STORM Therapeutics, a drug discovery company focused on the discovery of small molecule therapies modulating RNA epigenetics, announced the appointment of both Professor Mark Dawson and Dr Paul Leeson to the Scientific Advisory Board.
Professor Mark Dawson is a clinician-scientist in the Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology and Centre of Cancer Research at the University of Melbourne and has extensive experience in epigenetics, having spent many years researching epigenetic regulation of leukaemia stem cells.
Dawson’s research identified a new therapeutic strategy for acute myeloid leukaemia by targeting the BET bromodomain proteins that function as epigenetic readers and helped set the platform for clinical trials with this first in class epigenetic therapy.
Dr Paul Leeson is a medicinal chemist with more than 35 years of experience in drug discovery and development in senior roles in several major pharmaceutical companies including Smith Kline and French, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Wyeth (US), AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline.
These appointments will strengthen STORM’s advisory networks as it fulfils its ambition to become the leading therapeutics company in RNA epigenetic modulation.
CEO of STORM Therapeutics, Keith Blundy, said: “STORM’S mission is to become a world leading therapeutics company, tackling diseases through modulating RNA modifying enzymes.”
“Mark’s expertise in epigenetics research will be invaluable as we advance selected targets into drug discovery, along with Paul’s long standing experience in drug discovery and development at big pharma will help STORM maximise the potential of our pipeline and harness the power of RNA epigenetics as a new area of important biology.”
