Marvin H. Caruthers, Ph.D.

Marvin H. Caruthers, Ph.D., is the Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado. Dr. Caruthers is a renowned research scientist in the field of DNA Synthesis, and an inventor and multiple patent holder of key enabling manufacturing techniques for the biotechnology industry.

In 1980, Dr. Caruthers and seven other research scientists founded AMGEN with three venture capital groups. AMGEN is now the largest biotechnology company in the world with revenues of $6 billion and a market capitalization exceeding $60 billion. Dr. Caruthers continues to serve as a scientific consultant to the company.

Dr. Caruthers and Dr. Lee Hood co-founded Applied Biosystems, Inc., in 1981 to commercialize their discoveries in the chemical synthesis of nucleic acids and the sequencing of proteins. Applied Biosystems, the worldwide leader in this field, was acquired by Perkin Elmer Corporation in 1991 for $450 million. Together with BV General Partner Kyle Lefkoff, he is a founding investor in Genomica, Array BioPharma and Dharmacon.

Dr. Caruthers, a Guggenheim Fellow, received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Northwestern University, and completed his post-doctoral studies at MIT. He is an Editorial Board member of the Journal of Biotechnology, the Journal of Protein Engineering, and the Journal of Molecular Recognition. Dr. Caruthers is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He has been a Venture Partner with Boulder Ventures since its founding in 1995. Dr. Caruthers resides in Boulder, Colorado.