Dr. Steven Pelech, Ph.D.
President and Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Pelech is the principal founder of Kinexus Bioinformatics Corporation. He contributes leadership, vision and strategic planning to Kinexus with over twenty-five years experience in the areas of science, business and administration. He was the principal founder of Kinetek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and served as its President and C.E.O. for six years and was one of the founding scientists of the Biomedical Research Center. Prior to his academic and industrial experience, he spent five years in post-doctoral training with Sir Philip Cohen at the University of Dundee in Scotland and Nobel laureate Dr. Edwin Krebs at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is concurrently a full professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC), where he has been on faculty since 1988. Dr. Pelech received his B.Sc. (1979; Honours) and Ph.D. (1982) degrees in Biochemistry from UBC.

Dr. Pelech has authored over 200 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters about signal transduction and is one of the discoverers of the MAP kinase family of cell signalling proteins. His accolades include the 1993 Martin F. Hoffman Award for Research at UBC, and the 1993 Merck Frosst Canada Prize from the Canadian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He is the 2001 Distinguished Lecturer for the Faculty of Medicine at UBC for the basic sciences. He has served on grant review panels for the US National Institutes of Health, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the National Research Council of Canada, the Michael Smith Medical Health Research Foundation, Genome Canada, the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation and the American Heart Association, and has acted as an external reviewer for 22 other agencies including the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Israel Science Foundation. He has also been an external reviewer for 28 scientific journals.

Catherine Sutter, B.Sc.
Director of Sales&Marketing, Human Resources and Corporate Secretary

Ms. Sutter joined Kinexus in September 1999. She was initially responsible for the development and implementation of policies and programs affecting the Company’s human resource department, including organizational design and development, performance management, training and education, recruitment and retention, compensation, benefits and incentives, equity programs and health and safety. Since September 2002, Ms. Sutter has also headed the Sales and Marketing programs at Kinexus. She is responsible for developing the sales and marketing objectives and strategies for the company including directing market research, product planning, and sales forecasting to facilitate the strategic direction and promotion of the company's products and services. She is also responsible for the development and dissemination of informational literature to investors, clients, collaborators and the media.

Ms. Sutter has over seventeen years of industrial experience in research and development companies including four years as the Director of Biotechnology for Kinetek Biotechnology Corporation and five years as Director of Human Resources. Prior to that, she worked as a Laboratory Manager at the University of British Columbia and as the Office Administrator and Sales Coordinator for Gulf Shark Research in Bayou la Batre, Alabama. She received her B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Victoria. She was also a founding principal and the President of the Children's Research Foundation of British Columbia, a charitable Foundation dedicated to the advancement of research and knowledge of life-threatening and disabling diseases affecting children.

Dr. Hong Zhang, Ph.D.
Director of Research & Development

Dr. Zhang is the Director of Research and Development at Kinexus. He has over eighteen years of research experience from academia and industry. He oversees the company’s research and development activities and is responsible for directing commercial operations. He serves as an internal technical expert and outside consultant to clients, and provides guidance to staff members in their daily experiments. He is responsible for the expansion of the company's phosphoprotein tracking capability and the development of a series of new services including the Kinex™ antibody, lysate and kinase microarrays for tracking cell signaling proteins, their phosphorylation, and the specificity of kinase inhibitors. He is leading a team of scientists to develop new systems biology approaches for studying cell signaling networks. He also plays an active role in long-range strategic planning of scientific projects.

Dr. Zhang joined Kinexus in September 2002, after he completed his postdoctoral training with Dr. Steven Pelech in the Brain Research Center, University of British Columbia. He received his Ph.D degree (2000) in the field of Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of British Columbia. He also holds a M.Sc. (1990) in Biochemistry and a B.Sc. (1987) in Biology from China. Prior to coming to Canada, he was a researcher in Fujian Normal University. He has authored several research papers published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Biological Chemistry and Biochemistry. He also co-authored several reviews and book chapters.

Dr. Rod Verdie, Ph.D.
Director of IT

Dr. Rod Verdie is the Director of IT and Webmaster for Kinexus. He is responsible for database development and maintenance of the Company’s IT and communication systems. He has had over twenty four years of experience specializing in IT applications, support and development. His previous employment has included work as a senior programmer for the Advanced Technologies Center in Kitchener, Ontario, and the Experimental Center of Machine Design and Technologies in Moscow, Russia; and the Head of the Electronic Laboratory at the Moscow State University Biophysics Department. Dr. Verdie received his M.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering from the State University of Aerospace Technologies in Moscow, and his Ph.D. degree in Applied Science from the Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania.

Ms. Michelle Mah, Dipl. T., BBA
Controller

Ms. Mah joined Kinexus in November 2002. She is responsible for the development of financial statements and management reports, development of systems and accounting procedures including financial planning and analysis, general accounting, financial control, procurement, forecasting, and preparation of operating and capital budgets. Prior to Kinexus, Ms. Mah worked in the area of accounting for various companies such as Craftsman Collision Ltd. and Nippon Travel. She obtained her Diploma of Technology focusing on Accounting and Micro-Financial Systems in 1995 and completed her BBA from Simon Fraser University in 2001. She completed her CGA designation in 2009.