Team
Leadership Team
Oliver J. Ratcliffe, Ph.D., M.B.A. - Executive Chairman
Oliver is in charge of corporate development at Clue and also serves as the firm’s managing director. He is an executive leader with more than 20 years of experience in the life sciences sector. Oliver has a deep network of professional contacts, including amongst the investment community, and a proven track record in attracting financing, building innovation teams, and executing transactions. From 2014- 2019, Oliver was Vice President of Business Development at Koch Biological Solutions, a business unit within Koch Industries focused on biologically based agricultural inputs. Before Koch, Oliver was on the executive team of Mendel Biotechnology, Inc., where he was Senior Vice President of R&D for more than a decade and then President, immediately prior to the sale of Mendel's R&D operations in 2014. Oliver has both a technology background as well as a formal business training. He holds a Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology and Genetics and an executive M.B.A from the Judge Business School at Cambridge University. Oliver is a dual UK-US citizen who is primarily based in California.
Cedric J. Pearce, Ph.D. - President and CTO
Cedric is a life-sciences entrepreneur with more than three decades of executive leadership and technical management experience in the commercial biotech and pharmaceutical industries. He began his career in academia as a pharmacy professor (University of Connecticut) and then held positions in major pharmaceutical companies including Bristol-Myers and American Cyanamid. For the last 20+ years, Cedric has participated in the biotech sector at multiple levels including leading start-ups, working with venture capital providers, and providing consulting services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms worldwide. Cedric holds a Ph.D. from University of Southampton in the UK and has an extensive publication record, including as an inventor on numerous patents and published patent applications. He is a founder/co-founder of multiple life-science based businesses and is a past president of the American Society of Pharmacognosy.
Peter P. Repetti, Ph.D. - Head of Research
Peter is a seasoned R&D professional with more than two decades of experience in leading research projects within both large and small companies. His life-long interest in plant and microbial biology started in his teenage years, when he learned that orchids are dependent on mycorrhizal fungi for completion of their natural life cycles. Since then, his career has focused on understanding the interactions between organisms, and their environment. Peter received a PhD in Plant and Microbial Biology from UC Berkeley, where he studied the molecular mechanisms that plants use to detect and fight-off pathogens. As Research Director at Mendel Biotechnology, Peter headed a team which used genomic approaches to identify and deploy plant-encoded transcriptional regulators for improving crop resilience in response to environmental stress. Later, at Koch Biological Solutions, his work focused on the discovery and use of microbial biochemicals to improve crop productivity. As Head of Research at Clue, Peter’s expertise is being aimed at mining the vast genomic space of Kingdom Fungi to discover and deliver natural product solutions for a broad range of industries.
Blaise A. Darveaux - Head of Microbiology
Blaise is an expert mycologist who has more than 30 years of experience in working with microbes. He has managed and mined large libraries of organisms for a variety of organizations including academic institutions and biotechnology companies including MYCOsearch, Inc., Oncogene Science, Inc., Paradigm and Mycosynthetix, Inc. Blaise is an author/inventor on more than twenty patents and publications and holds an M.S. degree in Mycology from State University of New York.
Omer Ayfer - Head of Information Technology
Omer currently runs a consulting business that offers fractional CIO services for startup companies, with a focus on information security and cloud based infrastructure. He has spent the last decade in “head of IT” roles at several biotechnology organizations ranging from molecular diagnostics to agriculture. Previously he was a programmer working on improving the interface between scientists and compute resources. In addition, Omer is a frequent speaker at executive education programs offered by the Haas School of Business in Berkeley, and is an Adjunct Professor at Merritt College where he teaches a variety of courses in the premier cybersecurity program at the community college level. He holds a BS in Computer Engineering from Purdue University. When not in front of a computer, he can be found cooking elaborate meals with his two sons and wife in Oakland, California.
Jeffrey M. Libby, Ph.D. - Head of Intellectual Property
Jeff oversees Clue’s IP estate and is focused on developing a solid patent portfolio protecting Clue’s unique natural products and their applications. He is a patent professional with deep experience in developing and implementing strategies to protect intellectual property derived from functional genomics projects. In his prior role at Mendel Biotechnology, he was instrumental in building a broad estate of granted patents around gene trait technology for crops. Jeff has a strong background in biochemistry and microbiology, and holds a PhD from Cornell University. Following his graduate studies, he was a member of the faculty in the Department of Microbiology at Miami University. His research interests concerned the study of virulence factors and the detection and analysis of pathogens using silicon-based biosensors. After switching gears to the corporate world, he has spent most of the last thirty years in early-stage life sciences companies. After roles in R&D leadership, Jeff entered the field of patent law and was then appointed to the position of Director of the Patent Group at Mendel Biotechnology in Hayward, California.
Andrew MacBride - Head of Machine Learning and Computational Biology
Andrew has deep expertise in software engineering, machine learning (ML), and computational biology, and leads Clue’s efforts in genome assembly, ML, algorithms, and data analysis. With extensive experience in high-throughput genomics and structural biology, Andrew built commercial data analysis pipelines and tools at Convergent Genomics, Veracyte, Station X (now a Roche subsidiary), and Fabric Genomics. A founder of Cohera Corporation and Station X, he is a co-author on publications in molecular diagnostics in oncology, personal genomics, and the determination of gene function. Andrew holds a B.A. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and graduate certificates in Bioinformatics and Nanoscale Materials Science from Stanford University. He is currently completing his MSc in Nanotechnology in Medicine and Healthcare at the University of Oxford.
Board of Directors
Oliver J. Ratcliffe, Ph.D., M.B.A. - Executive Chairman
Oliver is in charge of corporate development at Clue and also serves as the firm’s managing director. He is an executive leader with more than 20 years of experience in the life sciences sector. Oliver has a deep network of professional contacts, including amongst the investment community, and a proven track record in attracting financing, building innovation teams, and executing transactions. From 2014- 2019, Oliver was Vice President of Business Development at Koch Biological Solutions, a business unit within Koch Industries focused on biologically based agricultural inputs. Before Koch, Oliver was on the executive team of Mendel Biotechnology, Inc., where he was Senior Vice President of R&D for more than a decade and then President, immediately prior to the sale of Mendel's R&D operations in 2014. Oliver has both a technology background as well as a formal business training. He holds a Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology and Genetics and an executive M.B.A from the Judge Business School at Cambridge University. Oliver is a dual UK-US citizen who is primarily based in California.
Cedric J. Pearce, Ph.D.
Cedric is a life-sciences entrepreneur with more than three decades of executive leadership and technical management experience in the commercial biotech and pharmaceutical industries. He began his career in academia as a pharmacy professor (University of Connecticut) and then held positions in major pharmaceutical companies including Bristol-Myers and American Cyanamid. For the last 20+ years, Cedric has participated in the biotech sector at multiple levels including leading start-ups, working with venture capital providers, and providing consulting services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms worldwide. Cedric holds a Ph.D. from University of Southampton in the UK and has an extensive publication record, including as an inventor on numerous patents and published patent applications. He is a founder/co-founder of multiple life-science based businesses and is a past president of the American Society of Pharmacognosy.
Joshua I. Armstrong, Ph.D.
Josh brings deep technology expertise to the Clue Board and possesses an extensive background which spans genomics, plant biology, molecular genetics, and organic chemistry. He is an experienced leader who has successfully managed large teams at a number of companies including at Koch Biological Solutions, where he was Vice President of R&D and Mendel Biotechnology Inc., where he was Senior Director of R&D. Josh is currently Microbial, Soil & Seed Applied Technology Discovery Leader at Corteva Agriscience. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry and received post doctoral training at the Plant Gene Expression Center at the University of California, Berkeley.
Joseph Halstead
Joe is an entrepreneur and investor with more than two decades of experience in founding and building successful businesses. He has a technical background in physiology and pharmacology and has a particular interest in the health, fitness and nutrition sectors. Joe is currently Head of Research for Ultimate Performance, the world's leading Personal Training business. He was educated at Cambridge University in the U.K. and holds an M.A. in Natural Sciences.
Advisory Group
Nick H. Oberlies, Ph.D.
Nick is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro who is a leading authority in Natural Product chemistry. For more than 15 years, Nick has led a team which has investigated bioactive compounds from fungi; this has resulted in the isolation of hundreds of metabolites, many of which were new to science. He has published over 200 manuscripts, of which around 50 were co-authored with Dr. Pearce. Nick has particular expertise in analytical chemistry and his group has developed an LC-MS platform that can be used to rapidly characterize the metabolites being produced in fungal cultures. Nick holds a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy from Purdue University.
Guy T. Carter, Ph.D.
Guy T. Carter, Ph. D. is Chief Scientific Officer of Biosortia Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery of novel compounds from aquatic microbial consortia. His previous industrial experience was as Vice President of Chemical Technologies at Wyeth/Pfizer. In this role at Wyeth he was responsible for Natural Products Discovery, which included all aspects of this program from the acquisition of biodiversity, microbiology and fermentation through chemical isolation and genetic engineering. In 30 years of research in industry he discovered numerous biologically active natural products, two of which led to commercial products. As a result of this research he is named as an inventor on 21 issued US Patents and as a co-author on more than 120 publications. Dr. Carter has been active in the scientific community as well, serving on editorial boards of the Journal of Antibiotics, Journal of Natural Products, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, and Natural Products Reports. He was a member of the NIH Synthetic and Biological Chemistry B Study Section 2005-2008. He is a former President of the American Society for Pharmacognosy (ASP), and was recently elected as an ASP Fellow.
Nancy P. Keller, Ph.D.
Nancy is a Professor of Mycology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She has extensive experience in fungal genomics and is a leading expert in the expression and manipulation of fungal biosynthetic gene clusters in model systems. Nancy has an extensive publication record and is a regular speaker at conferences. She holds a PhD in Plant Pathology/Phytopathology from Cornell University.
Huzefa Raja, Ph.D.
Huzefa is a research scientist in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), who has a strong background in molecular systematics, and taxonomy of Ascomycota fungi. His experience includes establishing a fungal culture collection from freshwater saprobic and endosymbiotic fungi, which can be screened for bioactive secondary compounds. Huzefa holds a Ph.D. in Plant Biology with a specialization in Mycology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Ryan Busch
Ryan Busch was appointed to Clue's advisory group in August 2022 and brings extensive expertise in finance, operations management and deal execution. He assists the Clue leadership team in developing and implementing its strategic plan to finance the growth of the organization. A thirty-year business veteran, Ryan has held executive roles at both large and small companies across diverse sectors, including banking, agriculture, electrical, and entertainment. He has a finance and operations background and has extensive connections in the venture capital and private equity communities.