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 peer-reviewed publications 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.

Gary F. Blackburn, Ph.D. joined Ohmx from Clinical Micro Sensors, a subsidiary of Motorola, Inc. where he served as Director of Research and Technology.  He has been instrumental in the development of electrochemical biosensor devices to detect nucleic acids and mutations in DNA.  Previously, he served as Director of Research at IGEN International from 1987 to 1996 and Director of Technology Management at Boehringer Mannheim Diagnostics and Roche Diagnostics from 1996 to 1998.  Dr. Blackburn has authored many publications in the field of diagnostic applications of chemical sensors and is the inventor on over 30 U.S. and European patents. 

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 1999-2001. He also serves on an advisory board to the United States Department of Energy Biological Sciences Directorate (2001-2004). He holds a B.S. and an M.S. in chemistry from the University of Missouri and a Ph.D. in bioinorganic chemistry from Columbia University. Dr. O’Halloran completed his postdoctoral training at MIT. 

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 Lewis, 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 Developmental 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., was recently named the Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he previously served as the Kenan Professor and Chair of the Chemistry Department.  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, Dr. 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 the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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