Management:

Richard A. Houghten, Ph.D.
Founder, President and CEO

Dr. Richard Houghten received his doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1975. Following positions at the University of California, San Francisco and Mount Sinai School of Medicine, he joined the Molecular Biology Department of The Scripps Research Institute in 1981. Dr. Houghten founded Multiple Peptide Systems in 1986 following the development of the "tea bag" method of solid phase synthesis (US Patent No. 4,631,211). In 1989 Dr. Houghten left Scripps (he maintains an adjunct membership) to found Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies (TPIMS), a not-for-profit biomedical research institute recognized internationally as an innovator in the field of combinatorial chemistry. Dr. Houghten founded Houghten Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (renamed Trega Biosciences, Inc. and recently acquired by LION Biosciences AG) in 1990, in order to further develop and commercialize products from the synthetic combinatorial library technology developed at TPIMS. In 1999 Dr. Houghten founded Mixture Sciences, Inc., (MSI) a privately-held biotechnology company, with the objective of discovering and commercializing therapeutic and diagnostic candidates for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, cancer, diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, and infectious diseases, including Lyme Disease. Dr. Houghten has authored or co-authored over 450 publications, including more than 150 on combinatorial chemistry and its uses, and is an inventor or co-inventor on 43 issued patents.

Darcy B. Wilson, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Darcy Wilson graduated from Harvard University, and received his doctorate in zoology from the University of Pennsylvania Wistar Institute in 1962. Following positions as a professor and Head of the Division of Research Immunology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, he became the Scientific Director of Medical Biology Institute and La Jolla Institute for Experimental Medicine, both in La Jolla, California. In 1992 he joined the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (formerly known as the San Diego Regional Cancer Center) as the Director of Basic Sciences, then became the Scientific Director before joining Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies (TPIMS) in January 1997. He joined Mixture Sciences, Inc. (MSI) in 1999 as the Chief Scientific Officer.

Clemencia Pinilla, Ph.D.
Chief Technical Officer

Clemencia Pinilla received her Ph.D. in Microbiology from Los Andes University in Santa Fe de Bogotá, Colombia in 1986. She joined Scripps Research Institute in 1987 as a postdoctoral researcher. She joined Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies (TPIMS) in 1989, and is currently an Associate Member and leader of the Immunochemistry Department using combinatorial libraries to identify B and T cell antigens for infectious diseases and cancer. She is also currently involved in a program project grant using combinatorial approaches to treat neoplastic diseases. She is one of the inventors of the patented positional scanning concept. She accepted a position in 1999 at Mixture Sciences, Inc. (MSI) as the Chief Technical Officer. In the course of her work Dr. Pinilla has established a wide range of collaborations with scientists that have T cell clones of clinical relevance or have access to patient samples to generate important T cell clones. In addition she is the MSI project leader of the joint venture with Elan.