Key Personnel

Michael I. Sherman, Ph.D., President and co-founder.  Dr. Sherman carried out and/or supervised basic and applied research for twenty years at Hoffmann-La Roche where he managed drug discovery efforts in three therapeutic areas. Since 1990, he has co-founded and initially served as president of six other biotechnology companies. Dr. Sherman is a Partner at Elm Street Ventures, Chairman of Iconic Therapeutics, Inc. and serves on the Board of OncoMEDx, Inc.  Following his undergraduate work at McGill University, Dr. Sherman received his PhD in molecular biology from the State University of New York, and did postdoctoral work at University of Oxford.

Michael P. Weiner, Ph.D. is Chief Scientific Officer and a co-founder of Affomix.  Dr. Weiner has a demonstrated record of placing well-received and innovative products in to the molecular biology marketplace, including Stratagene’s Quick-change site-directed mutagenesis kit and the first Next-generation DNA sequencing instrument (454 Life Sciences).  He was a Vice President at three CuraGen-associated biotechnology start-up companies: RainDance Technologies, The Rothberg Institute and 454 Life Sciences. Prior to that he was Head of the Department of Genomic Sciences at GlaxoSmithKline where he pioneered the development of a high-throughput, automated Y2H assay and a bead-based genotyping technology.  Before joining GSK he was Senior Staff Scientist at Stratagene Cloning Systems, Inc where he was responsible for advanced methods development. Dr Weiner holds a Ph.D. in genetics from Cornell University and did postdoctoral work in physical chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at Cornell University. Dr. Weiner has recently completed editing of a new laboratory manual from Cold Spring Harbor Press, entitled “Genetic Variation.”

John Boyce, Co-Head Business Development, Sales and Marketing. Mr. Boyce, a co-founder of DelphiBio LLC, has more than 12 years of business development experience in the life sciences industry. He has been responsible for putting in place in a number of companies the sales, marketing, and business development infrastructure. Most recently Mr. Boyce served as Head of Business Development for Helicos BioSciences. Previously, he was Senior Director of Commercial Development for Parallele Biosciences, Inc.  He was also Senior Director of Business Development for Genomics Collaborative. Prior to that Mr. Boyce served as Director, United States Sales and Marketing at Sequenom, Inc.

Jessica Tonani, Co-Head Business Development, Sales and Marketing.  Ms. Tonani, a co-founder of DelphiBio LLC, is a sales and marketing professional with over 10 years experience in life sciences including senior positions at Affymetrix, Inc. and Sequenom, Inc. She spent several years at Affymetrix, most recently as associate director of DNA product marketing at Affymetrix, during which time she led efforts for the successful launch of the SNP6.0 product.  Prior to that she performed a direct sales function at Sequenom.  Ms. Tonani was a Howard Hughes fellow with an MS in immunology and a BS in microbiology.

Janet Verney, Director of Operations, joined Affomix in February 2009.  Ms. Verney previously served as Director of Operations at RainDance Technologies and The Rothberg Institute. Prior to that she was President of Comprehensive Consulting, which provided administrative and educational services and support to area schools, boards of directors, parents and other educational organizations. Ms. Verney has a Bachelors degree in early childhood education and administration from Charter Oak State College, New Britain, CT.