Dr. Radhakrishnan (Kris) Iyer has more than 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry in drug discovery and development. Dr. Iyer is considered a leading innovator in the fields of nucleic acid chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences, with over 100 publications and 250 issued and filed US and international patents. He has led multidisciplinary teams in the advancement of several small molecule and oligonucleotide drug candidates from discovery into clinical development in diverse therapeutic areas including antivirals, immuno-oncology, and inflammation.
Dr. Iyer was the co-founder and CSO of Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc., co-founder and CSO of Origenix Technologies, Inc., and was the Associate Director of Antisense Discovery Group at Hybridon, Inc. Dr. Iyer has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of biotechnology companies and has served on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) review panel for grants and contracts. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK, and the International Society of Physical Sciences. Dr. Iyer is currently an adjunct professor of the Institute of Chemical Technology and a recipient of M. L. Khorana Memorial Award, the ICT Diamond Jubilee Distinguished Fellow in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Previously, Dr. Iyer was a professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Bombay, visiting scientist at the CBER, FDA, and assistant professor at the University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He carried out postdoctoral work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and at the Johns Hopkins University.