Justin Briggs is a scientist, entrepreneur, and investor who lives to build companies at the nexus of biology, chemistry, and engineering.
Justin currently serves as Head of Corporate development at Zafrens, the world’s highest throughput drug discovery technology. In addition, Justin supports the incredible portfolio of companies as Operating Partner at Prime Movers Lab, a leading investor of breakthrough science. PML manages over $1 billion across four funds backing scientific founders leading companies with the potential to impact billions of lives. As an investor, Justin led over $80 million investments, deployed over $270 million in capital, and served on or observer to more than a dozen boards.
Over the last 18 years Justin has worked in deep technology commercialization across several industries. Justin has been involved as a founder, investor, advisor or team member for more than thirty biotech, deeptech, nanotech, robotics, and software companies. A biochemist and drug hunter, Justin developed medicines from the bench through clinical trials in various diseases areas with small molecules, antibodies, oligos and vectored vaccines across ten regulatory jurisdictions and four continents.
Currently, Justin serves on the Boards of Directors at:
- Iridia: The future of data storage, encoded in DNA - physically encrypting and securing any object.
- Lygenesis: Cell therapies using the patient’s own lymph nodes as bioreactors to grow functioning ectopic organs for liver disease and Type-1 diabetes.
- Morphoceuticals: Bioelectric therapeutics for whole limb regeneration and related disease treatments based on the work of Michael Levin.
Previously, he served on the Boards of Directors of:
- Iviva Medical: Bio-orthogonal 3D printed artificial kidney (acquired, United Therapeutics)
- Zafrens: Massively parallel ultra-high-throughput experimental platform enabling rapid drug discovery across small molecules drugs, biologics, and cell or gene therapies.
- Gilgamesh Pharmaceutical: Novel small molecules drugging psychedelic medicine targets as safer, more accessible treatments for neurological disorders.
- Elevian: Protein therapeutics for neurovascular diseases, skin rejuvenation, and healthspan longevity.
- Dimension Inx: Bioprinted tissue therapeutics for bone, soft tissue, and cell therapy.
Prior to Prime Movers, Justin invested as founding partner at TomorrowScale Ventures, a seed-stage venture firm. Before that, Justin served as a Venture Partner at Deep Science Ventures, a venture laboratory building optimal scientific ventures from scratch based in London, UK. Justin supported their portfolio of leading early-stage deep tech startups founded through the DSV program and located throughout >20 countries.
Justin previously helped build and oversee the portfolio of novel antibody therapeutics designed in silico and de novo (from scratch) against difficult targets by the brilliant team at Antiverse.
Prior to Antiverse, Justin served as Senior Director of Drug Development at Tetherex Pharma (now Moat Bio). Tetherex is a clinical-stage biopharma company developing novel biologics for the treatment of inflammatory, oncologic, and infectious diseases:
- SelK2 is a monoclonal antibody which recently completed dual Phase 2 studies in asthma and COPD.
- SC-Ad6-1, now being developed by Mayo/Tetherex spinout ‘Moat Bio,’ is a single-cycle vectored vaccine currently in phase 1/2a studies for SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 via intranasal administration.
In his early career, Justin served as VP of Business Development and Operations at Accele BioPharma and Associate at Accele Venture Partners, a biotech accelerator and VC fund. At Accele, Justin worked on both sides of the table to identify, fund, and manage novel therapeutic and diagnostic startups. Programs included: regeneration of beta cells in the pancreas for diabetes; regeneration of neurons and hair cells for hearing loss and balance disorders; discovery of fully human antibodies for cancer, infectious disease treatments and diagnostics; and, antibiotics tackling multi-drug resistant Gram Negative organisms. Prior to that, Justin served increasing drug development roles at Altheus Therapeutics, taking it from the bench through phase 2 over seven years.
Justin also founded SnapLap Technologies (lab automation and machine vision AI for energy exploration and mineral analysis), Chorus Labs (productivity software, acquired 2015) and is an inventor and author on multiple patents and peer-reviewed publications.
In 2019, based on a passion for difficult scientific challenges and the companies that tackle them, Justin founded TomorrowScale. TomorrowScale Ventures partners with scientific entrepreneurs to create the future.