| OcuSciences Team | |
Victor M. Elner, M.D., Ph.D.
Co-Founder, Chief Medical Officer, Interim-CEO
Dr. Elner
is responsible for all clinical and medical aspects of technology development,
including development of the industrial and academic collaborative
relationships, design of research clinical trials, and collection/analysis of
all data, including that of collaborators at other academic institutions. Dr.
Elner is currently the Ravitz Foundation Professor of Ophthalmology
& Sciences and Professor of Pathology at the University of
Michigan. Dr. Elner's main research interest has consisted of
identifying mechanisms underlying age-related macular degeneration
(AMD). He has identified cell surface receptors, pathways, and
inflammatory mediators which he has now shown to lead to death of
retinal cells that are the main targets of disease. The pathways
leading to programmed cell death in key diseases affecting the retina
is termed apoptosis. Apoptosis, first described in the 1990's is
now accepted as the key process that leads to retinal tissue loss in
diabetes, AMD, and glaucoma, the three leading causes of irreversible
blindess in the United States. All apoptosis is preceded by
mitochondrial instability that results in metabolic stress due to
insufficient energy production, a state that our technology
detects.
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| Kurt Riegger, B.S.
President, Chief Operating Officer
Mr.
Riegger is responsible for the business strategy, business planning,
fundraising and early key management hires to launch and grow the
business. In concert with the founders, Mr. Riegger will be
responsible for the finance plan, raising capial, negotiating licenses
and strategic partner agreements.
Mr. Riegger , as a venture
investor and CEO/COO, has experience developing business strategy and
successfully operating early stage IT, bioinformatics and medical
device companies. Mr. Riegger has 4 years of experience as a venture
partner with North Coast Technology investors, a $100M fund in Ann
Arbor, and prior to that as the COO of a two time Inc 500 company,
Intelliseek, which was sold to AC NIelsen. Mr. Riegger has
launched, funded, and advised 26 companies in the past 6 years
including 4 medical device startups.
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Howard R. Petty, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer
Dr. Petty is responsible for the development of retinal metabolic analysis technology, and its creation and improvement. Dr.
Petty is currently a Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences
and Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Petty's primary research interests are in the broad areas of
inflammation and imaging. For many years, Dr. Petty has applied
novel imaging methods to unravel the key metabolic mediators in live
cells, including native molecules that become autofluorescent under
certain metabolic conditions, including NADH and flavoproteins. Recognizing
the role of mitochondrial NADH and flavoproteins as beacons of
metabolic instability, Drs. Elner and Petty conceived of non-invasively
probing the retina to detect early retinal dysfunction due to disease.
By combining their complementary approaches to disease, Drs.
Elner and Petty have devised retinal metabolic analysis technology as
an important new experimental and clinical tool for assessing ocular
health in a manner not previously possible.
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Matthew G. Field, M.S.
Business Manager
Mr.
Field is responsible for scientific research, assisting in instrument
and software development, creating and maintaining a marketing website,
and helping to support all aspects of business development and
operations.
Mr. Field has experience in scientific
research and helped conduct the initial studies using retinal metabolic
analysis technology. He also has significant experience in
computer programming, consulting, and fundraising. | 
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