Michael W. Tusche

Dr. Michael Tusche is a Partner at TIO Bioventures, a Biotechnology focused venture creation fund.
He brings over a decade of experience as a Scientist, Investor and Entrepreneur in the Biotech Space.
Previously, Michael was the Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Nirsum Laboratories, Inc., a startup Biotechnology company developing small molecule therapeutics for Neuroscience indications.
At Nirsum, Dr. Tusche was the Co-inventor of the company’s foundational Intellectual Property and a Principal Investigator of an NIH/NIDA grant, funding the company’s operations into mid-stage clinical studies.
Prior to Nirsum, Michael was the Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Mountain Brook Capital Management, LLC, a Healthcare focused Long/Short equity only Hedge Fund, where his focus was Investments in publicly listed Biopharmaceutical companies.
Before Mountain Brook, Dr. Tusche was an Associate at MLV and Co., a boutique investment bank with a focus on capital raising and advisory work for Life Science based companies.
Dr. Tusche also led Biologic drug discovery at the Campbell Family Institute in Toronto, Canada, where he managed a multidisciplinary R&D team in the pre-clinical development and validation of novel drug candidates.
Michael started his career as a Scientist in drug discovery at Bayer AG in Japan, where he worked on early stage development of small molecule GPCR antagonists for allergic and inflammatory diseases.
Dr. Tusche received his B.Sc.
(with Distinction) in Biochemistry from the University of Victoria.
He also received a Ph.D.
in Immunology from the University of Toronto where he trained in the laboratory of Dr. Tak Mak.
Michael received his M.B.A.
from the University of Toronto.
He is co-author on several peer-reviewed publications, the recipient of numerous scientific and business awards, and named inventor on issued US patents focusing on small molecule and biologic therapeutics.