Curriculum Vitae of Kris Venkat, Ph.D.

Dr. K.Venkat is an experienced entrepreneur, manager and teacher. He is currently chairman of Morphochem, Inc., Transvivo Inc., and Automated Cell,  Inc. In addition, he is chairman of the supervisory boards of Accentua Pharma AG and Juelich Enzyme Products GmbH, both based in Germany. He has over 25 years of broad experience with both large corporations - including Merck &  Co. and H J Heinz Co. - and start up companies. At Heinz and its subsidiaries he held a number of senior management positions including general manager, vice president and corporate research director. Starting from 1992 he served as chairman and chief executive officer of Phyton, Inc. as well as managing director of its German subsidiary (Phyton GmbH) for eight years and  built up this highly successful biotechnology company whose primary technology  platform is based on plant cell culture production of high value compounds including Taxol®, the world's best selling oncology drug ($1.5 billion/yr.), marketed by Bristol Myers Squibb.
Dr. Venkat has been associated with numerous high technology companies as a founder, board member or advisor including Sequenom and Celsion (Nasdaq and Amex  listed companies); Genscope (now part of Perkin Elmer); Synosis (now Perceptive Biosystems, PE Corp.); Filtron (now part of Pall); Goosecross Cellars (a Napa  Valley winery); LifetecNet and Nijjer Agro Foods (listed on the Indian stock  exchange). He is also a senior investment advisor to TVM (Techno Ventures Management, Munich), one of Europe's largest venture capital funds.
He also serves as visiting professor of biochemical engineering at Rutgers University. He has held visiting faculty positions at Yale University, Dartmouth College, Anna University, India, and University College, Galway, Ireland. He received his undergraduate education at the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras and his Ph.D. from Rutgers University.