Isaac Manke is a General Partner at Acorn BioVentures, where he focuses on investing in small cap public and private biotechnology companies. Previously, he was a General Partner at New Leaf Venture Partners for 11 years. In addition to private venture investments, during his time at New Leaf Venture Partners, he also led the firm’s public investment activities. Prior to his venture capital career, he was an Associate Equity Analyst in the Global Biotechnology Equity Research group at Sanford C. Bernstein and prior to that in the Biotechnology Equity Research group at Deutsche Bank. Prior to these roles, he was a Senior Analyst at Health Advances, a biopharmaceutical and medical device strategy consulting firm. Dr. Manke serves on the board of directors for Q32 Bio Inc. (NASDAQ: QTTB) and Addex Therapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ: ADXN). He has also served on the board of directors of True North Therapeutics (acquired by Bioverativ) and Karos Pharmaceuticals (acquired by an undisclosed company).
Dr. Manke received a Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry and Molecular Structure from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a B.A. in Biology and B.A. in Chemistry from Minnesota State University (Moorhead). During his research career his discoveries led to several publications in top journals, including Science and Cell, and were selected by Science as one of the 2003: Signaling Breakthroughs of the Year.
These discoveries also resulted in four issued patents.