January 26, 2015

The Institute for Protein Design (IPD) at the University of Washington (UW) announced the formation of its new advisory board, which includes four distinguished professionals from the fields of pharmaceutical development, finance, venture capital, and synthetic biology. “The formation of this advisory board is an important step in the development of the IPD, and we are honored to have the benefit of guidance from these experts,” notes IPD Director David Baker.

The IPD Advisory Board includes: Tadataka (Tachi) Yamada (chair), executive vice president, chief medical & scientific officer and board member at Takeda Pharmaceuticals; George Church, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, director of PersonalGenomes.org, and pioneer of synthetic biology research; Peter Goodfellow, geneticist and former senior vice president of Discovery Research at GlaxoSmithKline who now serves as advisor to the venture capital company Abingworth and as a board member of several companies and medical charities; and Bryan White, managing director and chief investment officer of BlackRock Alternative Advisors, private investor, and member of several charitable organizations.

full board

The IPD advisory board will provide oversight and guidance to the IPD’s mission to establish protein design as a powerful force in basic research, biotechnology and entrepreneurial innovation.

Trisha Davis, chair of the UW Department of Biochemistry, under which the IPD is organized, said, “We are privileged to have Dr. Tachi Yamada serve as the chair of our advisory board. His vast experience in executive management of drug and vaccine discovery at Takeda Pharmaceuticals and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a tremendous wealth of knowledge from which the IPD will greatly benefit.”

Paul G. Ramsey, CEO of UW Medicine expressed his appreciation to all four board members for their willingness to serve. “We are very fortunate to have Tachi Yamada, George Church, Peter Goodfellow and Bryan White working with us to guide the work of the UW Institute for Protein Design. Their distinguished leadership will be vital for the Institute to achieve the potential of designed proteins to revolutionize our ability to improve health.”

Learn more about our IPD Advisory Board at this link: https://www.ipd.uw.edu/advisory-board

About the IPD

Established in 2012, the goal of the Institute for Protein Design (IPD) is to develop and apply methods for designing a whole new world of synthetic proteins to address challenges in medicine, energy, and technology.