Executive Management

Jan Turek has been our President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors since June 2001. From 1996 to 2001, Mr. Turek served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for the Biological Products business unit of Bayer Corporation, a unit dedicated to therapeutic proteins. Mr. Turek has also held positions at Bristol Myers Squibb Co. and Sandoz Inc. Mr. Turek currently serves on the board of directors of Southeast BIO and is Co-Chair of the Emerging Companies Forum of the North Carolina Biosciences Organization. Mr. Turek received his B.S. in Biochemistry from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Dale Sander has served as our Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, Finance since January 2005. From October 1996 to April 2004, Mr. Sander served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Corporate Development of Maxim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company. From 1993 to 1996, Mr. Sander held Chief Financial Officer positions at Xytronyx, Inc., a public biotechnology company, and Tactyl Technologies, Inc., a medical device manufacturer. Mr. Sander is a Certified Public Accountant and was a Senior Manager with Ernst & Young LLP. He received his B.S. in Business Administration from San Diego State University.

David Spencer, Ph.D. has served as our Chief Operating Officer since October 2001 and has served as our Senior Vice President, Research and Development since August 2004. From October 2001 through August 2004, he served as our Vice President of Research and Development. From 1983 to 2001, Dr. Spencer held several positions of increasing responsibility, including Vice President, Respiratory/Critical Care Life Cycle Management in the Biological Products Business Unit at Bayer Corporation. Dr. Spencer received his B.A. in Psychobiology from the University of California at Los Angeles, his M.A. in Physiological Psychology from California State University at Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in Physiological Psychology from Indiana University.

Bipin Dalmia has over 15 years of experience with recombinant protein expression systems. Dr. Dalmia joined Biolex from Syngenta Plant Science where he served as the Business Unit Leader for Syngenta's (plant-made) Biopharmaceuticals initiative. His other previous positions include Director of Product Concepts and Business Development at Novartis Agricultural Discovery Institute and Research Manager, Protein Core Facility at Pioneer Hi-Bred. Dr. Dalmia received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Iowa State University and his MBA from Drake University.

Lynn Dickey, Ph.D. has more than 20 years of experience in gene expression. She has been at Biolex since the company’s formation, and previously served as Director of Research. Prior to joining the company, Dr. Dickey was a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany at North Carolina State University. In that capacity, she was Project Leader of feredoxin gene expression with a concentration in plant mRNA stability and translation. Previously, she held a variety of research positions at North Carolina State University in the departments of Botany and Biochemistry. Dr. Dickey received her B.S. and her M.S. in Horticulture, and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, all from North Carolina State University.

Walker Long, M.D. leads the preclinical and clinical development of Biolex’s drug candidates including the clinical development of Locteron, currently in Phase 2 testing for the treatment of hepatitis C. Dr. Long previously served as Vice President, Clinical Development of AtheroGenics, Inc., where he directed clinical development, data management and statistical analysis. As Senior Vice President, Worldwide Project Operations at Cato Research, Ltd., a leading contract research organization, Dr. Long was the lead scientific medical and project officer for over 100 active drug development projects. He previously directed clinical research during his ten years at the Wellcome Research Laboratories at Burroughs Welcome Co., during which time two first-in-class drugs received approval. Dr. Long has also served on the faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Long received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Return to top