David Francis, CEO
PhD, Cofounder
David did his PhD at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he focused on nanoparticle drug delivery and different routes of administration to improve drug efficacy. Following his PhD, he worked in industry for Seagen and Sorrento Therapeutics as a scientist working to bring new drug modalities and devices to IND and clinical stages. David oversees operations at Palate and brings over 8 years of research and industry experience to the company.
Mighten Yip, CSO
PhD, Cofounder
Mighten did his PhD in Bioengineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he worked on developing instrumentation to study the brain. While pursuing his PhD, he started his own company based on his graduate work automating the patch-clamp technique for high-throughput experiments screening pharmacological compounds. While at Georgia Tech, he also founded the Nucleate Atlanta chapter to empower academic trainees to bring biotech ideas to market. He brings a broad scientific and neurobiology background to Palate and oversees the science.
Alex Schudel, Advisor
PhD, Cofounder
Alex did his PhD at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he worked on nanoparticle drug delivery. Following his PhD, he did his post-doctoral work in the lab of Bob Langer at MIT working on mucosal drug delivery applications. Alex brings 10 years of research and biotech experience to Palate and currently acts as a technical advisor for the company.