SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Moonwalk Biosciences, an epigenetic biology and AI company, announced today the appointment of John Liles, Ph.D., as VP Biology and Translational Science, and the formation of a world class Cardiometabolic Advisory Board. Dr. Liles brings deep experience as a drug discovery biologist with proven success advancing novel therapeutics from target discovery through IND for liver, kidney, lung and cardiovascular diseases.
In addition, a leading advisory board of scientific and clinical experts in adipocyte and liver biology bring invaluable insights to Moonwalk’s research programs and therapeutic development efforts to address unmet needs in cardiometabolic disease.
“We are thrilled to welcome John to our team and announce the formation of our cardiometabolic advisory board,” said Alex Aravanis, M.D., Ph.D., Co-founder & CEO, Moonwalk Biosciences, “John’s expertise in translating innovative therapeutics from discovery through IND will accelerate our ambitious R&D efforts.”
Dr. Liles brings more than 17 years of experience to Moonwalk, most recently as Executive Director, Kidney Disease Research & Strategy at Chinook Therapeutics (acquired by Novartis), where he was the head of the research group responsible for target discovery and pipeline expansion. At Gilead Sciences, he led Research and Pharmacology teams for more than 15 years, achieving five INDs and contributing to the advancement of approved cardiovascular drugs. He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Tulane University, and completed his post-doc at the National Academy of Sciences.
“I’m excited to join the Moonwalk team at a pivotal time as the company advances its preclinical efforts to pioneer new insights about epigenetic biology and engineering cell state,” said Dr. Liles. “Having operated in cardiometabolic diseases, I appreciate the role of epigenetics in the regulation of adipose and liver tissue biology. We've seen the significant impact of current cardiometabolic therapies, and I believe the future holds even greater potential to yield novel mechanisms of action and improved therapeutic profiles. Better elucidating this biology is a rich area for new discoveries, and could represent a large therapeutic opportunity.”
Moonwalk Cardiometabolic Advisory Board:
- Paul Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., Albert Resnick, MD Associate Professor, Senior Attending Physician, and Head of the Weslie R. and William H. Janeway Laboratory of Molecular Metabolism at the Rockefeller University
- Silvia Corvera, M.D., Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research, Professor, Program in Molecular Medicine, UMass Chan Medical School
- Michael Czech, Ph.D., The Isadore and Fannie Foxman Professor, Program in Molecular Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School
- Shingo Kajimura, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, HHMI Investigator
- Rohit Loomba, M.D., MHSc, Chief, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Director, UCSD MASLD Research Center
“We are fortunate to attract and collaborate with such a stellar group of advisors, and I look forward to working with them to advance the science and development of medicines that alleviate these major conditions,” said Dr. Aravanis.
Moonwalk will be presenting data and providing an update at future scientific meetings, including an oral presentation at ObesityWeek 2024 and a poster presentation at AALSD 2024.
About Moonwalk Biosciences
Moonwalk Biosciences is a preclinical stage biotechnology company pioneering new insights and medicines utilizing epigenetic biology and AI. Its novel platform technology provides a complete view of the epigenome in health and disease (EpiRead), with the most advanced AI prediction of epigenetic targets and the broadest set of epigenetic engineering tools (EpiWrite). Moonwalk is advancing internal drug discovery programs with an initial focus in cardiometabolic disease. Moonwalk has developed a differentiated approach to mapping the epigenome of cellular states at the whole genome, single cell resolution level, as well as proprietary strategies for precise epigenetic engineering and perturbation to discover and test therapeutic targets. The combination enables both a novel discovery platform and a path to developing modality-agnostic therapeutics. For more information, visit www.moonwalk.bio.
