Olga Danilchanka
Partner at Merck
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Overview
Work Experience
Partner, MRL Ventures Fund
2024 - Current
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.
Merck is a biopharmaceutical company that offers medicines and vaccines for various diseases.
Raised $5,586,000.00 from Private Capital Advisors.
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.
PAQ Therapeutics is a biotechnology company pioneering a new approach to restoring health and curing disease through autophagy.
Raised $30,000,000.00 from Huagai Capital, Nest.Bio Ventures, MRL Ventures Fund, Sherpa Healthcare Partners, Matrix Partners China and MSA Capital.
Board Observer
2020
Ambagon is developing first-in-class drugs through targeted stabilization of protein complexes.
AmbAgon Therapeutics is a developer of cancer molecule therapeutics.
Raised $147,999,996.00 from Mission BioCapital, RA Capital Management, Surveyor Capital, MRL Ventures Fund, Inkef, Droia Ventures, AbbVie and Nextech Invest.
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.
Eyebiotech is an ophthalmology biotechnology company that specializes in therapies for eye diseases.
Raised $130,000,000.00 from Vertex Ventures HC, Jeito Capital, Omega Funds, MRL Ventures Fund, SV Health Investors, Samsara BioCapital, Bain Capital Life Sciences, SV Health Investors, MRL Ventures Fund and Samsara BioCapital.
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.
Rheostat Therapeutics is a bio therapeutics company.
Raised $23,000,000.00 from Michael J. Fox Foundation.
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.
Evelo Biosciences is a biotechnology company that develops oral biologics for small intestinal axis with systemic therapeutic effects.
Raised $397,000,003.00 from Horizon Technology Finance and K2 HealthVentures.
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).