Nicole McKnight PhD is COO of Stellate Therapeutics, an early-stage biotechnology company developing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. McKnight is dedicated to promoting the success of life science start-ups in New York and is excited to be contributing to the exponential growth of its biotech ecosystem. Previously, Nicole was Managing Director of BioLabs@NYULangone, a co-working space for growing biotech startups and she was instrumental in establishing partnerships with New York University, NYC, the State, and corporate sponsors. Nicole completed her neuroscience postdoc in 2014 at Mount Sinai where she studied autophagy proteins in mouse models. She obtained her PhD in 2011 from University College London and Cancer Research UK, where she performed a genome-wide screen to find new autophagy regulators. Nicole worked in labs at Harvard Medical School, Ore Therapeutics, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. She holds a certificate in business fundamentals from Harvard Business School Online and is a 2018 Crain’s New York Business 40Under40.