13 May 2022 - - US-based biotechnology company ReviR Therapeutics, which is focused on developing RNA-targeting small molecule drugs, has formed its scientific advisory board with the appointments of Dr. Lynne E. Maquat and Dr. Brian Safina, the company said.

Dr. Maquat brings to ReviR decades of experience in RNA research. Dr. Maquat was the first to discover nonsense-mediated mRNA decay by studying human diseases, and subsequently the exon-junction complex, the pioneer round of translation, and Staufen-mediated mRNA decay pathways.

Her laboratory also discovered a new microRNA decay pathway. She received numerous awards, including the international RNA Society Lifetime Achievement Award in Service and Science, the Wolf Prize in Medicine from Israel, and the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize in association with Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Maquat is the J. Lowell Orbison Endowed chair and Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at University of Rochester.

She is also an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an elected Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Safina currently serves as senior vice president and Head of Research at Bolt Biotherapeutics.

Previously, he worked at Genentech in the Discovery Chemistry Department for more than 13 years, where he served in roles with increasing responsibilities, leading early and late stage drug discovery projects.

He has extensive experience in medicinal chemistry, and has made contributions in multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, and neuroscience.

Dr. Safina has published over 25 papers and is co-author on over 75 granted patents and patent applications. He earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California, San Diego.

ReviR Therapeutics is a research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies, machine learning/AI, and the inherent biology embedded within RNA to develop novel small-molecule medicines to treat human disease.

Founded in 2021, ReviR is developing the VoyageR AI platform to expand beyond the protein-based target space to reach a large number of known disease targets previously considered "undruggable.