Meet Our Team
Scientific Team
Scientific Team CREAGEN BIOSCIENCES
Dr. David Barnes-Seeman, Ph.D.
Director of R&D and External Alliances
Dr. Barnes-Seeman holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Harvard and has 15 years of medicinal chemistry experience at Novartis. As Director of R&D and External Alliances, he leads our chemistry team to deliver high-quality results to customers. Depending on customer needs, this ranges from solving difficult chemistry problems to deliver requested targets, to being the primary compound designer and effectively being the chemistry project-team co-leader. In addition to deep expertise in traditional small-molecule synthesis and purification, he has experience in areas including bioconjugation chemistry, peptide synthesis, peptide and oligosaccharide conjugates, polymers, and split-pool synthesis.
After undergraduate studies in the labs of Professors Tohru Fukuyama and Samuel J. Danishefsky, David completed his Ph.D. with Professor EJ Corey at Harvard University. There, he completed the total synthesis of trichodimerol. He was an HHMI postdoctoral fellow in the labs of Professor Stuart L. Schreiber. There, he expanded the functional group compatibility of small-molecule microarrays and invented the attachment technology still used today for this platform.
Dr. Barnes- Seeman, then went on to work at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research for 15 years where he held positions of increasing responsibility. He led projects for more than 13 years of this time. As a scientific leader at Novartis, he helped lead teams of chemists and biologists to deliver candidates for every lead optimization project he was a part of. He co-led multiple cross-functional teams through IND-enabling studies and served as the discovery representative for projects going into late development. Throughout this time, he led numerous early-stage projects from project conception through screening, hit triage, and hit-to-lead efforts. He co-led a project breaking new ground in bifunctional ligand space during the inaugural round of the Novartis Genesis Labs, an internal incubator environment to support multidisciplinary teams to validate disruptive concepts which may revolutionize drug discovery and development.
Dr. Wai (Donald) Kit Pang, Ph.D.
Scientific Director
Dr. Pang brings more than two decades of industrial experience in the design and synthesis of novel chemical entities. His research spans a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas, including anti-infectives, oncology, and metabolic diseases. Most recently, he co-founded two biotechnology startups—Alfalfa Pharmaceutical in 2013 and Propel Sciences in 2016—and remains deeply committed to supporting early-stage biotechnology companies, guiding them through complex scientific challenges in chemical research.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Pang developed extensive expertise in process research and development at Amgen and in medicinal chemistry at Cubist Pharmaceuticals.
He earned his B.S. in Chemistry with highest honors from Imperial College London, followed by a Ph.D. for his investigations into novel organic synthetic methodologies employing rhodium carbenoid chemistry. As a postdoctoral researcher, he served as a group leader in the laboratory of Professor Robert A. Holton at Florida State University, where he made significant contributions to the development of a practical total synthesis of Taxol® and its related analogs.
Dr. Hui Wu, Ph.D.
Associate Director of Chemistry
Dr. Hui Wu is an Associate Director of Chemistry, he has more than 15 years of experience in drug discovery and medicinal chemistry across multiple therapeutic areas, working with small molecules, natural products, macrocycles, oligosaccharides, siRNA, and antibody/protein–drug conjugates. During his tenure at ArQule and Ariaid, he led scientific teams and advanced programs that generated multiple pre-IND candidates. To date, Hui has contributed to the nomination of eight compounds for pre-IND studies, arising from both target-based and phenotypic drug discovery approaches.
He has authored or co-authored 15 scientific publications and presentations detailing these research efforts, and he is listed on 14 patents, with two additional filings in progress. Over his 24-year career in the biotech industry, Dr. Hui has held various leadership positions, consistently driving the development of preclinical assets.
At CreaGen Inc., Dr. Hui brings this extensive experience and deep scientific insight to guide the successful design and synthesis of complex molecules. He leverages not only his technical expertise but also a broad network of mentors, collaborators, and consultants—allowing him to deliver results efficiently, effectively, and with a high degree of scientific rigor.
Dr. Scott Gullicksen, Ph.D.
Director of Biology
Dr. Gullicksen provides scientific leadership across CreaGen’s fee-for-service biology and pharmacology programs, ensuring client goals translate into well-controlled, reproducible, and decision-ready datasets. He established CreaGen’s in-house biology capabilities by building in vitro and cell-based assay workflows from the ground up and overseeing study design, planning, and execution to meet client timelines and data-quality expectations.
Dr. Gullicksen also contributes to the design and management of partner CRO-led in vivo studies—including efficacy and safety—and supports the development of integrated data packages that incorporate pharmacokinetic components when appropriate.
His service delivery is strengthened by broad technical expertise across biochemical and cell-based methodologies, including viability and cytotoxicity assays, enzyme and binding assays, immunoassays, microscopy-based phenotyping, and cell-isolation/flow-based workflows. He additionally brings hands-on analytical experience with HPLC and mass spectrometry.
With a research career beginning in 1996 as a Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Georgia, Scott has consistently advanced assay rigor, data quality, and operational efficiency across both academic and industry environments. His background includes developing custom data-analysis tools and applying robust statistical approaches to produce clear, defensible scientific conclusions.
SCIENTISTS
Yanchang Huang
Sachin Popat Gholap
Dinesh Barak
Venkatesan (Venky) Krishnamoorthy
Pria Parker
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