Trait Biosciences is a biotechnology research company.
Our team of scientists and USA/Canada collaborators are developing cannabis/hemp specific products which provide for:
- RNAi crop protection specifically designed to reduce use of pesticides and fungicides and reduce accumulation of fungal toxins - patent pending.
- Production of water-soluble full-spectrum cannabinoids for enhanced product formulations, controlled release and greater bioavailability - patent pending.
- Novel technology to substantially increase cannabinoid production and accumulation - patent pending.
Management Team
Joseph del Moral
Chief Executive Officer
- Joseph was the co-founder and CEO of CanvasRx, the largest cannabis clinic company in Canada, which was acquired by Aurora Cannabis in 2016
- He joined the Board of Directors of Aurora where he helped lead M&A efforts, resulting in over a dozen transactions. Prior to the cannabis industry Joseph co-founded Newten Home Comfort, a services company acquired by Just Energy Inc. (JE.TO) in 2012
Dr. Richard Sayre
Chief Scientific Officer
- Former Level 6 Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Recognised by Nature Journal, as one of the top five crop researchers who could change the world
- Author of over 130 biotechnology papers and patents, with over 7000 citations
- Received over U.S. $100 million in grant funding for various projects
Hannan Fleiman
President
- Hannan was the co-founder and COO of CanvasRx, the largest cannabis clinic company in Canada, which was acquired by Aurora Cannabis in 2016
- After the acquisition he helped lead M&A efforts, resulting in over a dozen transactions
- Prior to the cannabis industry Hannan was Vice President of Operations of National Home Services, a subsidiary of Just Energy Inc. (JE.TO) and a Senior Business Manager at Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc. where he managed the Hospital, OTC and Animal Care divisions.
- He holds an MBA from McMaster University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Guelph
Ronan Levy
Chief Strategic Officer
- Ronan is co-founder of Grassfed Ventures Inc., a private equity and advisory firm focused on the cannabis and biotechnology industries
- Prior to joining Trait, Ronan served as Senior Vice President, Business and Corporate Affairs at Aurora Cannabis Inc., which he joined after Aurora acquired CanvasRx Inc. in 2016, a company Ronan co-founded
- Ronan also serves on the Board of Directors of Province Brands
Erik Briones
Chief Operating Officer
- 20 years experience in the horticulture and marijuana industry, within the commercial growing and retail space
- Founder and CEO of New Mexico's leading and largest medical marijuana dispensary and grow operation (Minnerva Canna)
- B.Sc. in Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
David Smalley
Chief Legal Counsel
- David Smalley has 17 years practicing corporate and securities law, providing legal services for financing private and public companies
- David is a director of a number of Capital Pool Companies listed for trading on the TSX-Venture Exchange in Canada
- David advises CEOs on their financing and business strategies; provides corporate, commercial and securities legal services
Eugene Hodgson
Chief Financial Officer
- Accomplished senior executive in both private industry as a banker, financial and public policy advisor
- Experienced negotiator with First Nations groups and strategic board member for a number of business and community associations
- Director and Audit Chair of Pebble Labs Inc., Maxtech Ventures Inc., Rover Metals Inc, and Red Fund Capital Corp
Kimberly Harrison
Chief Development Officer
- 25 years experience as an entrepreneur across industries
- Experienced in strategy, product development, VC funding, patents, distribution/licensing and government relations
- Served on numerous international product certification and standardization committees
Dr. Anne Lo
Director of Strategic Development
- Dr. Anne Lo trained as a veterinary surgeon and worked in a number of clinical positions
- She subsequently joined management consulting firm Bain & Co in London, before moving to a strategy role with WorldPay
- Dr. Lo was most recently with Horizons Ventures based in Hong Kong, where she primarily covered science and healthcare investments
- Dr. Lo received her BSc and BVM&S degrees from the University of Edinburgh and PhD from the University of Cambridge
Dr. Rick DeRose
Director of Product Innovation
- Over 25 years’ experience in Ag Biotechnology at Syngenta and Bayer developing innovation strategies for R&D projects
- Co-inventor of the first commercialized Roundup Ready Corn varieties
- Awarded the ASPB 2017 Innovation Prize for Agricultural Technology for successfully translated discovery research into demonstrable, real-world outcomes on Global Agriculture
Edward Cheung
Director of Business Development
- Edward Cheung has over 20 years experience in global investment banks including JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse, advising on equities and derivatives to institutions, hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds
- Edward is experienced in setting up new businesses including a trading division at a US bank and board member of several startups
- He holds a B.Sc. in Economics from University College London and a Masters degree in Property Valuation & Law from London Cass Business School
Scientific Team
Dr. Oliver Kayser
Senior Research Fellow
- Ph.D. from Freie Universität Berlin (Division of Pharmaceutical Technology) and Poznan University of Medical Sciences (honoris causa)
- Main focus is transfer of secondary plant pathways into microorganisms and the cannabinoid pathway.
- Research fields include: i) identification of biosynthetic genes of secondary natural products from medicinally used plants (especially C. sativa), ii) metabolic engineering of secondary natural products (terpenoids, alakloids, cannabinoids) in heterologous hosts, and iii) development of bioprocesses in fermenter for assembled plant pathways in microorganisms.
Dr. Tawanda Zidenga
Scientist
- PhD in Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Crop Science from the University of Zimbabwe
- Brings over 15 years of experience in plant tissue culture, metabolic engineering and plant secondary metabolism research
- Current research interests in plant and algal biology
Dr. Erick LeBrun
Scientist
- LeBrun has a Ph.D. in Biology from Baylor University where he focused on Microbial Ecology, Metagenomics, and Bioinformatics
- Erick’s expertise is in using genetics to explore microbial community dynamics and novel bioinformatics analyses to turn large genomic datasets into meaningful information for real world application
Dr. Guohua (Karen) Yin
Senior Scientist
- Guohua (Karen) Yin has a Ph.D. in Molecular Plant Pathology from the State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology in Shandong China
- Karen is skilled in molecular biology and biotechnology such as next-generation sequencing and re-sequencing
- She is the author of 45 publications with another 11 under review or in preparation
Dr. Elton Carvalho Gonçalves
Scientist
- Ph.D. in Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (University of Florida)
- Bachelor of Science in Biology (Federal University of Viçosa -Brazil)
- Expertise: Plant metabolic engineering, genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, technology transfer
- Languages: English (Bilingual proficiency), Portuguese (native), Spanish (intermediate proficiency)
Dr. Pedro Miguel Melo Da Costa Nunes
Scientist
- Dr. Pedro Miguel Melo Da Costa Nunes has a Ph.D. in Biology from the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Technical University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
- Pedro’s expertise is in plant Argonaute diversity and function
- He is the author of 22 publications
Dr. Jennifer Stamps
Scientist
- Ph.D. from the University of Florida Dept of Neuroscience & Dept of Neurology.
- Expertise include taste, olfaction, flavor perception, chemosensory testing, human psychophysics, human neuroanatomy and behavioral neurology.
- Led studies in how chemosensory function breaks down in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Norman G. Lewis
Advisor
- Regents Professor, Washington State University, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and other learned societies
- Over 50 years of academic and industrial expertise in chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology and genetic engineering
- Published over 250 papers and receives support for research from US and Canadian federal agencies, (DOE, NASA, NSF, NIH, USDA and NSERC) and from various companies and foundations
- Held various senior editorial positions ( e.g. Phytochemistry) and leadership roles in numerous scientific societies, including as Director of the Institute of Biological Chemistry at WSU
Dr. Omar Holguin
Advisor
- Assistant Professor, New Mexico State University
- Research Fellow at the New Center for Genomic Resources and President at Ealasid Inc.
- Current research interests are largely in discovering/studying/modifying plant biochemical pathways, as well as with bioenergy/bioproducts and medicinal plant biosynthetic pathway research
Board of Directors
Michael Harrison
Chairman of the Board
- Michael Harrison has 35 years experience in investment banking with interests in resource, energy and biotechnology sectors
- Michael is responsible for raising in excess of U.S. $1 billion in funding for private and publicly traded companies
- He has served on the Board of Directors for numerous international publicly listed companies
Ronan Levy
Director
- Ronan is co-founder of Grassfed Ventures Inc., a private equity and advisory firm focused on the cannabis and biotechnology industries
- Prior to joining Trait, Ronan served as Senior Vice President, Business and Corporate Affairs at Aurora Cannabis Inc., which he joined after Aurora acquired CanvasRx Inc. in 2016, a company Ronan co-founded
- Ronan also serves on the Board of Directors of Province Brands
David Smalley
Director
- David Smalley has 17 years practicing corporate and securities law, providing legal services for financing private and public companies
- David is a director of a number of Capital Pool Companies listed for trading on the TSX-Venture Exchange in Canada
- David advises CEOs on their financing and business strategies; provides corporate, commercial and securities legal services
Joseph del Moral
Director
- Joseph was the co-founder and CEO of CanvasRx, the largest cannabis clinic company in Canada, which was acquired by Aurora Cannabis in 2016
- He joined the Board of Directors of Aurora where he helped lead M&A efforts, resulting in over a dozen transactions. Prior to the cannabis industry Joseph co-founded Newten Home Comfort, a services company acquired by Just Energy Inc. (JE.TO) in 2012
Peter McDonough
Director
- Peter serves as a management consultant with an extensive career heading international marketing organizations. He has 30+ years of brand building in consumer industries with senior leadership roles at market leaders such as Gillette, Duracell, Black & Decker, Braun and most recently as Diageos' President, Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer
- His professional experience includes time spent at the business school faculty of the University of Canterbury (New Zealand) as well as advisory roles at the AdCouncil of America and Effies Worldwide
- Peter is an alumnus of Cornell University with an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and currently serves on the Boards of Viridian Capital Advisors and Empower Clinics, Inc.