phone: 61 7 3346 9892
Fax: 61 7 3365 4273
Dr Joanne Blanchfield
Lecturer in Carbohydrate Chemistry
School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences
The University of Queensland
Dr Blanchfield has been a lecturer in Chemistry atUQ since 2003. Her research interests include the delivery of neuroactive drugs across the blood brain barrier; the development of polymer based synthetic vaccines; organic synthesis; and natural products chemistry.
Dr Blanchfield received her PhD from UQ in 1996 following which she worked as a researcher at John Hopkins University and The Australian National University before returning to Queensland. She has more than 20 publications, one patent and has received research funding from the ARC, NHMRC and from internal University sources.
Dr Mark Del Borgo
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences
The University of Queensland
Dr Del Borgo is an emerging pharmacologist and has worked with internationally recognised experts in peptide chemistry, drug delivery and cellular pharmacology. He obtained his PhD from the University of Melbourne and in his short career, he has already developed a novel male and female contraceptive and is an author of two patents. His major research interests include peptide chemistry; peptide-based drug design; cellular and opioid pharmacology; receptor internalisation; pharmacokinetics; and molecular modeling.
Board of Directors
Dr Peter Devine
Investment Director
Uniseed Pty Ltd
Dr Devine has extensive experience at board and executive management levels in the commercialisation of early stage technologies. He is currently the Investment Director for Uniseed – a $61 million pre-seed venture capital fund operating out of the universities of Melbourne, New South Wales and Queensland. In this role, Dr Devine is responsible for Uniseed's investment activities, and plays a pivotal role in the sourcing, selection and management of investments. He is a director of several early stage companies including Active Torque, Adipogen, Neurotide, Spinifex Pharmaceuticals and Colocare Holdings, as well as AusBiotech, Australia’s biotechnology industry organisation.
Dr Devine has held senior R&D, business development and commercialisation positions in several Australian companies, as well as Australian universities. Before joining Uniseed, he was Vice President of Business Development at Progen Industries. He was Research, Development and Commercialisation Manager at Brisbane-based PanBio from 1996 to 2000 and also worked in Business Development at UniQuest.
Dr Devine holds a PhD from the University of Queensland and received the Dean's Prize for his MBA Studies at the Australian Graduate School of Management. He received a Centenary Medal in 2003 for outstanding contribution to the business of biotechnology. He is a Graduate and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Dr Dean Moss
Technology Commercialisation Group Manager
UniQuest Pty Ltd
Dr Moss has more than 20 years' experience in science, universities, business, management and commercialisation in Australia, USA and UK. Hehas been Managing Director or a senior business development executive in several health and biotech companies worldwide, including Binax, Agen Biomedical, Launch Diagnostics, Amrad ICT, Amrad Biotech, United Drug and most recently his own start-up business in the UK, York Medical Technologies. Prior to moving into the commercial world, Dr Moss was a principal scientist at Agen Biomedical. He has also worked as an NH&MRC research scientist in Brisbane at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, the Royal Brisbane Hospital and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research. Dean has a PhD in Medicine from The University of Queensland.
Management
Mr Stephen Denaro
Company Secretary
Mr Denaro has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, business valuations, accountancy services, and income tax compliance gained from positions as Company Secretary and Chief Financial Officer of various public companies, and with major chartered accountancy firms in Australia and the United Kingdom. He provides Company Secretarial services for a number of start up technology companies.
Mr Denaro has a Bachelor of Business in Accountancy and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Dr Don Kakuda
Innovation and Commercial Development Manager
UniQuest Pty Ltd
Through UniQuest, Dr Kakuda manages commercial and intellectual property matters for the Biological and Chemical Sciences faculty at UQ. He is a registered Australian and New Zealand Patent attorney and worked for more than five years with Fisher Adams Kelly Patent Attorneys. Dr Kakuda has also managed research projects and intellectual property for the biotechnology company, ForBio Research Pty Ltd. He completed a PhD at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in the Biomedical Sciences Program and worked as a post-doctorate fellow at UCSD and UQ. He is a committee member of the Licensing Executive Society and Women in Biotech, and is a member of Ausbiotech.
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