Zonula works with an extensive worldwide network of highly skilled professionals with years of experience in biology, chemistry, AI and drug development.

Orest Blaschuk Ph.D.

The company CEO is Orest Blaschuk Ph.D.

Orest has worked in the fields of cell biology and translational research for over three decades. He was a tenured Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University from 1987-2021 (retired). Before starting Zonula, Orest co-founded Adherex Incorporated in 1996, a publicly traded, McGill spin-off oncology company, where he served as Chief Scientist (1996-2005) and consultant (2005-2009). Adherex developed anti-cancer drugs targeting cell adhesion molecules (biological glues) based on intellectual property generated in Orest's laboratory at McGill University. The Adherex drug ADH-1 (a cyclic peptide targeting the cell adhesion molecule, N-cadherin) reached Phase II clinical trials as an anti-cancer agent and was given orphan drug status by the FDA for the treatment of melanoma. Orest thus has proven expertise in drug discovery and development from the laboratory to the clinic. He has authored 88 scientific articles (6,000+ citations) and is an inventor on 51 U.S. patents.

Xavier Barbeau Ph.D.

Xavier is CTO of Zonula. He is an AI and computational drug discovery chemist with a decade of experience. Xavier blends medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, and structural biology data with computational chemistry and AI tools to support translational decision-making. He has held computational chemistry roles at FeldanTherapeutics, NuChem Sciences, and most recently at SygnatureDiscovery, where he led a major AI-for-drug-discovery project. Xavier is the author of over 30 publications and an inventor on 6 patents, spanning small molecule drug discovery, peptide-based intracellular delivery, and open-source tool development.