Dan Watkins

Biography

 Dan is a Managing Director and co-founder of the Mercury Fund (Houston).  He has experience in founding and managing start-up companies in both the bioscience and advanced materials sectors.  Prior to co-founding the Mercury Fund, Dan was the founder and Managing Partner of A3 Associates, a Houston-based venture firm focused on seed-stage investments in university and research center-based technology transfer opportunities. In this capacity, Dan co-founded DNAtrix, Nanospectra Biosciences and X-EMI.  Prior to A3 Associates, Dan was a VP at Schnitzius & Vaughan, a Houston-based investment banking firm.  Dan currently serves on the advisory boards of BioHouston, the Gulf Coast Regional Center for Innovation and Commercialization for the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, the Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship, and Wayne State University’s Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics.  Dan is also a co-founder of the Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship. Dan received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Rice University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Research Interest

 Molecular Medicine and Genetics