Daniel Janiak serves as Venture Advisor at Mercury Fund. He co-founded and served as Board Member at Apsara Therapeutics. He focuses on developing and originating science-based investment themes and startup opportunities. Prior to joining Mercury, Danny was an Associate in the Physical and Biological Technologies practice at In-Q-Tel, the strategic venture investment arm of the U.S. Intelligence Community. While at In-Q-Tel, Danny was responsible for the management and oversight of technology development programs in numerous In-Q-Tel portfolio companies. In addition, he was responsible for leading technical due diligence on all potential investment candidates in the advanced materials space. Danny received his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland where he was a Future Faculty Fellow and held the Robert E. Fischell Fellowship in Biomedical Engineering. In addition, Danny has been selected to participate in the Kauffman Fellows Program through the Center for Venture Education. Danny is currently a board observer of Mercury Fund portfolio companies Confluence, DNAtrix, Marval Biosciences and Swift Biosciences. Outside of DFJ Mercury, He holds a Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) and BS in Material Science from University of Maryland.