FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW, MIT's MAGAZINE OF INNOVATION, NAMES SANDRA WAUGH RUGGLES ONE OF THE WORLD'S TOP YOUNG INNOVATORSSOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- September 20, 2004: Catalyst Biosciences, a protein therapeutics company, today announced that its co-founder, Sandra Waugh Ruggles, Ph.D., has been named to the 2004 list of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators by Technology Review, MIT's Magazine of Innovation. The TR100, chosen by the editors of Technology Review and a panel of judges, consists of 100 individuals under age 35 whose innovative work in technology has a notable impact on today's world. This year's nominees are recognized for their contributions in transforming the nature of technology and business in industries such as biotechnology and medicine, computing, and nanotechnology.
Ruggles, 30, is a scientist and entrepreneur who has focused her work on proteases; first, by expanding the understanding of protease/substrate recognition, and currently by broadening the role of proteases as therapeutic agents. In 2004, she co-founded Catalyst Biosciences, a company leveraging the highly specific and catalytic nature of proteases to design therapeutics in disease areas such as cancer and inflammation that are traditionally approached by antibody or small molecule therapies. Targeted, selective proteases represent a new therapeutic modality in biotechnology. In 1999, Ruggles was on the team that conceived Quicksilver Genomics, an application service provider for the emerging structural genomics market that won the $150,000 grand prize in Garage.com's PLANedu 2000 student business plan competition.
Ruggles received her B.S. in Physics from the University of California at San Diego, and her Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of California at San Francisco.
The 2004 TR100's panel of judges includes senior executives from Boston University, Caltech, Cambridge University, CombinatoRx, Concept2Company, Cornell University, General Electric, Geekcorps, Georgia Tech, Harvard Medical School, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intellectual Ventures, Microsoft, MIT, Northwestern University, PureTech Ventures, Singapore Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, TIAX, Wharton, Xerox, and YankeeTek Ventures.
"In the five years since we began naming our annual selection of the world's top innovators under age 35, inclusion among the TR100 has become one of the most prestigious awards for young innovators around the world," said David Rotman, executive editor of Technology Review. "This year's winners are all pioneering fascinating innovations in the fields of biomedicine, computing and nanotechnology, and were chosen after a rigorous selection and judging process. The result is an elite group whose visions and inventions will shape the future of technology."
Ruggles will be honored September 29 - 30 at Technology Review's Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT, where keynote speakers will include Vinod Khosla of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and Rick Wagoner, chairman of General Motors.
About Catalyst Biosciences
Catalyst is a protein therapeutics company harnessing the catalytic power of
proteases to create novel therapeutic agents. Catalyst's technology includes
methods to rapidly create and characterize tailor-made proteases applicable
to a broad spectrum of clinical categories. By engineering proteases to inactivate
specific proteins that promote disease progression in areas such as cancer
and inflammation, Catalyst is developing a new modality in biopharmaceuticals.
For more information, visit www.catbio.com.
Contact:
For Catalyst:
Karen Roberson, 415.228.3395, karen@sofinnova.com
For TR100 and Technology Review:
Kristen Collins, KMC Partners, 617.833.5574, kristen@kmcpartners.com
