Dr. Ellies is the founder of OssiFi Therapeutics ("OssiFi"). OssiFi has developed a unique "de-risked" business strategy to rapidly bring to market best-in-class therapies for regenerative bone healing. This strategy provides an attractive opportunity for strategic partner.

Prior to launching OssiFi, Dr. Ellies was at the Stowers Medical Research Institute in Kansas City, MO. While at the Stowers Institute under the direction of Dr Krumlauf, Debra was the key scientist in the epochal discovery of Sclerostin as a modulator of the WNT (Wingless/Integrated) signaling pathway. Dr. Ellies was also part of the scientific team which discovered that the CCN (for Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), Cystein rich protein (Cyr61), and Nephroblastoma overexpressed gene (nov)) protein family also functioned via WNT signaling. Furthermore, Ellies & Krumlauf were the first to report that Sclerostin (SOST) and SOSTDC1 blocking antibodies function by blocking the WNT/LRP (low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein) pathway instead of the BMP pathway. Prior to her work at Stowers, Dr. Ellies completed her Ph.D. degree at Guy's Hospital (London UK) under the direction of Prof. Andrew Lumsden focusing on the developmental significance of programmed cell death in neural crest cells, and the role in WNT signaling. During her M.Sc. degree (Dr. Marc Ekker, LOEB Research Institute, Canada) she isolated and determined function of novel dlx and rnsx genes from zebrafish and managed a laboratory at Ottawa Civic Hospital in Ottawa, Canada.

In addition to her remarkable successes in the laboratory, Dr. Ellies co-founded the Brian Ellies Esophageal Cancer Prevention Fund, which works to educate the public and promote awareness of esophageal cancer prevention. Dr. Ellies is the author of several international key scientific manuscripts in the area of signal transduction, and of a number of patents, and a reviewer for Center for Scientific Reviewer at NIH, and a Trustee for MRIGlobal.

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