N8 Medical Inc., an emerging biomedical technology company focused on the development of antimicrobial peptide mimics for many fields of application, including the prevention and treatment of hospital acquired infections, announced today that Richard Gallo, M.D., Ph.D., Tomas Ganz, M.D., Ph.D., Professor Sean P. Gorman, CBE, Ph.D., FPSNI, and Michael S. Niederman, M.D., have all agreed to serve as members of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).
We are both pleased and honored that the worlds leading experts in the fields of antimicrobial peptides, innate immunity, respiratory infections and antimicrobial medical devices have agreed to join our SAB, commented David J. Richards, Chief Executive Officer of N8 Medical. We believe that their guidance and input will help us maximize the potential of our technologys promise in significantly reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with hospital acquired infections.
Biographies of the SAB members are as follows:
Dr. Richard Gallo, the Chairman of the SAB, is Chief of the Division of Dermatology of the University of California, San Diego and is a leading investigator in the field of skin research. He received his medical training at the University of Rochester, where he also obtained his Ph.D. in Radiation Biology and Biophysics. Following an internship in Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Gallo trained at Harvard for clinical Dermatology and also completed his post-doctoral fellowship in Developmental Biology. His research focuses on the role of the innate immune system in skin health and disease. He has contributed several landmark observations in the field of Dermatology, including the first description of an antimicrobial peptide in mammalian skin. He is currently associate editor of the Journal of Dermatologic Science and the European Journal of Dermatology as well as Editor of the textbook, Antimicrobial Peptides in Health and Human Disease.
Dr. Tomas Ganz is a Professor of Medicine and Pathology at UCLA. He is a Faculty Member in Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Critical Care, Allergy and Immunology, as well as Dept. of Cellular & Molecular Pathology. He is a Member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Experimental Pathology, Hematopoietic Malignancies Program Area. Dr. Ganz received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Caltech in 1976 and his M.D. from UCLA in 1978. After training in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary Medicine at UCLA, he joined the faculty in 1983. Dr. Ganzs primary research area is Antimicrobial Peptides in Host Defense and Inflammation, and his research interests include multicellular organisms, including humans, that employ potent and rapidly acting antimicrobial defense mechanisms that are mediated by small peptide antibiotics. This research is focused on two large families of mammalian antibiotics: defensins and cathelin-related peptides. More recently, he has also studied the role of Hepcidin in the regulation of iron during infections and inflammatory disorders.
Professor Sean P. Gorman was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Health & Life Sciences in 2009 and holds the Chair in Pharmaceutical Microbiology at Queens University Belfast. He was head of the School of Pharmacy in 2002. Professor Gorman established the Medical Devices Group in 1985, seeking development of biocompatible, bioactive biomaterials resistant to bacterial infection. His fundamental and developmental research programs interface with the international medical device industry. Professor Gorman has been a founder/director of two spin-out companies backed by DTI funding and a Medical Polymers Research Institute (MPRI) was established through substantial EU funding. He is the author of more than 250 scientific publications and patents and is an editor of two textbooks. He is the Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society and has been a member of several bodies including the Council of Pharmaceutical Society of NI, the British Pharmacopoeia Commission Panel of Experts and the UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) Pharmacy Panel. He serves on several journal editorial boards and the EPSRC Peer Review College. He was appointed Commander of the British Empire in the 2010 New Years Honors in recognition of his contributions to healthcare and pharmaceutical microbiology.
Dr. Michael S. Niederman is Professor of Medicine and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and he is also Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, New York. Dr. Niederman obtained his medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine and completed his training in internal medicine at Northwestern University School of Medicine. He finished a pulmonary and critical care medicine fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Niederman has been involved in a clinical and basic investigative career focusing on respiratory infections at Winthrop-University Hospital since 1983. Dr. Niedermans interests include mechanisms of airway colonization, particularly the role of bacterial adherence in colonization of the airway of mechanically ventilated patients, nosocomial pneumonia, and the impact of antibiotic resistance on the management and outcomes of respiratory infections. He has participated in a variety of clinical research projects, including antibiotic trials for respiratory infections.
Dr. Niederman has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed or review articles on respiratory infections. He is a Co-Editor of the first and second editions of the textbook, Respiratory Infections: A Scientific Basis for Management and is Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Pulmonary Medicine. He serves or has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, and Chest, and is a reviewer for various other publications.
About N8 Medical
N8 Medical is an emerging biomedical technology company focused on creating innovative medical devices and pharmaceuticals to effectively combat a broad spectrum of infectious diseases and microbes, including those attributable to multidrug resistant bacteria. Our core technology is a new class of patented synthetic antimicrobial compounds that mimic key components of the human innate immune system. These ceragenin compounds exhibit broad activity against harmful microorganisms that lead to infection and, in some cases, death. We are a privately held, private equity-backed entity. For more information about N8 Medical and the ceragenin technology, visit http://www.N8Medical.com.
About Ceragenin Technology
Ceragenins were invented and initially developed in the laboratory of Professor Paul B. Savage, Ph.D. at Brigham Young University. The ceragenin technology has been the subject of more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles and 26 scientific poster presentations.
To arrange an interview with Carl Genberg, Chief Technology Officer at N8 Medical, please contact him at carlgenberg(at)n8medical(dot)com.
Media Contact: Elizabeth Lucas Mobile: +614-439-5136 elucas(at)n8medical(dot)com
# # #
