Management Team
Mikael Simons, M.D., Co-Founder
Dr. Simons is a graduate of MIT and Yale University School of Medicine. He trained in molecular cardiology at NHLBI and cardiovascular medicine at the Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital. He served on faculties of Harvard and Dartmouth and is currently a Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology at Yale University and Honorary Professor of Medicine at UCL. He holds numerous patents and helped launch two companies. He led the first trials of therapeutic angiogenesis in the USA and his basic research discoveries have played an important role in moving the field forward. He has published over 370 research papers and reviews and has been elected to a number of honorary societies
Rebecque Laba - VP Finance & Administration
Ms. Laba joined VST Bio as our Vice President Finance and Administration in February 2022. She has over 25 years of experience in biotechnology serving in executive roles with direct oversight of finance and accounting, business operations, and corporate governance, among others. Ms. Laba was Vice President Finance and Corporate Operations at Celladon Corporation where she led the company through an IPO. Prior to Celladon she held senior roles at Idun Pharmaceuticals having a lead role in its acquisition by Pfizer. Ms. Laba has raised over $350MM in private and public equity, and debt financings and has participated in multiple M&A transactions.
Federico Corti, PhD
As an Associate Research Scientist in the laboratory of Professor Michael Simons at the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center, Dr. Corti’s research aims to improve our fundamental knowledge of protein glycosylation and how this translates to physiological and pathological states. Recently, he has shown for the first time that certain protein motifs are able to regulate heparan sulfate biosynthesis in order to achieve specific biological functions. Dr. Corti has also made significant contributions demonstrating the critical role of syndecans (a class of proteoglycans) in various biological processes such as inflammation, atherosclerosis and angiogenesis with publications in JBC, PNAS and Nature Communications. Federico received his M.Sc. in Medicinal Chemistry and Ph.D. in Biotechnology from University of Siena (Italy).
Feder David Cheresh
As an Associate Research Scientist in the laboratory of Professor Michael Simons at the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center. Dr. Corti’s research aims to improve our fundamental knowledge of protein glycosylation and how this translates to physiological and pathological states. Recently, he has shown for the first time that certain protein motifs are able to regulate heparan sulfate biosynthesis in order to achieve specific biological functions. Dr. Corti has also made significant contributions demonstrating the critical role of syndecans (a class of proteoglycans) in various biological processes such as inflammation, atherosclerosis and angiogenesis with publications in JBC, PNAS and Nature Communications. His latest research has unveiled a novel molecular mechanism to block VEGFA-induced vascular permeability by targeting proteoglycan Syndecan-2. Federico received his M.Sc. in Medicinal Chemistry and Ph.D. in Biotechnology from University of Siena (Italy).