Samuil Umansky

Samuil Umansky is DiamiR’s Co-Founder and CSO. Dr. Umansky is an experienced biotech entrepreneur and inventor. Previously, Dr. Umansky co-founded and served as the Chief Scientific Officer and President of Xenomics (now Cardiff Oncology; NASDAQ: CRDF), where he and his colleagues developed the cell-free transrenal nucleic acids technology for detection and monitoring of various cancers. From 1993 to 1999, he served as Director of Cell Biology, Vice President of Molecular Pharmacology, and Chief Scientific Officer of LXR Biotechnology, and led the discovery of SARPs/sFRPs, a new family of genes involved in regulation of Wnt-signaling pathway. Prior to joining LXR, Dr. Umansky was a professor at the Institute of Biological Physics of the USSR Academy of Science. He was among the first scientists to study apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Dr. Umansky conducted pioneering studies on DNA degradation in dying cells and proposed a hypothesis on the existence of a genetic cell death program, its evolutionary origin and role in carcinogenesis, concepts that later became widely accepted. Dr. Umansky has published more than 160 articles and is an inventor of over 80 US and international patents. He completed his medical training at Bogomolets National Medical University, Ukraine and graduate training at the Institute of Biological Physics, Russia.