Rob brings valuable experience in corporate biotech leadership and business strategy, from having led innovative and diverse teams from inception to successful exits to serving on the boards of multiple private and public life sciences companies.
Rob Chess is the former CEO and current chairman of Nektar Therapeutics, (NASDAQ: NKTR), a health care biotechnology company; serves as lead director of Twist Biosciences (NASDAQ: TWST), a company in the field of synthetic biology; and lectures at Stanford's Graduate School of Business.
Previously, Rob co-founded Biota Technologies, a pioneer of DNA sequencing for energy and industrial applications, Penederm, a dermatology company acquired by Mylan Laboratories; was the first CEO of OPX Biotechnologies, a renewable chemicals company sold to Cargill.
Founded in 2019, BigHat Biosciences is an early-stage biotechnology company in the San Francisco Bay Area. BigHat is led by a team of experts spanning machine learning, molecular biology, drug development, and medicine.
BigHat is supported by a cadre of leaders, including a Nobel Laureate and the physician-scientist that brought Herceptin to market.
To date, BigHat has raised USD 25m from top investors led by a16z and 8VC and is quickly succeeding in partnerships with large biopharma partners.
In addition to these collaborations, BigHat has active therapeutic programs spanning multiple domains of human health, including inflammation, oncology, hematology, and infectious diseases in preclinical studies.
Quanterix partners with leading health networks for Alzheimer's diagnosis advancements
Precision BioSciences reports FDA pre-IND feedback for PBGENE-HBV
VBI to sell manufacturing capabilities and enter new license agreement with Brii Biosciences
Ondine Biomedical's Steriwave shows promise in nasal pathogen reduction
BioSenic expands patent coverage for ATO therapeutic platform
PacBio unveils Nanobind PanDNA kit for enhanced DNA extraction solutions
Sequentify receives funding from Israel Innovation Authority
INOVIO plans BLA submission for INO-3107 as RRP treatment
ImmunityBio secures USD320m investment from Oberland Capital
Poolbeg Pharma prioritises promising RSV drug candidates identified through AI-led analysis
GHIT fund invests JPY500m in antimalarial drug clinical trial
AstraZeneca agrees acquisition of Icosavax
Versameb names new chairman of the board
Kling Bio appoints Dr Stefano Gullà as chief scientific officer