Kevin Lustig | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | University of California, San Francisco University of Missouri Cornell University |
Known for | Drug discovery, High-throughput screening (HTS), Founder and CEO of Scientist.com |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | Harvard Medical School |
Thesis | Functional Analyses of Vertebrate Signaling Pathways |
Doctoral advisor | Marc Kirschner |
Kevin Donald Lustig (born 23 August 1963) is an American scientist and entrepreneur and founder of three life science companies: the pharmaceutical company Kalypsys in 2001; the online research marketplace Scientist.com (formerly Assay Depot) in 2007; and the non-profit lab incubator Bio, Tech and Beyond in 2013. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Lustig received an A.B. degree, magna cum laude, from the Section of Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology from Cornell University in 1985. He received an M.S. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Missouri in 1991 and a PhD degree from Marc Kirschner’s laboratory in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco in 1997. [8] Lustig carried out postdoctoral research in the Department of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School in 1997.
Lustig has published 25 original research articles, 4 book chapters and holds 8 patents. [9] [10]
In 1993, Lustig and Andrew Shiau cloned the first member of a novel class of Purinergic receptors activated by extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a gene family that includes important drug targets. [11]
In 1993, Lustig and Bruce Conklin invented the first of a series of G-protein chimeras that are still widely used by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry for drug screening. [12] [13] [14]
In 1996, Lustig and Marc Kirschner invented a paracrine signaling assay and used it to identify Xnr1, which is part of a cell signaling pathway generating left-right asymmetry. [15] [16]
In 1997, Lustig and Randy King invented an in vitro expression cloning technology used to isolate substrates of kinases and proteases. [17] [18] [19] [20]
In 1997, Lustig invented a functional genomics approach to gene discovery and used it to identify a new member of the T-box family of transcription factors (Xombi aka VegT). [21]
In 1999 and 2000, Lustig and colleagues showed that bile acids are physiological ligands for the farnesoid X receptor (FXR), invented synthetic liver X receptor (LXR) agonists, and demonstrated that both FXR and LXR ligands regulate cholesterol transport. [22] [23] [24] [25]
Lustig served as a research director at the biotechnology company Tularik, Inc. from 1997 to 2001, before it being acquired by Amgen in 2004. [26] [27] [28] Tularik went public in December 1999 and is credited with helping to start the biotechnology stock bubble of 2000. [29] [30]
Lustig, Randy King, Pratik Shah and Peter Schultz founded the pharmaceutical company Kalypsys, Inc. in 2001. [2] The company was a pioneer in using high throughput screening (HTS) for phenotypic drug screens. [31] The company raised over $170M in venture capital funding. [32] The HTS part of the business was sold to Wako Chemicals USA in 2010. [33]
In 2007, Lustig, Chris Petersen, and Andrew Martin founded the research marketplace Assay Depot (later Scientist.com). [3] [4] [5] The company launched its first public marketplace in September 2008. In 2011 and 2012, Scientist.com launched outsourcing marketplaces for the large pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and AstraZeneca, respectively. [34] [35] [36] [37] By 2020, the company operated private marketplaces for most of the world’s major pharmaceutical companies and US National Institutes of Health (NIH). [38] In late 2020, Scientist.com acquired HealthEconomics.Com, the world’s leading ConnectedCommunity in the Value, Evidence and Access space. [39] Then, in 2021, Scientist.com completed three additional acquisitions, one of which was InsideScientific, an online environment that facilitates the exchange of scientific information via webinars, podcasts, and more. [40] Next, was Notch8, which provides software and app development services, and have since rebranded as Scientist.com Software Solutions. [41] Lastly, is BioPharmCatalyst, an online resource for stock market investors of publicly traded biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies listed on U.S. markets NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). [42]
Lustig and Joseph Jackson founded Bio, Tech and Beyond (BTNB), a non-profit life science incubator in Carlsbad, California in 2013; BTNB is a fully equipped shared research facility that makes it possible for one or a few scientists to start a life science company without significant funding. [43] [44]
In 2013, Lustig was named “San Diego’s Most Admired CEO” by the San Diego Business Journal . [45] That same year he was also one of five national finalists for Entrepreneur magazine's Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Award. [46] Lustig was twice recognized as one of the life science industry’s “100 Most Inspiring People” by PharmaVoice magazine in 2012 and 2013. [47] [48] The company also won the San Diego Business Journal’s 2014 Innovation Award. [49] In 2015, 2018, and 2019, the company was named one of Entrepreneur magazine’s Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America. [50] [51] From 2017-2019, Scientist.com ranked number 155, 9, and 289, respectively on Inc. magazine’s list of the 500 Fastest-Growing privately-owned companies in America. [52] [53] Scientist.com made Inc. magazine's list of Best Workplaces of 2018 and 2019. [54] Scientist.com was ranked as the 2nd Fastest-Growing Private Company in 2018 and the 10th Fastest-Growing Private Company in 2019 by the San Diego Business Journal, [55] [56] [57] and in 2020 it named Lustig as one of San Diego's Most Influential People. [58] In 2023, Scientist.com was named as America's 11th Most Innovative Company by Fortune.
Genentech, Inc. is an American biotechnology corporation headquartered in South San Francisco, California. It became an independent subsidiary of Roche in 2009. Genentech Research and Early Development operates as an independent center within Roche. Historically, the company is regarded as the world's first biotechnology company.
Daclizumab is a therapeutic humanized monoclonal antibody which was used for the treatment of adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Daclizumab works by binding to CD25, the alpha subunit of the IL-2 receptor of T-cells.
Amgen Inc. is an American multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. One of the world's largest independent biotechnology companies, Amgen's Thousand Oaks staff in 2022 numbered approximately 5,000 and included hundreds of scientists, making Amgen the largest employer in Ventura County. As of 2022, Amgen has approximately 24,000 staff in total.
Exelixis, Inc. is a genomics-based drug discovery company located in Alameda, California, and the producer of Cometriq, a treatment approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for medullary thyroid cancer with clinical activity in several other types of metastatic cancer.
Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. is an American biopharmaceutical company founded in 1992. The company is headquartered in San Diego, California, and led by CEO Kevin Gorman. Neurocrine develops treatments for neurological and endocrine-related diseases and disorders. In 2017, the company's drug valbenazine (Ingrezza) was approved in the US to treat adults with tardive dyskinesia (TD).
Amylin Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical founded in 1987 that was based in San Diego, California. The company was engaged in the discovery, development, and commercialization of drug candidates for the treatment of diabetes, obesity, and other diseases. Amylin produced three drugs: Symlin, Byetta (exenatide) and Bydureon.
The California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) is a nonprofit research and technology commercialization institute affiliated with three University of California campuses in the San Francisco Bay Area: Berkeley, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz. QB3's domain is the quantitative biosciences: areas of biology in which advances are chiefly made by scientists applying techniques from physics, chemistry, engineering, and computer science.
Tillman Gerngross is an Austro-American scientist.
Tech Coast Angels is the leading source of funding to early-stage companies in Southern California. TCA has over 450 members and is also one of the largest angel networks in the world. An analysis by CB Insights ranked TCA No.1 out of 370 angel groups on “Network Centrality” and No. 5 overall in “Investor Mosaic.”
Christoph Westphal is an American biomedical businessman.
Santaris Pharma A/S was a biopharmaceutical company founded in 2003 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company also had a branch in San Diego, California that opened in 2009. Created by a merger between Cureon and Pantheco, Santaris developed RNA-targeted medicines using a Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) Drug Platform and Drug Development Engine.
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an American biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics for genetically defined diseases. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2016, Forbes included the company on its "100 Most Innovative Growth Companies" list.
Acceleron Pharma, Inc. is an American clinical stage biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts with a broad focus on developing medicines that regulate the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) superfamily of proteins, which play fundamental roles in the growth and repair of cells and tissues such as red blood cells, muscle, bone, and blood vessels.
Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biotechnology company based in Carlsbad, California, that specializes in discovering and developing RNA-targeted therapeutics. The company has 3 commercially approved medicines: Spinraza (Nusinersen), Tegsedi (Inotersen), and Waylivra (Volanesorsen) and has 4 drugs in pivotal studies: tominersen for Huntington’s disease, tofersen for SOD1-ALS, AKCEA-APO(a)-LRx for cardiovascular disease, and AKCEA-TTR-LRx for all forms of TTR amyloidosis.
Aurora Biosciences was a biotechnology company founded in 1995 in San Diego to commercialize fluorescence assays based on Roger Y. Tsien's discoveries concerning green fluorescent protein and its uses in basic research - work for which Tsien eventually won the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry along with two other chemists.
PDL BioPharma is a publicly traded American holding company that since 2008 manages patents and other intellectual property that had been generated by the company. In 2008 in response to shareholder pressure, PDL spun out its active development programs to a company called Facet Biotech that it capitalized with $400 million.
Scientist.com is a network of public and private e-commerce marketplaces that connect buyers and sellers of scientific research services. The company was founded in 2007 by Kevin Lustig, Chris Petersen and Andrew Martin and launched its first public research marketplace in September 2008.
aTyr Pharma is a public biotherapeutics company that is focused on researching the extracellular functionality and signaling pathways of tRNA synthetases.
William H.Rastetter, a scientist, entrepreneur and venture capitalist, is the chair of Neurocrine Biosciences, of Fate Therapeutics, and of Daré Bioscience, Inc. in San Diego, California. He is a founding board member and investor in GRAIL, Inc. in Menlo Park, California, and served for a period as the company's interim CEO (2017) and chair (2017-2018). Rastetter is also a director of Regulus Therapeutics and Entos, Inc.. He was a partner in the venture firm Venrock (2006-2013), and a trustee at Caltech (2015-2018). He has served as a director (1998-2016) and as chair of Illumina (2005-2016). He advised SVB Leerink (2014-2019) and currently advises Illumina Ventures.
Louis Anthony Tartaglia is an American biochemist, pharmaceutical scientist, and entrepreneur. As a scientist, he is known for first identifying and cloning the leptin receptor in 1995, a discovery that prompted immediate coverage in US national media given its expected clinical significance. He is also known for studying signaling mechanisms from the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptors, and for publishing studies in the fields of obesity and diabetes which are often discussed in subject reviews. After moving from academia to industry in 1990, for over a decade he accompanied the growth of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, reaching top positions within the company. From executive roles he has occupied in venture capital firms, and as a member of several advisory boards, Tartaglia has helped start a number of therapeutics oriented companies that have found their way into the market, among them Agios, Editas, Rhythm, and Zafgen.