Barry Polisky, PhD

Dr. Polisky has served as a director of the Company since March 2021. Dr. Polisky was a Full Professor of Biology at Indiana University, where his lab studied the molecular circuitry involved in control on DNA replication initiation in plasmids. As an academic, Dr. Polisky won several awards, served on NIH study sections and Chaired the Microbial Genetics and Physiology Study Section. He also chaired scientific meetings including Gordon Conferences, served on the editorial board of multiple journals, and consulted for many companies including Eli Lilly and Cetus Corporation. Dr. Polisky left academia to become Director and Vice President of Research at NeXagen in Boulder, CO. NeXstar (formerly NeXagen) was acquired by Gilead in 1998. He then joined Ribozyme Therapeutics as Vice President of Research, which became Sirna Therapeutics, focused on development of siRNA therapeutics. Sirna was acquired by Merck Research Laboratories. He then became a Research Vice-President at Merck and directed siRNA development work until he left Merck to return to biotech at Marina Biotech, as Chief Scientific Officer. At Marina, he was involved in the acquisition of Cequent Inc., which had pioneered the use of bacteria as delivery agents. He is currently the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of Marina Biotech, Inc. Dr. Polisky received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder.