•
ML
Michelle Levine
Principal at Solasta Ventures
Boston, Massachusetts
Overview
Michelle Levine is a Life Sciences Investor and Principal at Solasta Ventures based in Boston, Massachusetts. With a background in healthcare consulting and research, she has excelled in her role at Solasta Ventures, focusing on investments in Series A and Seed stages within sectors like Consumer Health, Digital Health, and Health IT.
Highlights of her career include her progression from Research Technician at Brigham and Women's Hospital to Principal at Solasta Ventures, as well as her leadership roles within the Johns Hopkins Graduate Consulting Club as Case Competition Team Captain and Pro-bono Consultant.
Work Experience
Principal
2024 - Current
• VC investor, focused on private biotech companies in the therapeutics/drug development space • Conducted due diligences that resulted in investments in: -Carisma Therapeutics, a first-in-class cell therapy platform company -Immunitas Therapeutics, an omics-based platform company identifying novel targets in immuno-oncology -Carbon Bio, a novel, non-AAV viral vector gene therapy company -Ensoma, an in vivo cell and gene therapy platform company -Recode Therapeutics, a next-generation, clinical-stage LNP platform company
Senior Associate
2021 - 2024
Associate
2020 - 2021
Consultant
2019 - 2020
• Strategy consulting for executives and product team leads in biopharma and healthcare industry • Select engagements include: -Evaluation of commercial opportunity for an academic client with a discovery-stage gene therapy platform -Recommendation of a lead program for a biotech startup company, based on an assessment of the client’s preclinical platform technology and a 5-year projection of the cell therapy landscape within oncology
ClearView Healthcare Partners is a management consulting company offering biotechnology, strategy consulting, and pharmaceuticals services.
Business Analyst Intern
2019 - 2019
• Conducted due diligence on an investment opportunity in the CNS space • Assessed potential opportunities in the synthetic biology space • Assisted in deal flow of life sciences startups
Ph.D. Graduate
2013 - 2019
Laboratory of Dr. Andrew Holland, Ph.D. • Determined that supernumerary centrosomes play a causative role in tumorigenesis (Levine et al., Dev Cell, 2017) • Discovered that the deuterosome, a structure previously thought to be essential for motile cilia formation, was dispensable (Mercey and Levine, et al., Nature Cell Bio, 2019) • Studied the role of extra centrosomes in polycystic kidney disease
Intern Analyst
2017 - 2018
• Performed scientific due diligence an animal health startup company • Assisted in market and competitive analysis in preparation of Series A fundraising for a NewCo • Worked on biotech company creation with a cross-disciplinary team
Case Competition Team Captain
2018 - 2018
• Led a team of 4 in the JHGCC biotechnology case competition • Identified a new consumer target and product offering for a stem cell banking company that was projected to increase profit by $20 million within 5 years
Pro-bono Consultant
2018 - 2018
• Worked with a team of 7 to decide future market opportunities for an emerging biotech. company that produces melanin, a biopolymer that can be used for diverse biomedical applications • Performed competitive analysis to address potential risks/threats in the melanin space
Johns Hopkins Graduate Student Consulting Club is a student-led group that helps students prepare for careers in management consulting.
Research Technician
2009 - 2013
Laboratory of Dr. Nancy Berliner, M.D. • Investigated the impact of the thrombopoietin receptor agonist, eltrombopag, on platelet production utilizing multiple myeloma patient samples • Interrogated the specificity and efficacy of a JAK2 inhibitor in suppressing the proliferation of HSCs isolated from Polycythemia vera patients • Characterized the therapeutic benefit of vitamin D on inflammation-induced suppression of red blood cell production, which resulted in funding to study the role of vitamin D in patients with anemia of inflammation • Defined a novel interaction between a transcriptional and translational regulatory factor in myelodysplastic syndrome
Education
Bachelor's degree
2006 - 2010