Staff Bio

Scott Forrest

Scott Forrest is the Vice President of Business Development and is responsible for leading TSRI’s corporate partnership activities at both the California and Florida campuses. Scott has extensive experience in academic/industry healthcare partnerships, startup company launches and license negotiations. Scott served as Director of TSRI’s Office of Technology Development for two years before assuming the role of Vice President in 2011. Prior to joining TSRI, Scott served as the Assistant Director of the Office of Technology Development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he led the life sciences licensing team and served as a Scientific Advisory Board member for UNC’s drug discovery center. He also held an adjunct faculty position at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School where he taught business planning and new company creation for UNC’s “Launch the Venture” program, which was named best company launch course by the National Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers. Scott currently teaches the “Business of Biotechnology” class for The Kellogg School at TSRI, serves on the BIOCOM Capital Development Committee, CONNECT’s Commercialization Council and is a member of the Licensing Executives Society. Scott earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Calgary in 1999 and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Virginia in 2004.

Peter Policastro

Peter Policastro serves as Senior Director of Business Development for TSRI’s Florida campus. Peter is a seasoned entrepreneur and executive with over twenty years of experience in various leadership roles in the chemical and biotechnology industries. Peter came to TSRI from BCM Technologies Inc., a seed stage venture capital firm affiliated with the Baylor College of Medicine, where he was an Entrepreneur in Residence. Previously, Peter was President and CEO of privately held Sapphire Therapeutics (acquired by Helsinn SA); President and CEO of platform discovery company Enchira Biotechnology Corp (NASDAQ); Senior Vice President for R&D of Borden Chemical’s Plastics Manufacturing Division; Senior Vice President for R&D and Chief Technology Officer of Sun Coast Industries (NYSE); and President of the U.S. research division of OctaNova Industries AB (acquired by Akzo Nobel). In 1992, he founded and served as President and CEO of Medgenesis, Inc., where he was responsible for developing and commercializing medical devices that were used in laser surgical procedures performed in outpatient clinics and hospital operating rooms throughout the US. Peter started his career as a staff scientist at General Electric’s Corporate Research Division, where he went on to direct an interdisciplinary team of scientists involved in the discovery of advanced materials. Peter received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his work under Glenn Berchtold, and in collaboration with the laboratory of Chris Walsh, was directed toward elucidation of the Chorismate Pathway. He received an A.B., Magna Cum Laude, in Chemistry from Duke University and he is an inventor of 19 issued U.S. Patents.

Roberta Hunt

Roberta Hunt is Assistant Director of the Office of Technology Development and is primarily responsible for technology licensing and sponsored research agreements. She advises faculty on technology transfer issues, start-up creation and aids in the identification of sponsors of research and potential licensees, serving as liaison between the company and investigator. Her scientific areas of interest are oncology, regenerative medicine, and structural biology. In addition, she trains and mentors junior staff in the Office of Technology Development, and oversees the payment of the royalty distributions. Prior to working at TSRI, Roberta worked at Molecular Biosystems, Inc. conducting preclinical research and development in collaboration with corporate partners and academic collaborators.

Donaldson Santos

Donaldson Santos is a Senior Licensing Officer in the Office of Technology Development and is responsible for technology licensing and corporate sponsored research agreements. Prior to joining TSRI, Donaldson was a Licensing Associate at the University of Southern California’s Office of Technology Licensing in Los Angeles, where he gained over five years of experience in the evaluation, protection, marketing and licensing of inventions in a wide variety of life science-related fields, including chemistry, oncology, gene therapy, biology, and immunology. Donaldson also assisted in the creation of faculty start-up companies and taught classes to USC faculty and students on the role and value of intellectual property. Previously Donaldson was a technical sales representative for Stratagene (acquired by Agilent Technologies) selling and marketing life science tools and instruments to academic and commercial biotech customers in the greater Los Angeles/Orange County areas. Donaldson has an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry/Chemistry from the University of California, San Diego.

Todd Huffman

Todd Huffman is the Head of New Ventures in the Office of Technology Development and is responsible for start-up company development efforts and licensing. Todd was previously an analyst at Research Corporation Technologies (RCT) BioVentures where he sourced, advised, and structured investments in early stage biotechnology companies. Also at RCT, Todd helped establish an internal hit-to-lead drug discovery program contributing target sourcing, market analysis, intellectual property evaluation, scientific diligence, and budgetary analysis to a collection of discovery projects focused on novel therapeutic targets. Prior to joining RCT, Todd held positions in biomedical licensing and technology transfer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Virginia. Todd earned a Ph.D. in molecular pharmacology from the University of Virginia where he investigated the pathophysiological basis for type II diabetes. His work at UVA culminated in the discovery of a novel drug target currently undergoing investigation in patients with metabolic disease. Todd is currently an advisory board member of the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s clinical translation initiative for diabetes.

Matthew Ritter

Matthew Ritter is the Alliance Manager in the Office of Technology Development. Matt is responsible for seeking and managing strategic relationships with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, venture capital firms and foundations across all of TSRI's research areas. Matt’s history at Scripps Research reaches back to 2000 when he joined the laboratory of Dr. Martin Friedlander as a postdoctoral fellow, where he was awarded the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health. As a NIH Fellow, Matt identified population hematopoietic progenitor cells and described methods to isolate them that represented a potentially new approach to the treatment of certain eye diseases. He then participated in the founding of EyeCyte, Inc., a TSRI spin-out company focused on regenerative medicine strategies and other innovative new treatments for eye disease. Prior to taking on the role of Alliance Manager at TSRI, Matt served as Director of R&D at EyeCyte, where he was active in determining scientific direction and business strategy for the company. He led a group developing in vitro assays, in vivo models and co-directed business development and IP management activities while at EyeCyte. Matt holds a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine and earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA, where he elucidated the molecular mechanisms of an anti-cancer snake venom protein.

Peter Haberz

Peter Haberz is a Technology Development Officer in the Office of Technology Development and is responsible for Corporate Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) and reagent licenses (mice, vectors, research tools). Prior to joining OTD, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Wright investigating protein-protein complexes and was a recipient of an Erwin-Schroedinger postdoctoral fellowship award. Peter was also an Intern with the Technology Transfer Office at UCSD and an Analyst at the Tech Coast Angels San Diego, where he gained valuable experience in negotiating contracts, evaluating and licensing technology. Peter has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany. His thesis was entitled Development and Application of NMR-methods for Structural Investigations of Small Molecules and Proteins.