Founders
David O'Connell
David O'Connell is Associate Professor of Biochemistry at University College Dublin, Ireland.
Prof O'Connell's research is focused on the study of protein-protein interactions and engineering of new functions into proteins for therapeutic and biotechnological applications. Combining phage display of antibody, peptide and novel scaffold libraries with proteomic technologies including array based and mass spectrometry approaches has identified new methods in biotherapeutic drug development and protein purification methods.
Prof O'Connell is director of MSc Programmes in Biotherapeutics at UCD and is funded by research grants from Enterprise Ireland & Science Foundation Ireland. The collaboration with Prof. Linse is further supported by a Novo Nordisk Foundation grant.
Sara Linse
Sara Linse is Professor of Biochemistry and Structural Biology at Lund University, Sweden.
Prof Linse studies the molecular mechanisms and driving forces of protein-protein interactions and self-assembly. This has improved our understanding of these mechanisms and has led to fundamental advances in drug development and biotechnology applications against protein misfolding diseases including Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s neurological diseases and Type 2 diabetes metabolic disease.
Prof Linse currently holds a European Research Council Advanced Grant to investigate the thermodynamic basis for chaperone action to increase other proteins’ solubility and thereby protect against protein misfolding diseases.
Prof Linse is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science and has served 12 years on the Committee for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Together Linse & O'Connell have developed a variety of new methods and investigations into the interactomics of human proteins including calcium binding proteins and GPCRs in a research collaboration initiated in 2006 with two joint patents and a dozen research articles published in studies of basic biochemistry to applied biotechnology.
Kyran McStay
Kyran McStay is lead for finance and commercialisation strategy for the spin-out company formation.
Dr McStay has an extensive career in finance and business development including 16 years in global investment banking at Salomon Brothers and UBS and close to 20 years as a co-founder of Key Capital. He is Chairman of HT Materials Science and has served 9-years as a member of the Presidents Advisory Board of the National Virus Reference Laboratory (housed at UCD).
Dr McStay holds a PhD in Economics from UCLA and was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Finance at Trinity Business School.