History
Catherine Sutter
Cofounder & Director
Founded in July 1999, Kinexus Bioinformatics Corporation is a federally incorporated Canadian company located in Vancouver, British Columbia It is a spin-out company from the University of British Columbia laboratory of Dr. Steven Pelech, who remains as the president, chief scientific officer and a director on the Board of Kinexus since its inception.
In the Spring of 2000, Kinexus completed a $1.1 million private seed financing that was made by a syndicate of private and institutional investors, lead by Toronto-based Milestone Medical Corporation, Vancouver-based venture capital firm BIRC Capital Corporation, Sanovest, and FutureFund Capital (VCC) Corporation (acquired by Pender Growth Fund).
In 2001, Kinexus added to this financing a second tranche investment of $1.0 million by Milestone Medica Corporation, Bio-FutureFund (acquired by Pender Growth Fund), Sanovest and BIRC Corporation that was triggered by completion of all the development milestones that were set in Spring 2000. In April 2002, Kinexus raised an additional $1.25 million in private financing. In June 2006, Mickeric Enterprises acquired the Kinexus shares held by Milestone Medical Corporation and Pender Growth Fund. In February 2010, Dr. Pelech acquired the Kinexus shares held by BIRC Corporation. Presently, Dr. Pelech and his family own about 75% of the company’s shares.
Kinexus has benefited from many corporate partners to allow us to develop and provide our products and services. Kinexus had originally sourced the antibodies that were used in our proteomics services from over 26 of the major producers and distributors of antibodies around the world. Over 12 years ago, Kinexus began producing its own antibodies in cooperation with Pacific Immunology in Ramona, California, where the rabbits used for antibody production are housed. Following extensive purification in-house from the serum from the rabbits, Kinexus extensively tests these antibodies prior to incorporation into its Kinex™ antibody microarray, and Kinetworks™ multi-immunoblotting services. Kinexus is interested in identifying new suppliers of signal transduction antibodies and in cultivating productive relationships with companies that are willing to co-develop antibodies for protein kinases, phosphatases and phosphosites with Kinexus.
Kinexus has outsourced the printing of its microarrays with Microarray Inc. in Mobile, Alabama, ArrayJet in Dundee, Scotland, and GraceBioLabs in Bend, Oregon. We sourced most of the recombinant proteins used in our services and product testing from SignalChem in Richmond, B.C. (now SinoBiologicals).
Our bioinformatics programs have been facilitated by the MITACS Networks Centres of Excellence, Simon Fraser University and the B.C. Institute of Technology in Burnaby, B.C., and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
We are represented in Asia by the distributors COSMO-Bio in Japan, and PDxen in Korea.
In the Spring of 2000, Kinexus completed a $1.1 million private seed financing that was made by a syndicate of private and institutional investors, lead by Toronto-based Milestone Medical Corporation, Vancouver-based venture capital firm BIRC Capital Corporation, Sanovest, and FutureFund Capital (VCC) Corporation (acquired by Pender Growth Fund).
In 2001, Kinexus added to this financing a second tranche investment of $1.0 million by Milestone Medica Corporation, Bio-FutureFund (acquired by Pender Growth Fund), Sanovest and BIRC Corporation that was triggered by completion of all the development milestones that were set in Spring 2000. In April 2002, Kinexus raised an additional $1.25 million in private financing. In June 2006, Mickeric Enterprises acquired the Kinexus shares held by Milestone Medical Corporation and Pender Growth Fund. In February 2010, Dr. Pelech acquired the Kinexus shares held by BIRC Corporation. Presently, Dr. Pelech and his family own about 75% of the company’s shares.
Kinexus has benefited from many corporate partners to allow us to develop and provide our products and services. Kinexus had originally sourced the antibodies that were used in our proteomics services from over 26 of the major producers and distributors of antibodies around the world. Over 12 years ago, Kinexus began producing its own antibodies in cooperation with Pacific Immunology in Ramona, California, where the rabbits used for antibody production are housed. Following extensive purification in-house from the serum from the rabbits, Kinexus extensively tests these antibodies prior to incorporation into its Kinex™ antibody microarray, and Kinetworks™ multi-immunoblotting services. Kinexus is interested in identifying new suppliers of signal transduction antibodies and in cultivating productive relationships with companies that are willing to co-develop antibodies for protein kinases, phosphatases and phosphosites with Kinexus.
Kinexus has outsourced the printing of its microarrays with Microarray Inc. in Mobile, Alabama, ArrayJet in Dundee, Scotland, and GraceBioLabs in Bend, Oregon. We sourced most of the recombinant proteins used in our services and product testing from SignalChem in Richmond, B.C. (now SinoBiologicals).
Our bioinformatics programs have been facilitated by the MITACS Networks Centres of Excellence, Simon Fraser University and the B.C. Institute of Technology in Burnaby, B.C., and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
We are represented in Asia by the distributors COSMO-Bio in Japan, and PDxen in Korea.
Over the course of the company’s history, Kinexus has benefited from many knowledgeable directors that have provided sage guidance. Ms. Catherine Sutter is effectively the chief operating officer of the company and also serves on its Board as a director. Short biographies of the current directors of Kinexus are shown below.
Ms. Sutter joined Kinexus in September 1999. She was initially responsible for the development and implementation of policies and programs affecting the Company’s human resource department, including organizational design and development, performance management, training and education, recruitment and retention, compensation, benefits and incentives, equity programs and health and safety. Since September 2002, Ms. Sutter has also headed the Sales and Marketing programs at Kinexus. She is responsible for developing the sales and marketing objectives and strategies for the company including directing market research, product planning, and sales forecasting to facilitate the strategic direction and promotion of the company's products and services. She is also responsible for the development and dissemination of informational literature to investors, clients, collaborators and the media.
Ms. Sutter has over twenty-five years of industrial experience in research and development companies including four years as the Director of Biotechnology for Kinetek Biotechnology Corporation and five years as Director of Human Resources. Prior to that, she worked as a Laboratory Manager at the University of British Columbia and as the Office Administrator and Sales Coordinator for Gulf Shark Research in Bayou la Batre, Alabama. She received her B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Victoria. She was also a founding principal and the President of the Children's Research Foundation of British Columbia, a charitable Foundation dedicated to the advancement of research and knowledge of life-threatening and disabling diseases affecting children.
Dr. Pelech is the principal founder of Kinexus Bioinformatics Corporation. He contributes leadership, vision and strategic planning to Kinexus with over thirty-two years experience in the areas of science, business and administration. He was the principal founder of Kinetek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and served as its President and C.E.O. for six years and was one of the founding scientists of the Biomedical Research Center. Prior to his academic and industrial experience, he spent five years in post-doctoral training with Sir Philip Cohen at the University of Dundee in Scotland and Nobel laureate Dr. Edwin Krebs at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is concurrently a full professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC), where he has been on faculty since 1988. He has taught as the sole lecturer a full graduate level course in cell signalling. Dr. Pelech received his B.Sc. (1979; Honours) and Ph.D. (1982) degrees in Biochemistry from UBC.
Dr. Pelech has authored over 280 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters about signal transduction and is one of the discoverers of the MAP kinase family of cell signalling proteins. His accolades include the 1993 Martin F. Hoffman Award for Research at UBC, and the 1993 Merck Frosst Canada Prize from the Canadian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He is the 2001 Distinguished Lecturer for the Faculty of Medicine at UBC for the basic sciences. He has served on grant review panels for the US National Institutes of Health, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the National Research Council of Canada, the Michael Smith Health Research Foundation, Genome Alberta, Genome Prairie, the Canadian National Cancer Institute, the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation and the American Heart Association, and has acted as an external reviewer for 22 other agencies including the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Israel Science Foundation. He has also been an external reviewer for over 30 scientific journals.
Catherine Sutter, B.Sc.
Director of Sales & Marketing, Human Resources and Corporate Secretary
Ms. Sutter has over twenty-five years of industrial experience in research and development companies including four years as the Director of Biotechnology for Kinetek Biotechnology Corporation and five years as Director of Human Resources. Prior to that, she worked as a Laboratory Manager at the University of British Columbia and as the Office Administrator and Sales Coordinator for Gulf Shark Research in Bayou la Batre, Alabama. She received her B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Victoria. She was also a founding principal and the President of the Children's Research Foundation of British Columbia, a charitable Foundation dedicated to the advancement of research and knowledge of life-threatening and disabling diseases affecting children.
Dr. Steven Pelech, Ph.D.
President and Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Pelech has authored over 280 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters about signal transduction and is one of the discoverers of the MAP kinase family of cell signalling proteins. His accolades include the 1993 Martin F. Hoffman Award for Research at UBC, and the 1993 Merck Frosst Canada Prize from the Canadian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He is the 2001 Distinguished Lecturer for the Faculty of Medicine at UBC for the basic sciences. He has served on grant review panels for the US National Institutes of Health, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the National Research Council of Canada, the Michael Smith Health Research Foundation, Genome Alberta, Genome Prairie, the Canadian National Cancer Institute, the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation and the American Heart Association, and has acted as an external reviewer for 22 other agencies including the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Israel Science Foundation. He has also been an external reviewer for over 30 scientific journals.