James

Jim Barsoum, PhD, has over 25 years experience in the biotechnology industry. Prior to joining RaNA, he served as Chief Scientific Officer of Theracrine, a startup company focused on the discovery of novel treatments for metastatic cancer. Dr. Barsoum was Senior Vice President of Research at Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. from 2003 to 2009. There he led drug discovery efforts generating small molecules for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases including ganetespib, an Hsp90 inhibitor that is currently being evaluated in several clinical trials in a wide variety of cancer indications.

Dr. Barsoum served as the Director of Molecular and Cell Biology at Biogen, where he held leadership roles starting in 1987. At Biogen, Dr. Barsoum directed protein and gene therapy research programs in cancer, inflammation, fibrosis and antivirals. He also conceived and supervised Biogen's interferon gene therapy cancer program from preclinical to clinical development. Prior to Biogen, Dr. Barsoum received a PhD in Biology from MIT and held research fellowships at Stanford University and the Whitehead Institute at MIT. Dr. Barsoum has approximately 60 scientific publications and 25 issued patents.