Christopher Carreras

Dr. Carreras received a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of California, San Francisco. Following postdoctoral studies at Stanford University, hejoined Kosan Biosciences as an early employee, developing assays for and screening compounds against cancer, nerve regeneration and gastrointestinal targets. He led the motilin agonist team, which developed cell-based, ex vivo and dog models to assess the potency, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of prokinetic agents. Dr. Carreras then became an early employee at Ardelyx . He led a molecular pharmacology team that developed assays for enzymes, ion channels, transporters and GPCRs to discover drugs that act solely within the gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Carreras is a co-inventor of tenapanor (IBSRELA), a gut-restricted NHE3 inhibitor with FDA approval for IBS-c and pending approval for hyperphosphatemia. Most recently, he worked at ProLynx on chemical technology that extends the pharmacokinetic half-life of small molecules, peptides, and proteins. He has co-authored more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and is co-inventor on 9 issued US patents for drugs and methods for drug discovery. In his current role, Dr. Christopher Carreras collaborates with partners across the IMA to develop new and effective drug and vaccine prototypes.