TARA Biosystems Appoints Donna See as Chief Business Officer to Drive Expansion of Commercial Operations

NEW YORK, May 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- TARA Biosystems Inc., a company offering physiologically human-relevant "heart-on-a-chip" tissue models for drug discovery and development applications, announced the appointment of Donna See as chief business officer. In this newly created role, Donna will drive the company's commercial operations, building upon TARA's strong and growing base of revenue-generating partnerships with leading biopharmaceutical companies. She will also develop strategy and opportunities that leverage TARA's ongoing investment in the production and analysis of large high-fidelity human-relevant datasets.

TARA Biosystems offers bioanalytical testing services on its human stem cell-derived cardiac tissue platform. The company's Biowire™ II platform enables the maturation of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived cardiomyocytes into cardiac tissues that achieve an adult-like phenotype. These physiologically relevant in vitro models facilitate early cardiac risk assessment of drug discovery candidates and accelerate discovery efforts for novel heart medicines via disease modeling and phenotypic screening capabilities.

"We are thrilled to welcome Donna to TARA. As we enter our next phase of rapid company growth, Donna's proven leadership abilities, make-it-happen energy, and shared vision will be critical to TARA's growth and commercial partnering efforts," said Dr. Misti Ushio, CEO of TARA. "Her extensive network and two decades of experience developing, investing and operating early-stage ventures will be immediately leveraged as TARA executes, scales and grows."

"TARA has developed a first-in-class capability with its Biowire™ II platform, creating 'heart-on-a-chip' technology that is uniquely positioned to become the industry standard for high-fidelity human in vitro cardiac tissue biology.  There is tremendous potential in the development and application of these data for in silico drug discovery," said Ms. See. "I am very much looking forward to working with the TARA team and our biopharma partners to fully realize this potential."

Donna brings demonstrated executive leadership experience in translational science, business development and operations with an emphasis on early-stage life sciences companies. Donna most recently served as chief business officer of Allied-Bristol Life Sciences, a $110 million therapeutic development fund between Allied Minds and Bristol-Myers Squibb, where she was instrumental in all aspects of sourcing, diligence, deal negotiation and project management across multiple therapeutic areas, including heart failure, oncology, immune disorders and fibrosis. 

About TARA Biosystems

TARA Biosystems Inc. provides predictive, in vitro human cardiac tissue models for use in drug discovery and risk assessment. TARA Biosystems offers a high-fidelity solution that is based on human iPSC-derived cardiac tissue matured to physiologically relevant adult-like levels and provides direct measures of cardiac functionality, including contractile force. The TARA platform allows pharma to access human cardiac information on therapeutics candidates earlier in the drug development cycle.

Media Contact: 
Misti Ushio 
[email protected] 
(917) 686-7096

SOURCE TARA Biosystems Inc.