FREMONT, Calif.– Probius, a deep tech company bridging the data gap between biology and AI, today announced two new members elected to the board of directors. John J. MacWilliams, Senior Advisor to the Director at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and most recently Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Senior Advisor to the Homeland Security Advisor in the Biden Administration, was elected alongside Janis Naeve, a biopharma veteran and Partner at Cota Capital, an early investor in Probius.
“The strength brought by these two leaders comes at a fascinating time for Probius,” said Emmanuel Quevy, CEO of Probius. “Our commercialization will benefit greatly from Janis’ guidance within the biotechnology market and for biochemical applications. John’s insights into the transformational impact that high-fidelity data can have will help fuel the AI revolution from discovery to clinical applications.”
In addition to his roles at LLNL and with President Biden’s administration, John J. MacWilliams held roles as a Senior Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, and a Senior Advisor at the Boston Consulting Group. During the Obama Administration, Mr. MacWilliams served as Associate Deputy Secretary and Chief Risk Officer of the U.S. Department of Energy. His extensive experience in finance, investment, and banking was gained while at JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, among other firms, and as an entrepreneur.
“Probius is positioned to transform how biological data impacts the digital age as no company has,” said Mr. MacWilliams. “I am excited to lend my experience to assure that the company has every opportunity to succeed in its mission of fueling the AI revolution to improve human health.”
Janis Naeve joined Cota Capital, which led the $8 Million Series A investment in Probius, in 2022. She previously helped establish and lead Amgen Ventures, which nurtured an investment portfolio encompassing digital health, healthcare IT, and advanced data analytics. In addition to her nearly two decades in biotech investing, Naeve served as the Director of Business Development for several biotech firms.
“Probius is focused on bringing real game-changing bioanalytical tools to market,” said Naeve. “Understanding complex problems in human health requires as much information as possible. Probius’ digital representations of the complexity of biology are designed to speed therapeutics to market. It’s exciting to have input on what could be the next big breakthrough.”
The company is preparing to launch its Quantum Electrochemical Spectroscopy (QES) technology, a breakthrough utilizing a multidimensional approach to represent biological information as a molecular vibration signature. This signal represents the unique composition of the specimen, and a digital representation of those vibrations reside in the cloud as a digital twin. This unbiased approach to data acquisition offers the ability to analyze the makeup of biological samples across multiple scales, from metabolites to proteins and single cell organisms.
