Maxim Ratnikov

About Maxim Ratnikov

US CitizenI am a medicinal chemist with expertise in drug discovery (structure-based and phenotypic) and related scientific disciplines (screening technologies, ADME, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, toxicology, lab automation, computational chemistry, AI/ML tools and informatics). I also have broad experiences in business development, customer relations, marketing and software development as well as in leading multi-disciplinary teams (from medicinal chemists to software engineers).I developed my drug discovery skillset at Novartis where I led or contributed to several structure-based and phenotypic drug discovery projects, progressed over 10 lead series to a decision point, co-designed or contributed to three oral small molecule clinical candidates. I gained a broad expertise in oncology, regenerative medicine, infectious diseases and RNA small molecule targeting as well as in related medicinal chemistry approaches (e.g, covalent inhibitors, RNA targeting).I always strive to remain at the cutting-edge of technologies. At Novartis, I learned and pioneered deployment of several technologies in the drug discovery process (e.g, photochemistry, flow chemistry, gene expression panels). Many of my contributions remain relevant 10 years later. At Strateos, I led development of the best-in-class automated lab and established a network of computer drug design tools through internal development and external partnerships. The collection of tools included knowledge graph, ML-driven virtual screening, enhanced building block sourcing, retrosynthetic AI, docking, ADME predictions, and data management software.My business skills allow to effectively identify opportunities in clinical space and among services. I initiated investigation into a new class of oncology targets at Novartis and launched Strateos\'s first drug discovery project. Also at Strateos, I increased chemistry cloud lab services revenue from to and nucleated a new business unit at Strateos - consulting for automated lab design revenue in the first 9 months.My excellent communication skills allow me to plan effective marketing campaigns aimed at technology adoption (photochemistry was adopted across multiple sites and business units at Novartis), to increasecustomer satisfaction (Strateos) and to expand client base and partner network (Strateos).I check LinkedIn frequently. Feel free to reach out to me your ideas.

Experience

1. Senior Product Manager

   Deep Origin

   Apr 2025 — Present · South San Francisco, CA, US

   Proposed, co-wrote and won $31M grant for ADME and Toxicology prediction platform aimed at replacing animal studies in pre-clinical studies• Invented, planned strategic roadmap and launch the first product in a series of data products – DO Patent (data extraction from patents and publications, gained users from two major pharma companies)• Launched the first AI assistant for drug discovery (Balto)• Secured budget and initiated exploration of a new business segment – modeling-experimental hybrids – with the first project in DEL-VS space• Led cross-functional team towards development of automated in silico SAR optimization, including ligand-based screening, docking, FEP, protein panels, automatic pharmacophore generation, generative chemistry, retrosynthetic AI• Proposed and started development of the state-of-the-art platform for Phase I and II metabolism predictions• Established a unified concept for Drug Discovery Platform including AI, physics- and ML-based methods as well as experimental data• Increased number of scientific users for the AI-assisted molecular modeling platform (Balto) to over 600 users• Seeded three research projects in biophysics space• Lead development of compute and data infrastructures as well as supporting systems such as billing, organizations & permissions and user sign up portal• Managed team of two product managers, three researchers (direct reports) and indirectly ca. 25 software engineers, project managers and a UX designer

Education

• University of Maryland

  Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Organic Chemistry

  2008 — 2012

• Higher Chemical College of Russian Academy of Sciences

  Master of Science (MS), Organic Chemistry

  2002 — 2007

Skills

• Fluorescence
• Ir
• Calorimetry
• Customer Support
• Computational Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Manufacturing Scale-Up
• Hplc
• Chomatography
• Advanced Nmr
• Organometallic Chemistry
• Organic Chemistry
• Peptide Synthesis
• Scientific Writing
• Organic Synthesis
• Hplc-Ms
• Nmr Spectroscopy
• Lead Optimisation
• Nanoparticles
• High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (Hplc)
• Photochemistry
• Library Development
• Infrared (Ir)
• Teaching Adults
• Automatic Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis
• Uv/Vis Spectroscopy
• Nmr
• Work in Inert Atmosphere
• Mass Spectrometry
• Medicinal Chemistry
• Chemistry
• Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (Nmr)
• Uv-Vis
• Uv/Vis
• Gc-Ms
• Characterization
• Gas Handling
• Flow Chemistry