Roberto Solari, PhD
Chairman, Head of Biology and Co-founder
A cell biologist and biotech entrepreneur, Roberto brings to Myricx unique perspectives that align science and business with the operations required for start-ups.
In addition to his role as Head of Biology at Myricx, Roberto is also a member of the Translation Advisory Board of the Francis Crick Institute and served as Myricx’s CEO from its foundation until August 2022.
Previously, he was Vice President and Head of Biology in the respiratory therapy area at GlaxoSmithKline, UK. He spent four years as CEO of MRC Technology (now LifeArc), the technology transfer arm of the MRC, where he helped the creation of spinout companies including Heptares. Before this he was an Advisor to Apax Partners, London and an Entrepreneur in Residence with Abingworth Management where he co-founded a number of companies including Astex Pharmaceuticals.
He has served on the board of several biotechnology companies and is currently a Venture Partner with Brandon Capital Partners.
As an academic researcher, his earlier career included positions at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland and the University of Liverpool UK.
Roberto obtained a BSc and a PhD from the University of Nottingham, UK.
Professor Ed Tate, PhD
Co-founder and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board
With over 20 years of research at the interface between organic chemistry, the life sciences and medicine, Ed is the world leader in the biology and chemistry of N-myristoyltransferase (NMT), a novel and emerging drug target for a wide range of oncology and viral indications.
Ed was previously the CSO at Myricx and is now Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board. He is a Professor of Chemical Biology at Imperial College London and a Satellite Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute.
His academic research programme in drug target discovery and validation focuses on protein post-translational modifications. Working in close collaboration with a worldwide network of scientists, his research team was the first to validate N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) as a pharmacological target in malaria and antiviral indications and his team has developed the most potent and efficacious inhibitors of human NMT reported to date.
He established an independent group at Imperial College in 2006 and was promoted to full Professor in 2014. Ed has raised >£20M in research funding to date, and his group of over 50 scientists and researchers is supported by grants and awards from the UK government, industry, the European Union, Cancer Research UK, and charitable foundations.
Ed is the recipient of multiple prizes recognising his work in chemical biology and drug discovery including the RSC Corday-Morgan Prize, Sir David Cooksey Prize in Translation, the CRUK Programme Foundation Award, the RSC Norman Heatley Award, the Medimmune Protein and Peptide Science Award, the Wain Medal, the BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship, and the 1851 Research Fellowship.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and of Biology (FRSB) and sits on several Scientific Advisory Boards in the UK and internationally.
Earlier in in his career Ed was a postdoctoral fellow at the Ecole Polytechnique and the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France.
Ed obtained his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Cambridge, UK.
Robin Carr, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Robin joined Myricx in Nov 2019 as chief development officer and became CEO in August 2022.
Robin joined Myricx from GSK, where he held several research Exec roles (2007-2019), his final role was SVP Drug Design and Selection, with global responsibility for small molecule and biopharm discovery platforms. Robin served as a member of GSK’s Discovery Investment Board, Technology Investment Board and co-chaired the target selection committee.
Prior to GSK, Robin was VP of drug discovery at Astex Therapeutics (1999-2007), with responsibility for internal and partnered drug discovery programs.
Robin holds a chemistry degree from Imperial College London (1981) and completed his PhD studies in total synthesis at Northwestern University, Chicago (1984). Robin then returned to the UK to start his industrial research career at ICI agrochemicals before joining Glaxo in 1989 to focus on drug discovery.
Robin has co-authored and published 50 papers and patents and contributed to numerous discovery programs (cancer and respiratory) that have progressed into the clinic and two of which went on to become launched drugs.
Robin has a long-standing interest in novel drug discovery platforms that have the potential to reduce attrition rates and therefore increase R&D productivity.
Maina Bhaman, MBA
Non Executive Director
Maina Bhaman is a partner at Sofinnova Partners. She joined the firm in 2018 and has a long track record as a successful healthcare investor.
Prior to joining Sofinnova Partners, Maina was Director of Healthcare Investment at Touchstone Innovations (formerly Imperial Innovations) in London, UK, where she led and co-led investments in the UK.
Previously, she worked in the R&D teams of several UK and US biotech companies, including Celltech, Oxford Glyco Sciences, Chimeric Therapies and GeneMedicine.
Maina holds a B.S. from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the Imperial Business School. Maina’s current investments include Sitryx Therapeutics, Cincor and Enyo Pharma.
Stephen Thompson, PhD, MBA
Board Observer
Stephen is a founding partner of Brandon Capital Partners.
Before moving to Australia, Stephen was a Director of Apax Partners based in London. Previously, he fulfilled roles in product development with UK biotechnology company Cantab Pharmaceuticals. Earlier, Stephen spent ten years as a research immunologist in London and California.
In addition to Myricx Pharma, Stephen is also currently a director of; OncoRes Medical, Respirion Pharmaceuticals and Vaxxas. Stephen was a former director of Elastagen, (acquired by Allergan in 2018) and Longas Technologies.
Stephen has a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from Chelsea College London, a PhD in Immunology from Kings College London and an MBA, specialising in Entrepreneurship, from Imperial College London.
Stephen is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a former director of the Australian Investment Council (AIC).
Jonathan Tobin PhD, MBA
Non Executive Director
Jonathan is a Partner at Brandon Capital, based in London. In addition to Myricx Pharma, he serves on the boards of Brandon portfolio companies Pheon Therapeutics (an ADC company where Brandon co-led a $68m series A raise in March 2022), CatalYm, and NRG Therapeutics.
Jonathan has over 15 years’ experience in venture capital and technology commercialisation. Prior to joining Brandon in 2021, Jonathan was a Managing Director at Arix Bioscience, a UK and US-based biotech venture firm, where he sat on several boards including: Artios Pharma, Atox Bio, Depixus, STipe Therapeutics, and VelosBio (a clinical stage ADC company acquired by Merck in 2020 for $2.75 billion).
Prior to working at Arix, Jonathan spent five years at UK early-stage venture capital firm Touchstone Innovations as a Principal in the Healthcare Ventures team and was involved in creating several early stage companies, including Inivata, acquired by Neogenomics for $390m. He carried out postdoctoral research on cancer cell signalling at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute (now the Francis Crick Institute).
Jonathan has a first class degree in Biology from the University of Oxford , a PhD in in genetic diseases from UCL, and an MBA with Distinction from Imperial College Business School.
Rachael Brake PhD
Non Executive Director
A molecular and cellular biologist by training Rachael is a deeply experienced drug developer that has been employed by various bio/pharma organizations including Amgen, Millennium, Takeda Pharmaceuticals and most recently at Corbus Pharmaceuticals where she currently serves as Chief Scientific Officer.
Rachael’s 20+ years of drug development experience has been focused on advancing therapeutic programmes across various mechanisms of action and modalities in oncology.
Rachael brings significant pharmaceutical research and development experience to Myricx after having focused in clinical development translating basic research concepts into effective clinical development strategies.
Previously at Takeda Rachael led the late stage clinical development portfolio for solid tumors where she successfully led the team responsible for the front line approval of ALUNBRIG and established development strategies for programmes like mobocertinib and sapanistertib alike.
Rachael is an Australian and completed her BSc at the Australian National University and her PhD at the University of Western Australia /Institute for Child Health Research in Perth, WA.
