Academic Founders
Dr. Francis Barany is one of three academic founders of Coferon in 2009 and his laboratory has collaborated
with Coferon since, making important contributions to the early proof-of-concept work for the Coferon
platform. He is a permanent member of the Coferon Scientific Advisory Board and continues to receive
sponsored research funding from the company. He is a Full Professor in the Department of Microbiology at
Weill-Cornell medical college in New York. A prolific inventor with 36 issued US patents, he is best known
for developing the ligase chain reaction (LCR), ligase detection reaction (LDR), and Universal DNA arrays,
which are the foundation of commercial tests to diagnose genetic diseases (i.e. cystic fibrosis), detect
infectious pathogens, identify cancer mutations, and identify diseases using DNA microarrays and targeted
Next-Gen sequencing. The Barany Laboratory patents and intellectual property have generated over $30
million in NIH, NIST and Industrial Grants, over $10 million in royalties to Weill-Cornell, and over $2 billion in
sales to biotechnology companies. Dr. Barany was honored as Medical Diagnostics Research leader,
Scientific American 50 in 2004, and the Ezra Innovation Award, Cornell University in 2011. Professor Barany
received his PhD from Rockefeller University in 1981.
One of three academic founders of Coferon in 2009, Dr. Bergstrom has collaborated with Coferon since,
making important contributions to the early proof-of-concept work for the Coferon platform. He is a
permanent member of the Coferon Scientific Advisory Board and continues to consult with the Company.
Prior to his retirement in 2011, Professor Bergstrom was most recently the Walther Professor of Medicinal
Chemistry at Purdue University and continues as Professor emeritus. Professor Bergstrom has been actively
involved in research projects associated with the Purdue Cancer Center and has held several key leadership
positions at the Center. Professor Bergstrom’s awards include a National Institutes of Health Fellowship,
Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society Faculty Award for Outstanding Research, and the Walther Cancer
Institute Michael K. Guest Award for Creative Research. He has served on many peer review panels at the
National Institutes of Health. Professor Bergstrom's primary research interests are in the area of nucleic acid
chemistry and he has more than 140 publications and 13 patents. He has served on a variety of
Biotechnology company SAB’s and continues an active interest in the sector. Professor Bergstrom received
his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1970.
Maneesh Pingle will join Coferon as Program Manager, Drug Discovery in August of 2012. He is a
scientific cofounder of the company and has collaborated with Coferon since, making important contributions
to the early proof-of-concept work for the Coferon platform. He is currently Research Assistant Professor in
the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Dr. Pingle
brings a multidisciplinary scientific background with training in pharmacy, medicinal and nucleic acid chemistry
and molecular biology. He has expertise in developing high-throughput molecular assays for screening and
diagnostics especially in the area of infectious disease including Mycobacterium tuberculosis. He received his
Ph.D from Purdue University and his Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from the Bombay College of Pharmacy
(India).