A drug discovery company dedicated to developing treatments for Neurofibromatosis Type 1

As founder and CEO of iNFixion Bioscience, Mr. Sarnoff has led all aspects of the company since its founding in 2017, including the recruitment of a core research team and a world-class scientific advisory board, the successful execution of several NIH Phase 1 SBIR grants, launching the Company’s lab (at JLABS in San Diego), and the oversight of several scientific programs and collaborations.  iNFixion has also received grants from three NF foundations.

Mr. Sarnoff is an experienced entrepreneur, with over 20 years leading and consulting for multiple start-ups, including the founding of Retail Inkjet Solutions (RIS) in 2003. As CEO/Board Chairman, and later as COO, Mr. Sarnoff led RIS from 2003-2013, including: investment of $11.5M in angel/venture capital, ground-up development of complex equipment, rollout of an inkjet refill solution to 600+ retail locations (i.e. Costco) across North America and Europe, and successful prosecution of 10+ patents. Mr. Sarnoff continued as a Board Member from 2014 until the company’s eventual acquisition in 2021.

Mr. Sarnoff has a teen-age daughter with NF1, and in 2014 made a personal decision to dedicate his entrepreneurial background and skills to identifying and developing a treatment to help his daughter, and the other 2.5M people living with NF1.  After several years of advocacy, fundraising, learning and investigating, including multiple false starts and significant serendipity, iNFixion was founded on the idea of developing drugs to treat NF1 at its core by eliminating NF1 protein haploinsufficiency.

Mr. Sarnoff has an international MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, and a BS in Engineering from UC San Diego.  Mr. Sarnoff has lived and worked in Spain, speaks fluent Spanish, and is an inventor on 13 U.S. patents.  Mr. Sarnoff has been married for 30 years, with two young adult children.

Michelle Mattson-Hoss, PhD, is iNFixion Bioscience’s Principal Scientist, leading all aspects of lab research, including tool and assay development, drug screening and hit evaluation. Over her career, Dr. Mattson has led the development and optimization of drug screening platforms at multiple San Diego biotech institutions, leading to many successful grant applications and company growth.  Dr. Mattson earned her BS from Santa Clara University in Biomolecular Engineering, PhD from UCI in Cell and Molecular Biology, and completed postdoctoral studies at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in Human Genetics and Development.  Dr. Mattson developed the iNFixion lab from nothing into a fully-functioning lab during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and continues to deliver tremendous results given only a limited start-up company budget to work with.  Michelle also has two beautiful daughters that occupy the other half of her life.

Dr. Croston is an experienced drug discovery researcher and biotech entrepreneur with over 25 years of industry experience moving drugs forward from concept to clinic, including companies such as Tularik, Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Acadia Pharmaceuticals, and the Ferring Research Institute. Dr. Croston has significant experience developing research methodologies, including leading high throughput screening and lead optimization across many diseases.  Dr. Croston received a BS in Biology from UC Davis, his PhD from UC San Diego in 1993, and has been supporting iNFixion Bioscience as a core scientific advisor since 2018.  Dr. Croston also joined iNFixion’s core team for the NIH I-Corps commercialization program (8-week, half-time) — including over 100 interviews from across the NF1 community (patients, parents, docs, etc.), and the rare disease drug discovery ecosystem (regulatory, pharmacy, big pharma, etc.).  Dr. Croston is currently the COO of Eicosis, a drug discovery company focused on chronic pain, but is fully committed to his ongoing daily/weekly involvement as an advisor to iNFixion Bioscience focusing on strategy and data review.  Dr. Croston has two wonderful young-adult children.

Dr. Frost is an experienced physician with over 30 years in medical practice. He is a board certified anatomic and clinical pathologist with a subspecialty in hematopathology, playing a critical role in patient care by providing accurate diagnoses on biopsies and blood samples, and by fulfilling the role of Medical Director of a pathology laboratory for twelve years. He has contributed to medical research, having published articles on cancer research including novel cancer therapy delivery methods. Dr. Frost also has expertise in computer software development and data analysis having designed and developed a software system to address the unique requirements of pathologists when preparing high quality pathology reports.

As the parent of a child with NF1, Dr. Frost is fully committed to identifying and developing a therapeutic that specifically addresses all aspects of NF1. His role at iNFixion includes reviewing and summarizing literature relevant to the iNFixion goal of developing an NF1 therapeutic; integral participation in iNFixion research projects, including strategy and data review; developing NF1-specific research tools such as NF1 antibodies; and designing and developing software to analyze NF1-related research data.  Dr. Frost has now read hundreds of NF1 publications, and is the company’s resident expert on all aspects of NF1 protein, pathway and downstream regulation, and haploinsufficiency.  Dr. Frost is married with two adult children, and has been a dedicated member of the iNFixion Bioscience core team since 2019.

Mya S. Walker, PhD is a scientist at iNFixion Bioscience. She received her BS in Biological Sciences at California State University, Long Beach, and completed research internships at the Ohio State University and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She earned her PhD at the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences at City of Hope, where she studied the role of metabolic adducts on prostate cancer disparities affecting African American men. She brings to iNFxion a wide set of technical skills gained from her training in molecular biology, genetics, and population sciences. Since joining the lab team at iNFixion, Dr. Walker has led the development of our antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) program.

Gwen Guzman earned a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Arizona State University. She has been a part of the iNFixion Bioscience team since February 2023 as Research Associate II. Gwen’s experience in cell-based assays, tissue culture, and drug screens have allowed her to integrate seamlessly into the lab, working under the direction of Dr. Mattson-Hoss to expedite projects and experiments that are crucial for understanding NF1 dynamics.