Bob Molinari - MedStars

In 2023, Bob Molinari became the founding CEO of a new neuro/retinal disease company (currently in stealth mode) focused on a novel small molecule drug that inhibits enzymes that disrupt fatty acid metabolic homeostasis in the brain and retina, simultaneously downregulating neuroinflammation, lipid damage, protein aggregation biomarkers like amyloid, tau, and synuclein, and improving cognition and retinal health in a spectrum of neuro and retinal degenerative diseases. He also acts in an advisory role for several neurological disease companies, including: Modality.ai, a company with a virtual agent speech and motion biomarker and a Patient Report of Problems (PROP) autonomous tool, being utilized in ALS, Parkinson’s, and other neuromuscular clinical trials; CND Life Sciences, a company commercializing the Syn-One TestR, a minimally invasive, sensitive and specific skin puncture test for synucleinopathies and other aberrant protein diagnoses; and Everything ALS, and ALS non-profit advocacy and research community. 

For a dozen years until 2020, Bob Molinari was the founding CEO of Retrotope, Inc., a company focused on drugs that were chemically-stabilized versions of dietary fats. He led Retrotope from inception, raised > $50MM in funding, validated the drug target and drug in several orphan neurological and retinal diseases, including early to mid stage clinical trials in Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy, Friedreich’s ataxia, ALS, and Progressive SupraNulear Palsy. Dr. Molinari is a member of the American Academy of Neurology. 

Prior to Retrotope, Dr. Molinari specialized in biotechnology reagents, genomics, proteomics, and biopharmaceutical research companies. He was the founding CEO of Coda Genomics/Verdezyne, a synthetic biology company using computational methods to optimize gene assembly in synthetic biology processes.  Bob was also the co-founding CEO and president of Protogene Laboratories, Inc., and, in the mid-nineties, led that company to become the world's largest supplier of custom DNA before it was acquired by Life Technologies, Inc.   He then ran a spin-off of Protogene which developed foundational products and technologies in the early DNA chip industry. Prior to Protogene, Bob served as a strategic advisor in the startup of Nanogen, Affymetrix, and Sequenom. Early in his career, Dr. Molinari was a consultant specializing in biotechnology at McKinsey & Co. 

Dr. Molinari has an A.B. and an MBA from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from Brown University.

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