Building Baltimore biotech from research to startup

Eddie Cherok, PhD, is the Chief Business Officer at Blackbird Laboratories, where he oversees business operations, investment strategy, and company formation.

Prior to joining Blackbird, Eddie was a founding team member and Head of Corporate Development at Shoreline Biosciences, a biotech company developing allogeneic cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. At Shoreline, Eddie helped raise over $180 million in venture financing and established research and development partnerships with Kite and BeiGene. Previously, Eddie was an Associate Director of Corporate Development at Scripps Research and Calibr, and a Venture Fellow and consultant at Flagship Pioneering. Eddie earned his PhD in Molecular Medicine from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Anthony Accorsi, PhD, is a Venture Partner at Blackbird Laboratories, where he is responsible for opportunity identification, scientific development, and strategic execution of Blackbird projects towards NewCo formation.

Prior to joining Blackbird, Anthony worked as the Head of Muscle Biology at ReNAgade Therapeutics as well as Fulcrum Therapeutics where he held roles of increasing responsibility up to Director of preclinical discovery and translational biology in neuromuscular diseases. Anthony also consulted for Third Rock Ventures where he worked on scientific validation and NewCo build strategy across multiple therapeutic areas and modalities. Anthony earned his PhD in Human Physiology from Boston University.

Virginia Burger, PhD, is a Venture Partner at Blackbird Laboratories, where she is building innovative biotechnology companies that accelerate solutions to patients.

Prior to joining Blackbird, Virginia founded New Equilibrium Biosciences, a company focused on discovering drugs targeting intrinsically disordered proteins through its computational-experimental platform. As CEO of New Equilibrium, she recruited and led a world-class team, raised venture capital and grant funding, drove strategy, and built the company’s initial AI-based algorithms for modeling protein dynamics. Previously, Virginia held roles in both business and algorithm development at XtalPi. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Computational Biophysics at MIT after earning her PhD in Computational Biology from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

Matt Lawler is a Venture Partner at Blackbird Laboratories, where his mission is to create new ventures that turn exciting science into successful therapies.

Prior to joining Blackbird, Matt co-founded TriBiotica LLC, a company developing oncology therapies utilizing in situ activatable chemistry to target previously un-druggable tumor markers. Matt co-invented TriBiotica’s core technology and designed discovery and preclinical stage experimental programs. As President, he led the company’s financing strategy, developed business operations, and structured the regulatory development path of lead assets. Previously, Matt was a preclinical development manager at CytoCure and Director of Molecular Biology Projects at ACGT, Inc. Matt earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Jonathan Robbins, MD, PhD is a Venture Partner at Blackbird Laboratories, where he is responsible for new company creation, scientific diligence, and translational projects.

Prior to joining Blackbird, Jonathan was at Foresite Capital focusing on new company creation and investments spanning public and private markets. Jon was previously an Executive Director at Merck Research Laboratories in Translational Medicine. At Merck he was responsible for leading the strategy and clinical execution of individual drug development programs spanning multiple therapeutic areas, and served as the Therapeutic Area Head for Immunology in Translational Medicine.

Jon received his MD from Cornell University and his PhD from the Rockefeller University. He completed training in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the combined Brigham and Women’s/Massachusetts General Hospital program, and was on faculty at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital before transitioning to industry.

Geoffrey M. Lynn, MD, PhD, is a biotech innovator and executive with experience spanning multiple therapeutic modalities and disease areas. He founded and served as CEO of Avidea Technologies, leading the company from its inception at Johns Hopkins FastForward through its acquisition by Vaccitech (now Barinthus Biotherapeutics), where he became Chief Scientific Officer and helped guide scientific and corporate strategy. After supporting Barinthus’ merger with Clywedog Therapeutics, he joined Blackbird Labs as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and now serves as the founding CEO of Aletira Therapeutics, which is leveraging advances in alternative splicing biology to build a pipeline of gene therapies. Dr. Lynn trained as a postdoctoral fellow with Robert Seder at the NIH, earned his MD from Johns Hopkins, and completed his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford as an NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Scholar and NSF Graduate Research Fellow. He received his BS in chemistry from Elon University where he was a Goldwater Scholar.

Maisha Rahman, PhD, is Chief of Staff at Blackbird Laboratories, where she identifies strategic partnerships and funding opportunities to advance the development of early-stage life science companies.

Prior to joining Blackbird, Maisha was a Biologics Scientist at the Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute, where she led the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies for oncologic and neurodegenerative diseases. Maisha earned her BA in Neuroscience from Columbia University and her PhD in Genetics from Albert Einstein College of Medicine studying the role of glycosylation in dendrite development.

Avinash (Avi) Khanna, PhD, is the Senior Director of Molecular Discovery at Blackbird Laboratories, where he oversees the development and execution of research programs and collaborative initiatives. Before joining Blackbird, Avi was a Principal Scientist at Hansoh Bio in Rockville, where he led multiple preclinical programs to deliver development candidates in the immunology and oncology therapeutic areas. Previously, he worked as a medicinal chemist at Constellation Pharmaceuticals, where he played a key role in the discovery of Tulmimetostat, a second-generation EZH2 inhibitor. Avi earned his PhD in Chemistry from UC Irvine and conducted postdoctoral research as a Damon Runyon Fellow at Harvard University.

Yixuan Qiu, PhD, is the Director of Research Programs and Operations at Blackbird Laboratories, where she supports early drug discovery research programs and external partnership relationships.

Prior to joining Blackbird, Yixuan was a Research Scientist at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of NIH (NCATS), where she managed collaborations between private companies, academic labs, and government institutes to develop novel non-addictive pain therapies. Previously, Yixuan held a similar role as a Senior Research Scientist at Reaction Biology Corporation where she supported SBIR-funded preclinical drug discovery projects. Yixuan earned her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Rutgers University studying lipid metabolism.

Esther Park, is an Associate Director of Ventures at Blackbird Laboratories, where she supports early drug discovery research programs and external partnership relationships.

Prior to joining Blackbird, Esther earned her PhD in Molecular Biophysics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Working in the laboratory of Dr. Rachel Green, Ph.D., her thesis research focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of ribosome quality control and mRNA decay in bacteria.

Emily Wilkinson, MBA, is the Head of Finance and Operations at Blackbird Laboratories, where she oversees the finance and accounting functions and champions operational effectiveness.

Prior to joining Blackbird, Emily built and led the finance function of an education technology startup where she navigated the non-profit organization through significant growth. Previously, Emily directed the financial operation and strategy of the O’Neill Institute, a public health policy and research organization housed at Georgetown Law. Emily holds a certificate in Global Research Management, and earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology and her MBA from Virginia Tech.

Bridget Duvall serves as the Director of Lab Operations at Blackbird Laboratories, where she is managing the operational planning and day 1 execution strategy for the opening of Blackbird BioHub.

With more than 15 years of experience in drug development across pharmaceutical companies and academic research institutions, Bridget brings deep expertise in translational science and operational leadership. She is proud to be a co-inventor of Cedazuridine, a small-molecule therapeutic developed for the treatment of certain cancers.

Before joining Blackbird, Bridget led laboratory operations at Barinthus Biopharmaceutics, overseeing all North American activities and supporting the company’s growth and innovation in the biopharma space.

Lyndsay is an Administrative Assistant at Blackbird Laboratories, where she supports the precise coordination of team schedules and travel, office management, and overall operational effectiveness.

Prior to joining Blackbird, Lyndsay held roles in administration and management throughout her undergraduate studies, where she also received a certification in Microsoft Office Suite. Most recently Lyndsay studied Operational Management at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom and earned her undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Towson University.