Codexis, Inc. announced the appointment of Masad Damha, PhD, and Jim Lalonde, PhD, to the Company?s Strategic Advisory Board (SAB), joining John Maraganore, PhD, the founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. This board is now comprised of experts across oligonucleotide synthesis and manufacturing and was established to help guide the Company?s strategic direction, providing critical insights to inform the continued development of Codexis? ECO Synthesis?

manufacturing platform. Masad Damha, PhD, is the Distinguished James McGill Professor at McGill University. His research has been instrumental in the development of new therapeutic drugs based on RNA targeting and gene editing, and he has authored more than 200 publications.

Dr. Damha is a co-founder of Anagenis, Inc., a start-up with proprietary antisense technologies (ANA and FANA). His FANA technology is being applied by multiple research laboratories and industries to assess and develop modified oligonucleotides against several biological targets, including cancer and infectious diseases. Dr. Damha has served as the President of both the International Society of Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids and the Oligonucleotide Therapeutic Society, and currently serves on the Editorial Board of the journal Nucleic Acids Therapeutics.

He received both his PhD and BSc in Organic Chemistry from McGill University. Jim Lalonde, PhD, is a biotechnology consultant for start-up companies in enzyme engineering and biotechnology. Presently, Dr. Lalonde serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors at Willow Biosciences and as a Scientific Advisory Board member at Bota Biosciences, bitBiome, Curie Co.

and Invizyne. Most recently, Dr. Lalonde served as the head of the Microbial Digital Genome Engineering Business at Inscripta. Prior to Inscripta, he spent nearly 15 years at Codexis, culminating in the role of Senior Vice President of Research and Development, where he oversaw the development of more than 50 enzymes for biotherapeutics, drug manufacturing, nutrition and molecular diagnostics applications.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Lalonde held leadership roles in biocatalysis and chemical development at Altus Biologics and in scientific research at Vista Chemical Company. Dr. Lalonde earned a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Texas A&M University and a BS in Chemistry from Lakehead University.