Our Company
Experienced team backed by leading investors
Led by a seasoned management team with a strong track record in creating robust biopharma businesses and exits, Outrun was spun out of founder Prof. Satpal Virdee’s lab at the world-renowned MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit at the University of Dundee.
Outrun is backed by leading venture capital investors M Ventures and MP Healthcare Venture Management.
Our Team
Dr Carolyn Porter
CEO
Dr Carolyn Porter
CEO
Carolyn has over 25 years’ experience in a career spanning roles in University spin-outs, biotech and biopharmaceutical companies, technology transfer and academia. She has held Board roles in 7 biotech companies including CEO and NED positions and is currently an entrepreneur in residence at Bristol University. Organisations she has previously worked for include Novartis, Chiron, Oxford University and Ernst & Young.
Dr Kerry Jenkins
Senior Director of Chemistry
Dr Kerry Jenkins
Senior Director of Chemistry
Kerry has worked in the drug discovery industry for almost 25 years in both large Pharma (Millennium, Takeda, UCB, Celltech) and smaller biotechs and CROs (Domainex, Wren Therapeutics). He is a medicinal chemist with a passion for working on innovative projects in therapy areas with unmet needs.
Dr Mathew Stanley
Principal Scientist & Founder
Dr Mathew Stanley
Principal Scientist & Founder
Mathew has over a decade of experience in synthetic chemistry and chemical biology, specializing in the discovery and development of small molecules for drug discovery campaigns. He has a DPhil in Organic Chemistry from the University of Sussex and his postdoctoral work at the University of Dundee included significant contributions towards novel tools for studying and understanding the ubiquitin system. He is a founder of Outrun and inventor on key underlying patents.
Dr Kuan-Chuan Pao
Senior Scientist & Founder
Dr Kuan-Chuan Pao
Senior Scientist & Founder
Kuan-Chuan (Eric) is a scientist with over 10 years of experience in both chemical and cell biology disciplines. Kuan-Chuan’s experience includes a PhD at MRC-PPU at the University of Dundee, post-doctoral research at UC Berkley and a Medical Liaison role in Roche. He has a track record of publication in high impact journals such as Nature and in-depth knowledge of disease biology across a range of indications. He is an inventor on several patents and a member of Outrun’s founding team.
Dr Iain Phair
Senior Scientist
Dr Iain Phair
Senior Scientist
Iain is a biochemist and cell biologist with experience spanning oncology, autoimmunity and cardiovascular disease. Following a Masters undertaken in Novartis, Basel, Iain carried out his PhD in the lab of Prof Simon Arthur and a post-doctoral position in Prof Graham Rena's lab, both at the University of Dundee.
Dr Lee Armstrong
Scientist
Dr Lee Armstrong
Scientist
Lee completed his PhD at the MRC Protein Phosphorylation & Ubiquitylation Unit in Dundee in the lab of Professor Yogesh Kulathu. His work focused on the structural and biochemical characterization of both the human MINDY deubiquitylases and the papain-like protease from SARS-CoV2. Lee joined Outrun Therapeutics following completion of his PhD.
Eamon Hassan
Financial Manager
Eamon Hassan
Financial Manager
Eamon is a chartered management accountant with experience in pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He has worked at GSK plc across R&D, commercial, tax and manufacturing finance and was a Nucleate UK Activator finalist working with Sensible Biotechnologies Inc. He has a BSc in Biomedical Sciences from UCL.
Our Board
Dr Anthony Johnson
Chair
Dr Anthony Johnson MD
Chair
Tony brings over 25 years of academic, industry and venture experience. He currently serves as President and CEO of Domain Therapeutics, Chairman of the Board for Outrun Therapeutics and a Board Director for Nanosyrinx and Find Therapeutics. Tony was previously President and CEO of Goldfinch Bio and prior to that, head of early clinical development and chief medical officer of the Innovative Medicines and Early Development Biotech Unit at AstraZeneca, as well as a Fellow at Homerton College, Cambridge University, Cambridge UK. This role was preceded by experience as a venture partner at OrbiMed Advisors and industry positions as vice president, discovery medicine and clinical pharmacology with Bristol-Myers Squibb, vice president, discovery medicine at GlaxoSmithKline and founding director of the GlaxoWelcome Medicines Research Unit. He was a tenured academic at the University of Queensland, Australia prior to his industry experience.
Dr Bauke Anninga
Non-executive Director
Dr Bauke Anninga
Non-executive Director
Bauke joined M Ventures in 2019 and is currently an Investment Director in the Biotechnology team. He represents M Ventures on the boards of Immunitas, Nucleome, NanoSyrinx, Pictor Labs, Multitude, Outrun Therapeutics and Rewind. Before joining M Ventures, Bauke worked at Jefferies International in the Healthcare Investment Banking group in London (UK). During his time at Jefferies he advised on several financings and M&A transactions across the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical devices sectors. Bauke has a PhD in Cancer Studies from King’s College London (UK) and is based in Amsterdam.
Dr Jeffrey Moore
Non-executive Director
Dr Jeffrey Moore
Non-executive Director
Jeff is President of MP Healthcare Venture Management (MPH), the VC firm of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, and Board of Director member of Diamond Edge Ventures (DEV), the VC arm of Mitsubishi Chemical Group. MPH is a Boston-based life sciences venture capital firm investing in companies developing innovative therapeutics, platform technologies and vaccines. Jeff led MPH’s investments in F-Star, Covagen, Forge, Blacksmith, Genocea, Korro, QurAlis, Thrasos, Ribometrix, miRagen, Outrun, PharmEnable, Draupnir and TrimTech. Previously, he held various business and scientific roles at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Scriptgen Therapeutics. He received his DPhil from the University of Oxford, studying virus vaccines, and then did postdoctoral training in infectious disease at Harvard Medical School. Jeff received his MBA as a Sloan Fellow at MIT, and his BSc in Biology from the University of New Brunswick.
Prof. Satpal Virdee
Founder & Non-executive Director
Prof. Satpal Virdee
Founder & Non-executive Director
Satpal is a leader in the discovery, mechanism, and structural biology of E3 ligases. His lab has pioneered the development of engineered protein sensors for studying these pivotal enzymes, along with numerous other technologies for probing the ubiquitin system. He holds a Personal Chair in Chemical Biology at the University of Dundee, where he is based in the world-renowned MRC Protein Phosphorylation & Ubiquitylation Unit. He started his lab in 2011, and by developing and applying innovative technologies, he has uncovered a striking and unanticipated diversity in the ubiquitin system. Before that, he completed his postdoctoral research at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in the labs of Jason Chin FRS and David Komander. Professor Virdee received his PhD in Chemical and Structural Biology at Birkbeck/UCL in the lab of Gabriel Waksman FRS.
Dr Chris Roberts
Non-executive Director, SAB member
Dr Chris Roberts
Non-executive Director, SAB member
Chris brings 25 years of leadership experience and company building to the discovery and development of novel therapies for oncology, immunology, virology and other indications. He was most recently the CEO of Civetta Therapeutics, a private start up focused on drugging protein protein interactions. Chris joined Civetta after his role as the CSO of Black Diamond Therapeutics, a publicly traded precision oncology company where his team discovered and advanced 3 clinical candidates. Prior to joining Black Diamond, Chris served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at SR One, a healthcare focused venture capital fund. Previous roles also include VP of Chemistry and Early Development at Syros Pharmaceuticals and VP and Head of Host Defense Discovery at GSK. Chris’ work has been extensively published and he is an inventor on over 20 issued patents. He has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, completed a post-doc in University of Bern and has a B.A. in Chemistry from Whitworth University.
Our Scientific Advisory Board
The team is supported by world-leading Scientific Advisors.
Scientific Advisory Board
Prof. Sir Philip Cohen FRS FRSE FMedSci
Royal Medal Winner and member of the scientific advisory board is a global key opinion leader in oncology, particularly protein kinases who set up the MRC PPU.
Satpal Virdee
Founder & Non-executive Director. Professor of Chemical Biology, MRC PPU, Dundee University.
© Outrun Therapeutics
