Jay (Julius) Knowles is a business development professional with more than 25 years in the biotech industry, and he has helped to guide multiple early-stage companies through drug discovery and development. He was previously CEO of X-BODY Biosciences (sold to Juno), an emerging biotech focused on generating antibodies against GPCRs and ion channels. Prior to this, he was head of platforms and strategic alliances for Novartis, where he led a team responsible for creating technology-based and drug discovery collaborations, forging several major strategic alliances with biotech companies. Jay was also president of Novalar Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceutical company that brought a drug from the idea stage through the clinic and onto the market. Earlier in his career, he was also vice president, business development, at Novacea and at Structural Genomix, and director, research and development planning at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
He represents Mass General Brigham Ventures on the boards of Abcuro, Keros Therapeutics (Nasdaq: KROS), Modal Therapeutics, and Proximity Therapeutics and as a board observer at Garuda Therapeutics, Photys, ROME Therapeutics, and SwanBio.
Jay holds a BA with Distinction in Chemistry from Carleton College, an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MSc in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.