OD

Olga Danilchanka

Biotech Investor, MRL Ventures Fund at Merck

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Invests in

Stages:

  • Min Investment:

    $15,000,000.00
  • Max Investment:

    $20,000,000.00
  • Target Investment:

    $17,500,000.00

Work Experience

2016

  • Partner, MRL Ventures Fund

    2024

  • Principal, MRL Ventures Fund

    2021 - 2024

    Led investment in EyeBio, supported investment in VectorY

  • Senior Associate, MRL Ventures Fund

    2018 - 2021

    • Supported investments in Adagio Therapeutics, Ambagon Therapeutics, HotSpot Therapeutics, Lava Therapeutics, PAQ Therapeutics and Therini Bio

  • Principal Scientist, Exploratory Science Center (ESC)

    2016 - 2018

    • Founding member of ESC, member of ESC leadership team. • Conceived and implemented R&D strategy for the microbiome discovery at Merck spanning infectious diseases and immuno-oncology indications.

  • Board Director

    2021

  • Board Observer

    2021 - 2021

    Therini is a vascular biology company focused on discovering and developing therapeutics targeting fibrin, a new biological target for neurological and peripheral diseases.

  • Board Observer

    2021

    PAQ is developing degrades for high priority oncology targets.

  • Board Observer

    2020

    Ambagon is developing first-in-class drugs through targeted stabilization of protein complexes.

2022 - 2024

  • Board Observer

    2022 - 2024

    Merck and Co acquired EyeBio for a $1.3 billion upfront payment and up to $1.7 billion in future milestone payments for a potential value of $3 billion. EyeBio is building a broad and diverse pipeline of advanced therapies for eye diseases.

  • Board Observer

    2021 - 2023

    Acquired by Merck & Co for a total of up to $610MM. Caraway Therapeutics is developing small molecule therapeutics that activate the lysosome, the cell’s recycling center, to clear toxic materials and defective cellular components for the treatment of debilitating neurodegenerative and rare diseases diseases.

2015 - 2016

  • Senior Scientist

    2015 - 2016

    • As the first employee of Epiva Biosciences (merged with Evelo in 2016) intimately involved with operations and initial formulation of the strategic approach behind EDP1815, now in P2.

  • Postdoctoral Fellow

    2012 - 2015

    • Co-authored seven articles including publications in Nature, Cell, Science Translational Medicine. • Awarded an NIH Ruth L Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32).

  • Postdoctoral Fellow

    2010 - 2012

    • Co-authored five articles including several publications in PNAS. • Awarded a Senior Research Training Fellowship from the American Lung Association. • Co-authored an issued patent (PCT/US2012/053091).