Board of Directors

James Bianco, M.D. has more than 25 years of experience in building biotech/bio-pharmaceutical businesses his versatile career has included operational experience covering all aspects of drug development. Prior to joining Morphogenesis, he was the principal founder and Executive Chairman of TuHURA, a joint venture with Moffitt Cancer Center focused on novel technologies to modulate the tumor microenvironment. From 1992 to 2016 he was principal founder and CEO of CTI Biopharma, Inc. During his tenure, Dr. Bianco acquired, purchased or licensed five drug candidates, four of which received marking approval or authorization utilizing the FDA or EMA’s accelerated or conditional approval designation pathway in their development. Dr. Bianco led the company in the sales, marketing and commercial launch of three novel therapeutics, one for which he was awarded the National Organization of Rare Diseases Award for development of Trisenox®, a curative targeted therapy for patients with a type of acute leukemia.

He raised in excess of $2.0 billion and formed development and commercial license agreements with eight large biotech and pharmaceutical companies with more than $850 million in value, $350 million realized by the Company. Dr. Bianco earned his M.D from the Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine and completed his residency and chief residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in NYC. He completed his fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) where he was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine, Assistant Member FHCRC and Director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at a “Hutch” affiliate (SVAMC).

Dr. Bianco’s early work focused on exploring relative biologic effectiveness of radio-immunotherapy in treatment of blood related malignancies. He pioneered the pharmacologic regulation of inflammatory cytokines in prevention of regimen related toxicities following BMT.

Mr. Ng, Co-Founder and Partner in PENG Life Ventures, is a seasoned life sciences industry executive. He has founded and/or led multiple companies, including Scilex Pharmaceuticals Inc., where he co-founded and led the company through development, clinical trials, NDA submission, FDA approval, a $140 million financing, commercial launch of the company’s first FDA-approved drug product, and company sale/merger. Mr. Ng has also held various other senior management positions, including Board Director, Managing Director, Chief Administrative Officer, Corporate Secretary, Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, with publicly-traded and private, global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRNE), BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. (NASDAQ: BDSI), Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPPI) and Alpharma, Inc. (now, a part of Pfizer Inc.). In these roles, Mr. Ng helped lead the development and commercialization efforts and launches of multiple pharmaceutical drug products. Previously, in private practice, Mr. Ng was a partner in two AMLAW 200 law firms, where he had leadership roles, including establishing the life sciences practice group for one firm and heading it as the national co-chair. Additionally, Mr. Ng is a current member of the Board of Directors for multiple companies, where he has led financings and transactions totaling more than $120 million in proceeds in the past year.

Michael is a co-founder of Morphogenesis, Inc. Michael received his Ph.D. from the University of Surrey, UK, while working at the Animal Virus Research Institute (The Pirbright Institute). Michael came to the US as an NIH postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tennessee. Michael then served on the faculty of the Colleges of Veterinary Medicine at Auburn University and the University of Florida. Michael also worked as a senior scientist in the Division of Immunology and Cytokine Therapeutics of the Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization - Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) of Canada. Michael also held a faculty position at the University of Florida in the College of Medicine and was Director of Research at the Walt Disney Memorial Cancer Institute. Michael has published extensively and is co-inventor on numerous US and worldwide patents. He has participated as a research consultant on a number of topics for the Biopharmaceutical Industry and for International and US agencies. Michael also served as a reviewer and as an Ad Hoc reviewer for a number of scientific journals.

Patricia is a co-founder of Morphogenesis, Inc. Pat also served as Morphogenesis’ Chief Executive Officer from 2003 until 2021 and Chief Operating Officer from 1996 until 2003. Pat previously served as Division Director of Cancer Molecular Biology at the Walt Disney Memorial Cancer Institute, where she initiated and led the multifaceted molecular biology, gene targeting, gene therapy, gene delivery, and universal stem cell projects. Pat holds degrees from the University of Florida in Anthropology, Plant Pathology, Immunology, and Medical Microbiology with specialties in Hematology and Oncology and has held faculty positions at several Florida State Universities.

Alan F. List, M.D., is an internationally recognized oncologist with more than 20 years of industry experience. For more than a decade, he worked at the Moffitt Cancer Center, where he was the president and chief executive officer at Moffitt Cancer Center for seven years. Dr. List is internationally recognized for his many contributions in the development of more effective treatment strategies for myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). His pioneering work led to the development of lenalidomide (Revlimid®) from the laboratory to clinical trials, which went on to receive fast-track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and approval for the treatment of patients with MDS and multiple myeloma. This work transformed the natural history of MDS from a premalignant condition that progressed to cancer requiring aggressive treatment to a condition managed in the outpatient setting with medications.

Dr. List is the author of more than 425 peer-reviewed articles and books. He previously served as the President for the Society of Hematologic Oncology and a member of the MDS Foundation Board of Directors. Dr. List is an active member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology and the American Association for Cancer Research. He is a Charter Fellow in the National Academy of Inventors, an inductee in the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame, and holds 18 U.S. patents and >45 applications filed. Dr. List was 2016 recipient of the Celgene Career Achievement Award for Clinical Research in Hematology, and other recognitions including the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation Merit Award, the J.P. McCarthy Foundation International Prize, the Emil J. Freireich Award, the Joshua Lederberg Society, and the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation Leadership in Science Award.

Dr. List currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer of Precision Biosciences arguably the leading gene editing Company paving the way for the next frontier of therapeutic cell and gene editing therapies.

James S. Manuso, Ph.D., MBA is a biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry CEO and serial entrepreneur experienced in the foundation, management, financing, governance and sale of start-up, public, private, domestic and international companies with marketed and R&D-stage products. He has extensive investment banking, M&A, general management, and business, financial, corporate, and drug development expertise. Dr. Manuso has served as board chairman, and chairman of audit, governance and nominating, pricing and compensation committees of multiple companies’ boards. He has executed financings, M&A transactions and other deals for biotech and pharmaceutical companies in excess of $2 billion dollars and is considered a “financial expert” under Sarbanes-Oxley regulations.

Dr. Manuso is Chairman and CEO of two companies -- Talfinium Investments, Inc., an investment entity, and Laurelside LLC, a family office. He serves on the board of Ocuphire, a Nasdaq-listed company (OCUP) developing Nyxol in advanced clinical trials for the treatment of multiple visual disorders. Dr. Manuso served as chairman and chief executive officer of Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTX), formerly SuperGen (NASDAQ:SUPG), from July 2011 until October, 2013, at which time he engineered a sale of the company to Otsuka Pharmaceuticals for $886MM. In 2011, Dr. Manuso spun out Astex technology that enabled the foundation and financing of Tolero Pharmaceuticals, sold to Sumitomo for up to $780MM in 2017. Previously, from January 2004 to July 2011, he served as chairman, president and CEO of SuperGen, a commercial-stage company, and as a director since February 2001. Dr. Manuso is co-founder and immediate past president and chief executive officer of Galenica Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He co-founded and served as Vice Chairman & EVP of Business Development for Symbiontics, Inc., (sold to BioMarin as ZyStor, Inc. for $110 Million). He co-founded and was general partner of PrimeTech Partners, a biotechnology venture management partnership, from 1998 to 2002, and Managing General Partner of The Channel Group LLC, an international life sciences corporate advisory firm which he co-founded.