Scientific Advisory Board

Harry B. Gray, Ph.D., is the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry and the Founding Director of the Beckman Institute at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Gray is the 2004 recipient of the Wolf Foundation Prize in chemistry and is widely recognized for his pioneering work in long-range electron transfer processes in proteins. Dr. Gray has made significant contributions to chemistry, including authoring over 650 papers and 17 books. Dr. Gray holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Western Kentucky University and a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Northwestern University and is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Thomas O'Halloran, Ph.D., is the Morrison Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology at Northwestern University.  He was elected Chair of the Bioinorganic Division of the American Chemical Society and also served as Chair of a NIH Study Section (BMT) from 1999 to 2001. He also served on an advisory board to the United States Department of Energy Biological Sciences Directorate (2001 to 2004). Dr. O'Halloran holds a B.S. and a M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and a Ph.D. in Bioinorganic Chemistry from Columbia University. Dr. O'Halloran completed his postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Robin M. Silva, Esq., is currently a Partner at Morgan Lewis. Ms. Silva advises clients on all aspects of patent strategy, with an emphasis on the needs of emerging biotechnology companies, including the creation and management of patent portfolios as well as the evaluation of both client and competitor portfolios, preparation of validity and infringement opinions, and freedom-to-operate opinions. Ms. Silva assists her clients with licensing and strategic collaboration agreements, maximizing portfolio value through the acquisition and exploitation of intellectual property rights. Prior to her employment at Morgan, Ms. Silva worked at Genencor International, a joint venture between Genentech and Corning focused on the industrial applications of protein engineering. Ms. Silva holds a B.S. in Molecular, Cellular and Development Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley College of Law, and has 10 peer-reviewed publications.

Holden Thorp, Ph.D., is the Kenan Professor and Chair of the Chemistry department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He obtained his B.S. in Chemistry from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1986 where he worked with Professor Thomas J. Meyer.  He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry in Professor Harry B. Gray's laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.  After postdoctoral research at Yale with Professor Gary Brudvig, he began his independent research career in 1991 and has published over 120 scholarly publications on the electronic properties of DNA and RNA.  For his research, Thorp was named a Presidential Young Investigator and has received the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, the David and Lucile Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering and both the New Faculty Award and Teacher-Scholar Award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. 

Richard P. Van Duyne, Ph.D., is the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University.  He discovered surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, invented nanosphere lithography and developed localized surface plasmon resonance nanobiosensors.  Dr. Van Duyne's research includes surface-enhanced spectroscopy, nanofabrication, nanoparticle optics, combined scanning probe microscopy / Raman microscopy, Raman spectroscopy of mass-selected clusters, ultrahigh vacuum surface science, structure and function of biomolecules on surfaces and nanoparticle optics for chemical and biological sensing. Dr. Van Duyne holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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