A two-time biotech operator. A scientific co-founder of ORNA Therapeutics. A 40-year biotech veteran. The team has built RNA platforms before — and exited them.
Runs company strategy, partnerships, and fundraising. 20+ years of operations leadership across General Motors, FCA Chrysler and Bank of America. Former Business Operations Director at Ocuphire Pharma. Co-founded Great Lakes Biologics.
BA · University of Michigan · Executive MBA, Eli Broad College, Michigan State.
Crystal Brown at TEDxDetroit — on rethinking intelligence, and why design beats luck in drug discovery.
Co-founder of Novarna.
We don’t claim something works until a lab has confirmed it. Ideally, an independent lab.
RNA is complicated. Our job is to make it feel simple. If we can’t explain it to an 8th grader, we haven’t understood it yet.
Drug discovery shouldn’t be a guessing game. We replace trial-and-error with intention.
Every program we run produces IP. That IP belongs to the partner, not to us.
Our platform is designed to improve. Every experiment makes the next one faster and smarter.
The best ideas often come from the places people overlook — in problems, in people, and in molecules.
One Broadway, 14th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
NovaLab
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
For a scoped pilot, yes — we need a specific biological problem to design against. For exploratory conversations, no. We’re happy to talk through fit before you commit to a target.
Yes — typically a mutual NDA before any target details are exchanged. We have a standard template; we’re also happy to use yours.
The partner. Every program we run produces IP — that IP belongs to the partner, not to Novarna. We retain rights to platform-level methods and improvements.
Yes — completing a $5M seed round led by South Loop Ventures at $35M pre. Select follow-on capacity remains.
We’re hiring scientists, and we want to hear from partners. Our science team responds to every qualified inquiry within 48 hours — first conversation to scoped pilot in 6–8 weeks.
