team – Abilita Therapeutics

OUR TEAM

Mauro Mileni, PhD

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Mauro Mileni, PhD

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Mauro is the founder of Abilita Therapeutics, Inc. and inventor of its core EMP™ technology. He has gained significant experience over 20 years of conducting academic membrane protein research and contributing to industry drug discovery projects. Mauro has authored eighteen peer-reviewed scientific articles, including publications in Cell, Nature, PNAS, and JACS. He received his Ph.D. from the Max Planck Institute under Nobel laureate Prof. Hartmut Michel and carried out his postdoctoral studies as a Pfizer fellow at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in one of the world’s top lab for GPCR structural studies. Prior to founding Abilita Bio in 2014, Mauro worked as a Structural Biologist at Receptos, Inc. and has consulted for Eli Lilly & Company.

Jim Schmidt

Chief Financial Officer

Jim Schmidt

Chief Financial Officer

Jim Schmidt serves as Chief Financial Officer of Abilita Therapeutics. He has over 30 years of executive financial experience in the biomedical and technology sectors. Since 2013, he has worked with companies as consulting CFO ranging from private, early formation to publicly traded. He served as Vice President of Finance and Administration at Receptos, Inc. from founding until successful IPO. He was formerly Senior Director of Finance and Operations at Conforma Therapeutics until its acquisition by Biogen Idec in 2006, where he assisted in the transition and integration of the companies. Prior to that, Mr. Schmidt served in various financial and operational roles. He started his career with Coopers Lybrand and received his B.S. in Accounting and Corporation Finance from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

Arshan Amiri, JD

General Counsel

Arshan Amiri, JD

General Counsel

Arshan Amiri is General Counsel to Abilita Therapeutics. Arshan has more than a decade of experience in biotech spanning corporate, M&A and financing, FDA regulatory procedures, licensing, compliance matters, and due diligence. In addition to serving as Abilita’s General Counsel, he has his own private practice providing a wide variety of life science, tech and other emerging companies with personalized and effective representation from startup to maturity. Arshan obtained his JD from the University of San Diego School of Law and holds a BS in Chemistry from the University of Utah.

Sarah Landon

Executive Assistant to the CEO & Technical Writer

Sarah Landon

Executive Assistant to the CEO & Technical Writer

Sarah serves as Executive Assistant to the CEO and Technical Writer at Abilita Therapeutics. She supports scientific writing, grant development, and cross-functional operations across the company. Driven by a lifelong passion for science, Sarah transitioned into biotech after five years as an educator and also brings experience as a legal assistant. Her multidisciplinary background gives her a unique ability to translate complex scientific concepts into clear content and manage diverse projects in a fast-paced environment. Sarah holds a master’s degree in language arts from San Diego State University.

Christopher B. Roth, PhD

Senior Vice President, Research

Christopher B. Roth, PhD

Senior Vice President, Research

Chris brings more than twenty years of innovation in membrane protein engineering, structural biology and drug discovery to Abilita Therapeutics. He most recently served as a Research Scientist at Receptos, Inc. from 2009 to 2015, where he was a founding member of the scientific team and the lead inventor of critical GPCR protein engineering technologies that were patented and licensed to domestic and international industry partners. Prior to joining Receptos, Dr. Roth conducted postdoctoral research in GPCR structural biology at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), where he also earned his PhD. Dr. Roth earned his B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Pia Kuss, PhD

Director of Pharmacology

Pia Kuss, PhD

Director of Pharmacology

Pia has broad experience in pre-clinical drug discovery and development, with expertise in both antibody and small molecule projects. Her skills encompass target identification and validation, assay development, miniaturization, screening, optimization, biomarker development, and in vitro and in vivo pharmacology. Before joining Abilita, Pia worked at Novartis and Travere Therapeutics, accumulating 10 years of experience in developing comprehensive data packages, advancing assets through the drug discovery pipeline from target identification to IND, and overseeing IND-enabling studies. She holds a PhD from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Genetics and conducted postdoctoral research there and at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.

Alexander Alexandrov, PhD

Director

Alexander Alexandrov, PhD

Director

Among his many contributions to the field of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) drug discovery, Alexander’s most pivotal was the personal conception and development of a generic membrane protein stability assay known as the CPM assay, widely regarded by many in the field to be transformational for the measurement of thermostability. Prior to Abilita Therapeutics, he served in Scientific positions of increasing responsibilities at Takeda San Diego and Heptares Therapeutics, and completed his postdoctoral studies at the Scripps Institute (TSRI), and David Bredt’s lab at University of California, San Francisco. Alexander received his PhD in Biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Roberto Jappelli, PhD

Principal Scientist

Roberto Jappelli, PhD

Principal Scientist

Roberto brings a strong research background and track record of working for top laboratories, most recently for Dr. Rusty Gage at the Salk Institute, where he contributed to projects in Parkinson’s disease animal modeling, viral gene delivery and CRISPR-Cas9 editing technologies. He completed his postdoctoral training with Nobel laureate Prof. Sydney Brenner at The Scripps Research Institute, where he developed a novel genetic system to analyze the interactions between soluble and membrane proteins. Roberto has previously held research scientist positions at Lynx Therapeutics, Acidophil, and Salgomed.

Karen Chiang, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

Karen Chiang, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

Karen brings over 10 years of molecular and cell biology experience to the team and has a broad background in the fields of plant biology, HIV and neurodegenerative diseases. She completed her postdoctoral training in Dr. Edward H. Koo’s laboratory at UCSD, after earning her Ph.D. in Translational Biology and Molecular Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

Riccardo Contu, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

Riccardo Contu, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

Riccardo joined Abilita Therapeutics as a Senior Scientist, where he contributes to the growing activities of the Cellular Biology team. He brings advanced expertise in human stem cell-derived cultures, cellular quality control, and assay development for drug discovery, focusing on both chemical compounds and biologics. Riccardo earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from the University of Milan, Italy, and completed his postdoctoral training in the Cardiology Division at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Prior to joining Abilita, he held progressively senior research scientist positions at StemoniX, and was then a key member of the High-Throughput Screening group at Ferring Pharmaceuticals. At Abilita, Riccardo’s current work centers on developing cell-based assays to evaluate the functionality of the company’s drug candidates.

Sunghoon Kim, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

Sunghoon Kim, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

Sunghoon adds to the core strengths of the company through his research into the structure, biochemistry and biophysical properties of ion channels and other challenging membrane proteins. He developed an outstanding expertise in the study of membrane proteins through his Ph.D. research in Biophysics at Vanderbilt University and Postdoctoral training at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Le Li, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

Le Li, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

Le joined Abilita Therapeutics as a Research Scientist and brings key expertise in membrane protein biophysical characterization, purification and formulation. Previously, she worked as an Analytical Scientist at Catalent Pharma Solutions. Le completed her postdoctoral studies at Oak Ridge National Lab after earning a Ph.D. in Chemistry from North Carolina State University.

Umang Goswami, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

Umang Goswami, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

Since joining Abilita Therapeutics, Dr. Umang Goswami has focused on advancing membrane protein biochemistry and structural biology to accelerate the company’s drug discovery programs. His work involves developing protein expression and purification strategies, optimizing membrane protein stability, and enabling high-resolution cryo-EM structure determination. Before joining Abilita, Dr. Goswami gained extensive experience in membrane protein biochemistry and structural biology within the biotechnology industry, contributing to multiple discovery programs by integrating biochemical, biophysical, and molecular approaches to elucidate protein mechanisms and support therapeutic development. He earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics from UT Southwestern Medical Center, where he studied the structural mechanisms of ion channels using cryo-electron microscopy and electrophysiology. His earlier work at Texas A&M University focused on developing fluorescence-based biosensors for live–dead bacterial detection.

Juping Liu

Senior Research Scientist

Juping Liu

Senior Research Scientist

Juping brings a solid background in molecular biology, biochemistry, and pharmacology, with extensive experience in assay development, cell-based studies, and drug discovery research. Before joining Abilita, she supported preclinical development efforts at several biotech and pharmaceutical organizations, including 858 Therapeutics, Ferring Research Institute, Dart NeuroScience, Tanabe Research Laboratories, and Merck Research Laboratories. Juping holds an M.Sc. in Molecular Pharmacology from the University of Arizona.

Kin Moy

Lab Manager/Research Associate

Kin Moy

Lab Manager/Research Associate

Prior to joining the company, Kin worked at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) focusing on a range of research methods in molecular biology from vector construction to protein expression and cell culture. He played a major role in the lab’s high-throughput GPCR initiative and contributed to over 40 publications.

Prasenjit Saha, PhD

Research Scientist

Prasenjit Saha, PhD

Research Scientist

Dr. Prasenjit Saha completed his doctoral research at the Department of Biochemistry at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, India, in 2016. Following the completion of his doctoral research, he joined the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, USA, initially as a Post-doctoral Fellow and later as a Staff Research Scientist (2016-2023). During his time at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Saha authored papers in top-tier journals, including a first-author paper in Cell and co-authorship in Nature Medicine and PNAS, among others. His research explored novel agonists, antagonists, inverse agonists, and allosteric modulators of GPCRs, shedding light on cardio-metabolic disorders. His work at Abilita involves developing innovative tools and technologies for challenging membrane proteins, including GPCRs and ion channels.

Mark Gustinic

Senior Research Associate

Mark Gustinic

Senior Research Associate

Mark Gustincic joined the Abilita team to bolster protein engineering and production operations. Mark is skilled in molecular biology, protein purification, assay development, and data analysis. He is also an adept bioinformatician with experience in data processing/analysis, mathematical modeling, and machine learning. Previously, Mark worked as part of the Protein Engineering group at PacBio, where he worked on optimizing DNA polymerase performance for the Onso short-read genomic sequencing system. Mark has a MSc in Bioengineering from UC San Diego, and a BSc in Molecular Biology from UC Santa Cruz.

Nael Mohammed Mousa

Senior Research Associate

Nael Mohammed Mousa

Senior Research Associate

Nael Mohammed Mousa, a seasoned Senior Research Associate, joined Abilita Therapeutics in early 2023. Nael brings key expertise in protein biochemistry, with a focus on purification, formulation, and protein biophysical characterization. Prior to Abilita, Nael made significant contributions as part of the protein engineering team at Element Biosciences and conducted structural biology research for his Masters studied at the University of California San Diego.

Andy Jo

Senior Research Associate

Andy Jo

Senior Research Associate

Andy comes to Abilita with a background in display technologies and protein purification. Previously, Andy worked on the Protein Engineering team at Encodia to discover small peptide-recognizing binders from naive synthetic libraries. At Singular Genomics, he screened DNA polymerase variants to enhance the features of the G4 Sequencing System as well as scaling expression and purification to be compatible with a manufacturing setting. Andy has an MS in biochemistry from Montana State University and a BS in Chemistry from Brigham Young University, Provo.

Jeffrey Cho

Research Associate

Jeffrey Cho

Research Associate

Jeffrey Cho, a UC San Diego General Biology graduate, joined Abilita Therapeutics as a Research Associate in January 2023. His previous roles at Viacyte, ImmunityBio, and Illumina have equipped him with diverse skills in quality assurance, analytical development and tissue culture. At Abilita, Jeffrey applies these competencies towards mammalian cell preparations and molecular biology, playing a significant role in advancing the company's research initiatives.

Luisa Gonzalez

Research Associate

Luisa Gonzalez

Research Associate

Luisa earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Davis, where she built a strong foundation in both chemical engineering principles and biochemistry. Luisa previously worked as a Research Associate at Treeline Biosciences and Alivamab Biologics, focusing on protein expression and purification to support early-stage drug discovery. Her work included molecular cloning, bacterial and mammalian expression systems, and downstream protein purification using AKTA chromatography systems. At Abilita, Luisa brings together her engineering background and passion for protein science to advance the development of novel therapeutics.

DIRECTORS OF THE BOARD

Daniel Bradbury

Director of the Board

Daniel Bradbury

Director of the Board

Mr. Bradbury has over 35 years of experience leading global, fast-growing life sciences companies. Since January 2020 Mr. Bradbury has served as Executive Chairman of Equillium, Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company he co-founded in 2017 and led as CEO until the end of 2019. In addition, Mr. Bradbury has been Managing Member of BioBrit, LLC, a life-sciences consulting and investment firm, since 2012. Mr. Bradbury is the former President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego, CA, focused on metabolic diseases. During his 18-year tenure at Amylin, the company launched three first-in-class medicines, including the first once-a-week therapy to treat diabetes, and was listed on the Nasdaq 100. He served as Amylin’s Chief Executive Officer from March 2007 until its acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in August 2012. Prior to joining Amylin, Mr. Bradbury worked at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals and its predecessor companies for ten years in various sales and marketing positions. Mr. Bradbury serves on the Board of Directors of Biocon Limited (NSE: BIOCON), Castle Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTL), Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQ), Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ICPT) and a number of private companies and philanthropic organizations. Mr. Bradbury received a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Nottingham University and a Diploma in Management Studies from Harrow and Ealing Colleges of Higher Education in the United Kingdom.

Michael Goguen

Director of the Board

Michael Goguen

Director of the Board

Michael Goguen is the founder and managing partner of Two Bear Capital, a venture capital firm headquartered in Whitefish, Montana with offices in Boston, San Diego, and the San Francisco Bay area. With $275 million under management, Two Bear Capital focuses on early stage startup companies in the areas of biotechnology, bioinformatics, artificial intelligence/machine learning, enterprise software and cybersecurity. The firm has invested in companies solving difficult problems in everything from neurodegenerative disease to precision oncology, from advanced network architecture to data analytics. Previously, Mike spent 20 years as a partner at Sequoia Capital where he led 54 company investments to a combined market value exceeding $64 billion and had 26 exits above $100 million. Mike holds a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.S. from Stanford University, both in Electrical Engineering.

Mauro Mileni

Founder & CEO

Mauro Mileni

Founder & CEO

Mauro is the founder of Abilita Therapeutics, Inc. and inventor of its core EMP™ technology. He has gained significant experience over 20 years of conducting academic membrane protein research and contributing to industry drug discovery projects. Mauro has authored eighteen peer-reviewed scientific articles, including publications in Cell, Nature, PNAS, and JACS. He received his Ph.D. from the Max Planck Institute under Nobel laureate Prof. Hartmut Michel and carried out his postdoctoral studies as a Pfizer fellow in the Stevens lab at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), widely regarded as the world’s top lab for GPCR structural studies. Prior to founding Abilita Bio in 2014, Mauro worked as a Structural Biologist at Receptos, Inc. and has consulted for Eli Lilly & Company.

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORS

Anke Kretz-Rommel, PhD

Antibody Development Advisor

Anke Kretz-Rommel, PhD

Antibody Development Advisor

Anke Kretz-Rommel, Ph.D. has followed her passion for the discovery and development of biologics to improve patients’ lives for over 25 years. She is highly versed in all aspects related to biologics, including toxicology, pharmacology, CMC and early clinical development. She has innovated cancer and autoimmune disease vaccines, brought multiple first in class and best in class antibodies from discovery through Phase 1 clinical trials in oncology, rheumatology and metabolic diseases. She has been part of founding teams in multiple successful biotech companies, as well as gained experience in larger companies such as Alexion Pharmaceuticals. She has obtained her Ph.D. at the Institute of Toxicology/ETH Zurich, Switzerland, followed by a post-doc at The Autoimmune Disease Center at The Scripps Research Institute. As CTO at Bird Rock Bio, Inc, she built out a GPCR antibody discovery platform and successfully brought the first in class anti-CB1 GPCR antibody nimacimab from discovery to Phase 2 clinical trials. She is highly experienced in putting together strategies for INDs, overseeing IND-enabling studies, CMC and early clinical trials. She has built teams in the US and China, is well at home at many CROs and CDMOs all over the world with her hands on approach of leveraging external teams. She loves the work hard, play hard, fast paced biotech environment to bring forward novel medicines.

Fred Ramsdell, PhD

Oncology Advisor

Fred Ramsdell, PhD

Oncology Advisor

Dr. Ramsdell received his Ph.D. from UCLA and did post-doctoral work at the National Institutes of Health, then joined Immunex Research Corporation to characterize T cell activation and tolerance, including the cloning and characterization of a variety of TNFR family members and their respective ligands. In 1995, he joined Darwin Molecular Inc. (later acquired by Celltech R&D, Inc.) to establish and lead its immunology program. At Darwin Molecular, Dr. Ramsdell developed programs in immunology and genetics that led to the discovery of Foxp3 and determined this to be the defining gene for regulatory T cells, the absence of which leads to the fatal human autoimmune syndrome, IPEX. After moving to ZymoGenetics, Inc. in 2004, Dr. Ramsdell identified and characterized several novel proteins with regulatory activity in lymphoid cells. In 2008, he moved to Novo Nordisk to establish the Inflammation Research Center in Seattle, where he led the Discovery Immunology group. In 2014, he joined aTyr Pharma as VP of Immunology and in 2016 joined The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI).

We are delighted to congratulate Fred Ramsdell for being awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for his pioneering work in immune tolerance.

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OUR TEAM

Mauro Mileni, PhD

Jim Schmidt

Arshan Amiri, JD

Sarah Landon

Christopher B. Roth, PhD

Pia Kuss, PhD

Alexander Alexandrov, PhD

Roberto Jappelli, PhD

Karen Chiang, PhD

Riccardo Contu, PhD

Sunghoon Kim, PhD

Le Li, PhD

Umang Goswami, PhD

Juping Liu

Kin Moy

Prasenjit Saha, PhD

Mark Gustinic

Nael Mohammed Mousa

Andy Jo

Jeffrey Cho

Luisa Gonzalez

DIRECTORS OF THE BOARD

Daniel Bradbury

Michael Goguen

Mauro Mileni

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORS

Anke Kretz-Rommel, PhD

Fred Ramsdell, PhD

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