Scientific Staff
Sierra's full-time scientific team currently includes Dr. Andrews, five scientists and six science support staff. The team works in a highly interdisciplinary fashion, with team members bringing primary skills in molecular biology and cell biology. Sierra also has six consultants with exceptional skills in specific areas, as well as its Scientific Advisory Board members.
Laura Briggs, Ph.D.
Director of Cell Biology
Laura Briggs received her B.S. degree in Nutrition in 1993 and her Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Health in 2000 from the University of Nevada, Reno. After a one-year post-doctoral position at UNR she joined Sierra Sciences in 2001 and is the Director of Cell Biology. Dr. Briggs is also currently serving as the biology Lab Coordinator for Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) and has collaborated on research projects at the V.A. Medical Center in Reno, Nevada.
Rathnam Chaguturu, Ph.D.
Director of Drug Discovery
Rathnam Chaguturu holds a Doctorate from SV University, Tirupati, India in Plant Biochemistry. After his postdoctoral work at University of Wisconsin-Madison, he joined Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ) in 1976 as an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry, and later moved to Dow Chemical Company-Central Research Laboratories (Wayland, MA) as Project Leader. Rathnam Joined Sierra Sciences in 2006 after a 22-year outstanding career at FMC Corporation (Princeton, NJ) where he led discovery research efforts focused on ion channel, receptor and enzyme-based targets. Dr. Chaguturu has authored over 45 research publications including reviews and book chapters, and holds 10 US patents.
Chris Foster
Director of Molecular Biology
Chris Foster received his B.S. degree in
Molecular Biology in 1985 from San Jose State University. He then
went to UC Davis Medical Center, working in the Dept. of Ob/Gyn,
studying human papillomavirus. He initially produced human
monoclonal antibodies against HPV coat proteins followed by the
development of an infectivity assay and subsequent antibody
neutralization assay for HPV-11. Chris joined Sierra Sciences in
November 1999 and is the Director of Molecular Biology; he has
distinguished himself as leader of our molecular biological efforts
towards curing aging.
Lancer Brown
Scientist II
Lancer Brown received his B.S. and M.S.
degrees in Biotechnology in 2003 from the University of Nevada, Reno
and was one of three students in the inaugural advanced BS/MS
Biotechnology Program. He distinguished himself by being the first
student to complete the program. Lancer came to Sierra Sciences as
an intern while completing his degree. Following graduation, he
joined Sierra Sciences full-time and is a Scientist II, where he has proven to
have remarkable ability to engineer genes and DNA.
Jian (Jim) Zhang, Ph.D.
Scientist I - High-Throughput Screening
Jim
Zhang received his B.S. degree in Medicinal Chemistry from Shenyang
Pharmaceutical University in 1990, his M.S. degree in Organic
Chemistry from Central Michigan University in 1998 and his Ph.D. in
Organic Chemistry from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2004. He
holds a Chinese patent "Formulation of Agan anti-cancer and
anti-hepatitis preparations containing norcantharidin and Chinese
herbs" with Shan, Xibin and Guo, Xulin. At UNR he designed and
synthesized trifluoromethylaryl diazirines for photoaffinity
labeling reagents. Since joining Sierra Sciences in November 2004, he has
distinguished himself in our high-throughput screening efforts.
Yu-Hsiang (Leo) Lee, Ph.D.
Post-Doc - Cell Biology
Yu-Hsiang Lee received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Taiwan Tunghai University in 1998 and his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science from University of Southern California (USC) in 2006. He studied gene delivery under ultrasonic field using both viral and nonviral DNA vectors for his doctoral research. Dr. Lee joined Sierra Sciences' Cell Biology team in 2006.
