Jason Ruth
Partner, MRL Ventures Fund at Merck
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Overview
Work Experience
Partner, MRL Ventures Fund
2022 - Current
- Led investments in Series As for Aktis Oncology, Ray Therapeutics. - Board Observer roles with Aktis Oncology, Ray Therapeutics, LifeMine Therapeutics.
Merck is a biopharmaceutical company that offers medicines and vaccines for various diseases.
Raised $5,586,000.00 from Private Capital Advisors.
Principal
2020 - 2022
Public and crossover investing: - Established and co-led 5AM's late-stage fund for crossover and public investments. Investments included Prometheus Biosciences (acquired for $10.8b), Iveric Bio (acquired for $5.9b), Disc Medicine (NASDAQ: IRON), Janux Therapeutics (NASDAQ: JANX), and others.
Senior Associate
2019 - 2020
Venture capital and venture creation: - Cabaletta Bio (NASDAQ: CABA): Led Series A investment, Board Observer. - Entrada Therapeutics (NASDAQ: TRDA): Co-led Seed and Series A investments, co-inventor on patent and company building through part-time operational role, Board Observer. - Vor Biopharma (NASDAQ: VOR): Co-led Series A investment, company building through part-time operational role, Board Observer. - Supported existing investment in Expansion Therapeutics, Board Observer role.
Associate
2017 - 2018
5AM Ventures is a venture capital firm that aims to finance seed and early-stage life sciences companies.
Board Observer
2017 - 2021
- 5AM founded Expansion Therapeutics and led the $55M Series A investment. - Expansion Therapeutics, founded by 5AM Ventures and Matt Disney from The Scripps Research Institute, is a drug discovery and development company pursuing the vast potential of small molecule medicines for RNA-mediated diseases.
Board Observer
2017 - 2021
- Previously a Board Observer for Entrada Therapeutics (NASDAQ: TRDA). - Interim operations role during seed, co-inventor on patent. - 5AM founded Entrada Therapeutics and led the $59M Series A investment. - Entrada Therapeutics, founded by 5AM Ventures and Dehua Pei from OSU, is a biotechnology company dedicated to transforming the treatment of devastating diseases through the intracellular delivery of biologics.
Entrada Therapeutics is a developer of novel therapeutics intended to treat devastating diseases.
Raised $301,599,999.00 from Janus Henderson Investors.
Board Observer
2019 - 2021
- Previously a Board Observer with Vor Biopharma (NASDAQ:VOR). - 5AM led $42M Series A investment. - Vor Biopharma is an immuno-oncology company developing edited stem cell therapies that can enable selective targeting of cancer cells without impacting normal cells.
Board Observer
2018 - 2019
- Previously a Board Observer with Cabaletta Bio (NASDAQ:CABA). - 5AM led $38M Series A and participated in $50M Series B investments. - Cabaletta is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of T cell therapies for B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases.
Cabaletta Bio has adapted clinically-validated and FDA-approved CAR T cell technology to target B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases.
Raised $210,000,000.00 from Penn Medicine Co-Investment Program, Baker Brothers Advisors LLC, Deerfield Capital Management, 5AM Ventures, Redmile Group, Adage Capital Management, Boxer Capital and Cormorant Capital.
Board Observer
2017 - 2018
- Previously a Board Observer with Homology Medicines (NASDAQ:FIXX). - Homology Medicines, founded by 5AM Ventures and Saswati Chatterjee from City of Hope, is a genetic medicines company translating proprietary, next generation gene editing and gene therapy technologies into novel treatments for patients with rare diseases.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
2014 - 2016
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a center dedicated to carrying out adult and pediatric cancer treatment activities and advanced research.
Raised $67,079,019.00 from Llama, Hyundai Hope On Wheels, Hyundai Hope On Wheels, Break Through Cancer, Paula and Rodger Riney Foundation, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
2014 - 2016
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Levi Garraway's laboratory - Co-first author publication in Science: Discovered mechanistic basis for PRMT5 depenedency in MTAP null cancers, providing the initial rationale for development of MTA-cooperative PRMT5 inhibitors. - Co-inventor on patent for "Selective treatment of prmt5 dependent cancer" - Started course in Biomedical Entrepreneurship at the Broad Institute, where Industry experts teach Broad Institute and MIT researchers the basics of biotech and research commercialization, participants develop and pitch plans to commercialize their work.
PhD in Bioengineering
2008 - 2014
PhD in Bioengineering from Lewis Chodosh's Laboratory, Dept. Cancer Biology - Coursework: Medical school curriculum plus graduate bioengineering courses. - HHMI-NIBIB Interfaces Fellowship, 1 of 3 PhD students awarded at UPenn in 2008. - NCI F31 Kirschstein Predoctoral Fellowship to investigate cancer immunology. - Awarded Best Presentation at 2014 Department of Cancer Biology Annual Retreat. - Mentored 5 researchers: 1 visiting PhD, 3 PhD rotation students, 1 undergraduate.