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Dr. Kornberg is an American biochemist and professor of structural biology at Stanford University School of Medicine. In 2006, Dr. Kornberg was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription. He determined how DNA’s genetic blueprint is read and used to direct the process for protein manufacture. Dr. Kornberg carried out a significant part of the research leading to this prize at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL), a Department of Energy (DOE)-supported research facility located at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

Prior to joining the faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Kornberg was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. In 1976 he became an Assistant Professor of Biological Chemistry at Harvard Medical School before moving to his current present position at Stanford Medical School in 1978.

Dr. Kornberg also carried out research at the Advanced Light Source, another DOE-funded synchrotron light source located at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Dr. Kornberg was the first to create an actual picture of how transcription works at a molecular level in the important group of organisms called eukaryotes (organisms whose cells have a well-defined nucleus). Humans and other mammals are included in this group, as is ordinary yeast. For cells to produce working proteins—a process necessary for life—information stored in DNA must first be transcribed into a form readable by the cell’s internal machinery.

Dr. Kornberg has served as the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Boards of many companies including Cocrystal Discovery, Inc, ChromaDex Corporation, StemRad, Ltd, Oplon Ltd, and Pacific Biosciences. He has also served as a Board Director for OphthaliX Inc., Protalix BioTherapeutics, Can-Fite BioPharma, Ltd, and Teva PharmaceuticalIndustries, Ltd.

Dr. Kornberg’s studies have provided an understanding at the atomic level of how the process of transcription occurs and also how it is controlled. Because the regulation of transcription underlies all aspects of cellular metabolism, Dr. Kornberg’s research also helps explain how the process sometimes goes awry, leading to birth defects, cancer, and other diseases.

Josh Shachar has been involved in advanced technologies for the Department of Defense for over 20 years. Mr. Shachar has held many executive management positions at high-technology companies dealing directly with the United States Department of Defense.

Mr. Shachar began his professional career in 1981 at ThermoControl, Inc. in Chatsworth, California, as the founder and Vice President of Engineering. This company was acquired by Daily Instrument of Houston, Texas. In 1996, Mr. Shachar served as the Vice President of Engineering at Pastushin Aviation, Inc. In the following year, Mr. Shachar founded and served as the President of Lambda Signatics, Inc., which was later acquired by Shapco Industries.

Mr. Shachar is still the principal owner and founder of numerous high-technology companies including ThermoCouple America LLC, EDEL Engineering Development Corp., and Engineered Magnetics, Inc.

Mr. Shachar is an author of numerous U.S. Patent applications in medical, biometrics and diagnostic applications.

Dr. Thomas Chen is a physician, a board certified neurosurgeon, and the Director of Surgical Neuro-oncology at USC. He is highly recognized for his skills as a neurosurgeon, and is also a tenured Professor of Neurosurgery and Pathology at USC.

Dr. Chen graduated summa cum laude in three years from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he also received Bronze Tablet honors (top 3% of undergraduate students) and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa national academic honor society. He then attended the University of California, San Francisco, where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha national medical honor society. Afterward, he underwent neurosurgery training at the University of Southern California (“USC”).

In order to prepare for his career in neuro-oncology, Dr. Chen also obtained a Ph.D. degree in pathobiology. His thesis was on the role of immunotherapy in malignant brain tumors. He is also a fellowship-trained spine surgeon and one of a few surgical neuro-oncologists in the country who specialize in spine cancer surgery.

Currently, Dr. Chen maintains a busy clinical practice in both surgical neuro-oncology and spine surgery. He heads a research laboratory focused on glioma biology.

Dr. Chen has published extensively on glioma biology and neurosurgery. He is on the editorial board for The Spine Journal and Journal of Neuro-oncology, and is on the review board for Neurosurgery and Journal of Neurosurgery. He is on numerous national neurosurgery committees.