# Michael Milburn

> Michael V. Milburn is the CEO and President of GeneCentric Therapeutics, a Durham, North Carolina biotech building RNA-based liquid biopsy tools that read a tumor's behavior from a single tube of blood. A structural biologist by training, he helped solve the first crystal structures of the Ras cancer protein at Berkeley in the late 1980s, then spent decades building research engines at Sirtris, Plexxikon, and Metabolon before taking the top job at GeneCentric in 2019. His current bet: that the fragments of DNA shed by tumors carry enough information to infer gene expression, not just mutations, turning a blood draw into a near-complete molecular portrait of cancer.

- **Role:** CEO and President at GeneCentric Therapeutics
- **Organizations:** GeneCentric Therapeutics, North Carolina State University (Adjunct Professor), Metabolon, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Plexxikon, Structural Genomix, GlaxoWellcome
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ph.D. in Biophysical/Physical Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School
- **Known for:** Co-determined the early crystal structures of the human Ras oncogene protein, foundational work in cancer structural biology published in Science (1987) and Nature (1989), Published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles, Built Metabolon's R&D into a premier metabolomics platform as CSO

## Career timeline

- **1986** — Earns B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Michigan
- **1988-1991** — Helps solve the first crystal structures of the Ras cancer protein in Sung-Hou Kim's lab at UC Berkeley; work published in Science and Nature
- **1991** — Completes Ph.D. in physical/biophysical chemistry at UC Berkeley
- **1994** — Finishes postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School
- **1990s-2000s** — Holds senior research roles at GlaxoWellcome, Structural Genomix, Plexxikon, and Sirtris Pharmaceuticals
- **2005** — Becomes Chief Scientific Officer at Metabolon, building its metabolomics R&D organization
- **2018** — Joins GeneCentric Therapeutics as Chief Scientific Officer (September)
- **2019** — Appointed President and CEO of GeneCentric and joins its board (January)
- **2024** — GeneCentric launches the ExpressCT liquid biopsy platform
- **2025** — GeneCentric closes an $8.0M Series C led by Hatteras Venture Partners to commercialize GenomicsNext
- **2026** — GeneCentric presents fragmentomics-based ExpressCT clinical data at AACR 2026

## Achievements

- Co-determined the early crystal structures of the human Ras oncogene protein, foundational work in cancer structural biology published in Science (1987) and Nature (1989)
- Published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles
- Built Metabolon's R&D into a premier metabolomics platform as CSO
- Led GeneCentric's pivot into RNA-based liquid biopsy with ExpressCT and GenomicsNext
- Adjunct Professor in Molecular and Structural Biochemistry at NC State University

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — GeneCentric presented clinical data on its fragmentomics-based ExpressCT liquid biopsy technology at AACR 2026
- **2025-06** — GeneCentric closed an initial $8.0M Series C led by Hatteras Venture Partners to commercialize GenomicsNext
- **2024-10** — GeneCentric launched the ExpressCT liquid biopsy platform

## Links

- Website: https://genecentric.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-milburn-ph-d-8a32973

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/michael-milburn
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-10