SHAMROCK STRUCTURES, LLC
Accelerating Structure-Based Drug Discovery
ALEX DEMENTIEV, PH.D.
Senior Research Scientist
Dr. Alex Dementiev currently serves as a Senior Research Scientist at Shamrock Structures where he utilizes his expertise in protein analytical chemistry, macromolecular crystallography and protein-small molecule and protein-protein structure analyses. He also has expertise working with membrane proteins. Prior to his time at Shamrock, Dr. Dementiev served as Assistant Research Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics where his research focused on structural and biochemical studies of proto-oncogene K-Ras-4B variant and the regulation and inhibitory mechanism of serine protease inhibitors, including several blood coagulation factors. Before UIC, he worked as a visiting scientist at Argonne National Laboratory in the Gene Expression and Differentiation Group studying the characterization of protein factors involved in human obesity. He has also served as Senior Scientist in the Laboratory of Protein Engineering at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Center for Bioengineering. Dr. Dementiev holds an M.S. in Molecular and Chemical Physics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and a Ph.D in Structural Molecular Biology from the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology.
MICHAEL T. FLAVIN, PH.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Michael Flavin is Chief Executive Officer of Shamrock Structures and a Managing Director of Flavin Ventures, LLC—the group that founded and launched Shamrock Structures. He was the founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of MediChem Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCLS). Dr. Flavin took MediChem from start-up in 1987 through many stages of development including the successful completion of MediChem's $35M private placement in 1999, the acquisition and integration of ThermoGen and Emerald Biostructures and MediChem's October, 2000 $54M IPO. He oversaw formation of the AXAS subsidiary and contract with the U.S. Department of Energy and management of the COMCAT beam line at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. MediChem was acquired in 2002 by deCODE genetics (NASDAQ:DCGN) for $83M. Dr. Flavin received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame, a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. Prior to founding MediChem, Dr. Flavin worked as a Senior Research Associate for Baxter International.
JOHN L. FLAVIN, MBA
Managing Director
John Flavin is a Managing Director of Flavin Ventures, LLC—the group that founded and launched Shamrock Structures. He is also the Associate Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago. He was formerly the President and Chief Financial Officer of Advanced Life Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of drugs in the therapeutic areas of infection, cancer and respiratory diseases. Prior to that, he was the Chief Operating Officer and a director of MediChem Life Sciences, Inc., a chemistry-based drug discovery company. At MediChem, Mr. Flavin was responsible for developing and managing the business and scientific operations and was the Chief Executive Officer of its protein engineering and proteomics subsidiaries, Emerald BioStructures, ThermoGen and AXAS. In addition, he led each of Advanced Life Sciences' and MediChem's capital financings totaling over $220 million, including 2 IPOs. Mr. Flavin also led the establishment of MediChem's IT / financial reporting functions and project management systems. Mr. Flavin holds a BS in Business Administration from Marquette University and an MBA from Lewis University.
NANCY TYRRELL
Vice President of Business Development
Nancy is a Principal of Flavin Ventures, LLC and Vice President of Business Development at Shamrock Structures, a protein crystallography research company that was founded by Flavin Ventures in 2003. Nancy has over 20 years of experience in business development in the life sciences field and has worked with several of the Flavin Ventures’ portfolio companies, including MediChem Life Sciences, Advanced Life Sciences and Shamrock Structures, to develop successful partnerships and collaborations with top pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies around the world.
LEADERSHIP TEAM
AYE MAR
Senior Research Scientist and Laboratory Manager
Aye Mar currently serves as a Senior Research Scientist and Laboratory Manager at Shamrock Structures where, in leading our medicinal chemistry efforts, she has carried out numerous multi-step organic synthesis programs to prepare compounds for biological screening. Prior to Shamrock, Aye worked for eight years with Advanced Life Sciences synthesizing many compounds as part of anti-infective and anti-cancer drug screening campaigns. Aye spent eighteen years at MediChem Life Sciences as a Senior Research Scientist and Laboratory manager and conducted numerous bench-scale to kilo-scale complex multi-step synthesis projects and combinatorial chemistry programs for pharmaceutical and biotechnology company customers. Aye began her career at Loyola University of Chicago in the laboratory of Professor Patrick Henry.