Michael C. Venuti, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer

Michael C. Venuti, Ph.D., joined BioSeek as its Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors in November, 2007. Dr. Venuti has over 25 years experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Partners International, a small molecule-based drug discovery services company. Since the Discovery Partners merger with Infinity Pharmaceuticals in September, 2006, Dr. Venuti had served as a consultant to TPG Growth Biotech Ventures, as well as to a number of biotech companies. Before becoming CEO of Discovery Partners, Dr. Venuti served as Chief Scientific Officer, and had been a member of its board of directors before becoming CSO. Prior to joining Discovery Partners, he served as General Manager of Celera Genomics Group's South San Francisco site after its acquisition of Axys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He served as Senior Vice President, Research and Preclinical Development, of Axys Pharmaceuticals prior to its acquisition by Celera. In this capacity, he was responsible for all small molecule target identification, medicinal chemistry, drug discovery and preclinical development activities. Prior to joining Axys, Dr. Venuti was Director of Bioorganic Chemistry at Genentech, Inc., and had begun his research career in medicinal chemistry at Syntex.

Dr. Venuti holds an A.B. from Dartmouth College, a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and completed postdoctoral training in the Institute of Organic Chemistry at Syntex Research. He is on the board of directors of Infinity Pharmaceuticals, and serves as Executive Scientific Advisor to BIO Ventures for Global Health, a non-profit advocacy group focused on drug discovery and development for neglected diseases. Dr. Venuti holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco.