Our Team
Charles O. Noble, Ph.D.
Founding Scientist, President
A founding partner in ZoneOne Pharma, Dr. Noble has served as President since 2011, handling operations, leading cancer therapeutic development projects, contributing to the chelator project and developing methods to evaluate generic liposome formulations in collaboration with the FDA. He has studied nanostructures and drug delivery for the majority of his career, and is known for his dedication and creative problem-solving.
As a Senior Scientist at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (formerly Hermes Biosciences), Dr. Noble was a key team member in both the discovery and development of Onivyde®, which was recently approved for pancreatic cancer, one of the most intractable cancers. He was also a member of the manufacturing and quality control teams during development of an anti-Her2 immunoliposomal doxorubicin (MM-302).
Dr. Noble’s doctoral candidate studies on redox-responsive dendrimers at Louisiana State University, for which he earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2001, and his postdoctoral work on antibody-targeted immunoliposomes and drug delivery to brain tumors at the University of California San Francisco, laid the foundation for future discoveries and achievements.
When he’s not working toward the next breakthrough in drug delivery, you can find Charles on the ski slopes or surfing.
Zhipeng Dai, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Zhipeng holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He is leading chemistry development of early drug candidates, conducting in vitro liposomal drug release, and investigating liposome-antibody interaction. In his spare time he likes hiking, fishing and collecting antiques.
Shauna is a Project Manager at ZoneOne Pharma. She has over 15 years experience in assisting small companies to secure funding. She has extensive experience in managing academic scientists, geographically dispersed teams, and subcontractors to achieve project goals on tight timelines.
Shauna Farr-Jones, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Project Manager
Peter K. Working, Ph.D., DAPT
Vice President of Regulatory Science
Peter Working, PhD, DABT has over 25 years of experience in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and chemical industries,working in the areas of mechanisms of toxicity, preclinical drug safety and efficacy, pharmacokinetics, pharmacology and analytical development, as well as the regulatory aspects of drug development in the US and Europe. He has published over 95 peer-reviewed scientific papers, review articles and book chapters in the scientific literature. Much of his career has focused on translational research and sciences, moving product candidates from benchtop to clinic, with a particular emphasis on oncology products.
He has served on various industry and governmental advisory boards, including the Special Emphasis Panel of the NCI RAID program, the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (National Toxicology Program), the Industrial Liaison Committee of the American Society of Gene Therapy, the Board of Directors of the American Board of Toxicology and BioSafe, a nonclinical safety expert advisory committee of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).
Peter is a co-founder of Z1P and Principal Investigator on two contracts with the FDA evaluating liposome products in addition to leading the pre-clinical toxicology program for LDFO.
Board Member and Strategy Advisor
Michael Motion, Ph.D.
Board Director
Francis C. Szoka, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, Chairman of the Board
Frank is co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Z1P. He also serves as a faculty member at UCSF in the Department of Bioengineering & Therapeutics. He pioneered many liposome and drug delivery technologies and has an extensive publication and patent record in these fields. He co-founded SEQUUS which introduced the first liposome based oncology product, DOXIL® which was approved in 1995 for the treatment of Kaposi’s sarcoma and was part of the team that devised the antifungal drug Amphotec® and manufacturing methods. Frank also founded a gene therapy company called GeneMedicine.