Ali Ozes PhD

CEO

Altay Therapeutics Inc

Ali Ozes received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Davis in 2008. He received his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Indiana University Bloomington in 2016 where he discovered the first oligo nucleotide inhibitor targeting a long non-coding RNA called Hox Intergenic RNA or HOTAIR. His publication was one of the highest cited articles in the journal Oncogene in 2016. Ali completed his 2-year postdoc at Johnson and Johnson in South San Francico where he developed a novel oligo nucleotide inhibitor targeting an RNA modifying enzyme. Ali holds 2 patents and has 10 publications. In 2019, Ali founded Altay Therapeutics in 2019 with his co-founder Osman Ozes.

Personal Statement:

I am the founder and CEO of Altay Therapeutics Inc. based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. At Altay Therapeutics, we develop novel small molecule drugs by targeting disease causing transcription factors. We do this using genetics screens and molecular simulation-based approaches to identify druggable binding pockets. Using this approach, we successfully drugged two previously undruggable transcription factors involved in fibrosis and Ewing’s Sarcoma which are now advancing in our pipeline. The grant from the Friends of FSH Research will fund our efforts in drugging DUX4 transcription factor. We will leverage our platform and know-how to 1) ID novel small molecule binding cavities within DUX4, 2) Perform large in silico docking against these sites and 3) Demonstrate efficacy of hit molecules. The successful completion of this work will result in the first small molecule inhibitor for DUX4 and a path forward to the clinic.

See also: https://www.altaytherapeutics.com/