9 April 2019 - - US-based biotechnology company Jnana Therapeutics has appointed Donald Nicholson, Ph.D. as chair of its board of directors, the company said.

Nicholson most recently served as chief executive officer of Nimbus Therapeutics.

Prior to Nimbus, Nicholson spent 25 years at Merck, where he held various strategic, leadership and operational roles across diverse therapeutic areas including inflammation, immunology and neuroscience, amongst others.

Nicholson began his career at Merck Frosst in Montreal as a senior research biologist and advanced through various positions of increasing responsibility, including vice president and site head of the Merck Neurosciences Research site in San Diego, vice president of immunology and infectious diseases and then vice president and worldwide discovery head for the Bone, Respiratory, Immunology and Endocrine franchise based in New Jersey.

Nicholson has co-authored more than 150 publications in peer-reviewed scientific and medical journals and is internationally recognized for his contributions to the field of apoptotic cell death.

He is the recipient of multiple academic and professional honors. Don is also a member of the board of directors of Kymera Therapeutics and Generation Bio.

Jnana Therapeutics is a biotechnology company creating the first drug discovery platform to unlock the solute carrier family of metabolite transporters as a therapeutic target class.

Jnana is systematically targeting SLCs, the cell's metabolite gates, to advance first-in-class therapies for diseases where patients have limited or no treatment options.

Headquartered in Boston, Jnana launched in 2017 with USD 50m in series A financing from investors including Polaris Partners, Avalon Ventures, Versant Ventures, AbbVie Ventures and Pfizer R and D Innovate.