La Cuesta Research Institute

Dr. Phillip Patten is a member of the Caltech BBE Chair’s Council as well as being President and CSO of the La Cuesta Research Institute and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Unnatural Products. Previously, Dr. Patten was Chief Scientific Officer at Initial Therapeutics, a portfolio company of Apple Tree Partners (ATP) where his team discovered orally bio-available small-molecules that selectively stall protein synthesis. Prior to that he was co-founder, Board member and Chief Scientific Officer at DiCE Molecules, a biotechnology company that used DNA-encoded libraries to discover and optimize oral inhibitors of challenging protein-protein interface targets. In 2020, DiCE advanced a first-in-class oral inhibitor of IL17A into the clinic for treatment of psoriasis and was acquired by Eli Lilly in June 2023. After graduating from Stanford with a PhD in biology, Dr. Patten was a founding scientist at Maxygen. While there, he led the team that produced an improved gene shuffled interferon alpha that entered clinical trials and is a named inventor on an evolved herbicide tolerance gene (GAT) that is an approved product in the agriculture space. Subsequently, Dr. Patten joined Achaogen, where he led the DTRA funded LpxC program to the discovery of ACHN-975 that advanced into clinical studies. After Achaogen, Dr. Patten joined Pioneer Hi-Bred, where he was a DuPont Fellow and Research Director and led a team of 70 scientists doing directed evolution of proteins and large-scale synthetic biology in the agricultural space. Currently, Dr. Patten serves on the Scientific Advisory Board at Unnatural Products. He was previously a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of AnaptysBio, Inc. He joined the Caltech BBE Chair’s Advisory Council in October 2022. He holds over granted 90 patents in the biotechnology space. Dr. Patten holds a BS in biology from Caltech and a PhD in biological sciences from Stanford. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in chemistry at UC Berkeley.

Michael Rabson earned his Ph.D. in Infectious Disease Epidemiology from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale law School. His career has been at the intersection of science and law, with particular focus on biotechnology. Dr. Rabson was a Member (partner) at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati for 15 years where he represented leading bioscience companies on complex legal and strategic matters. He also spent time working in companies, first as General Counsel for Maxygen Inc. and then as General Counsel and VP, Business Development at Cytokinetics, Inc. He spent six years as a Fellow at Evelo Biosciences, contributing to the advancement of novel therapeutic approaches., providing executive leadership, guidance on corporate development and contributing to the advancement of novel therapeutic approaches.

Stuart is a biopharma business and scientific strategy leader with over 35 years of experience across biotech, pharma, and venture. Since 2019, he has advised VCs, publicly listed and private biotechs, and early-stage founders as an independent consultant on BD, R&D strategy, diligence, and executive coaching. From 2014 to 2019, he served as AVP & Principal at Sanofi Sunrise, where he led strategic partnerships and venture-style investments, high value licensing and R&D collaborations. Earlier, he was a consultant to Third Rock Ventures, VP of Business & Scientific Strategy at Alnylam, held senior BD and strategy leadership roles at Maxygen, and spent a decade at Biogen in drug discovery, business development, and alliance management. He holds a Ph.D. in Virology from Reading University, UK and completed postdoctoral research in HIV structural biology at Harvard University.

Dr. Zhihong Jane Yang was the leading scientist in early discovery of small molecules targeting cancer epigenetics at Genentech and cardiac sarcomere at MyoKardia (acquired by BMS). Her interests in cardiomyopathies brought her to Tenaya Therapeutics where she led a cross-functional team in conducting preclinical IND enabling studies of TN-401, a gene therapy drug at phase 1 clinical testing, and in enabling translational research of cardiac metabolism. Dr. Yang earned degrees from University of Minnesota at Twin Cities and University of California at Davis, and completed postdoctoral training at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Stanford University.

Sarah is an accomplished executive support professional with a proven track record in high-level administrative leadership. A graduate of the University of Georgia, she began her career supporting the executive team at Mohawk Flooring Corporation, a global organization with more than 20,000 employees. She later transitioned into the biotechnology and research sector, providing strategic support to Apple Tree Partners and its portfolio of startup initiatives.