The New Age of Antibody Therapeutics

Speakers

Organizers

Robert Martone

Covance Biomarker Center of Excellence

Robert Martone has been the Neuroscience Therapeutic Area Lead for the Covance Biomarker Center of Excellence since 2010. Prior to that he had 17 years' experience in the pharmaceutical industry leading neuroscience drug discovery and technology teams through all phases of discovery from target identification through clinical trials with expertise in both small molecule and protein therapeutics. He also has seven years of academic research experience at Columbia University in molecular neurobiology, with a focus on the molecular genetics of familial neuropathies, and CNS tumor biomarker development.

Heather Shih, PhD

Pfizer External Research Solutions

Heather received her BS in Chemistry from University of Massachusetts at Lowell and PhD in Biochemistry from Tufts University School of Medicine. She received her postdoctoral trainings at Harvard Medical School and Genetics Institute/Wyeth. During her 9 years of drug discovery career at Pfizer, Heather was deeply involved in developing and applying new technologies to biotherapeutic discovery, which included recombinant protein and phage display technologies. She also co-led a number of drug discovery projects in collaboration with scientists in Neuroscience and Cardiovascular Diseases. Currently as a biotherapeutic lead for the Pfizer External Research Solutions (ERS) group, Heather interfaces with several research units at Pfizer to manage their external research portfolios primarily in collaboration with global contract research organizations (CROs). Throughout her career, Heather authored 20 peer-reviewed papers, two book chapters on therapeutic antibody discovery process, and was a co-inventor on three patents. She was instrumental in initiating a new Gordon Research Conference series on Antibody Biology and Engineering in 2010, and co-chaired the 2011 NYAS conference on Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Mohammad Tabrizi, PhD

Merck Research Laboratory

Mohammad Tabrizifard (Tabrizi) PhD is a leader in translational sciences as related to development of antibody-based therapeutics and biologics. He has extensive experience in research and development of biologics. His product development experience spans many therapeutic areas including oncology, diabetes and inflammatory diseases, and his technical expertise includes preclinical pharmacology and safety, preclinical and clinical pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics (PD), GLP-compliant bioanalytics, and clinical pharmacology of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. He has been an author or co-inventor on more than 40 original papers, reviews, book chapters, published books ("Development of Antibody-based Therapeutics: Translational Considerations," Springer 2012) and patents and has been an invited speaker to numerous national and international conferences.

Mohammad joined Merck in December 2010, and since his arrival, he has built a translational PK-PD team with a key focus on development of biologics from bench to beside. Prior to Joining Merck, he served as vice president, preclinical development at AnaptysBio, a privately held biotechnology company in San Diego, CA with a focus on Somatic HyperMutation technology for development of therapeutic antibodies. Prior to AnaptysBio, he was a director of translational sciences at MedImmune, a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca, where he was involved in the design and implementation of effective translational strategies for development of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies from discovery to the clinic. In addition, he was one of the key contributors in successful establishment of the AstraZeneca R&D, Hayward (now MedImmune) and played a vital role in the integration of the Hayward team into the global company. He served in numerous managerial and scientific positions at AstraZeneca, Abgenix Inc. (now Amgen Inc.), Coulter Pharmaceutical Inc. (later acquired by Corixa), and TAP holdings Inc.

Mohammad received his bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from University of Houston (Summa Cum Laude) and his PhD from University at Buffalo, State University of New York (SUNY) in the area of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmaceutical Sciences. He completed postdoctoral training in pharmacology at SUNY with a focus on therapeutics.

Jennifer Henry, PhD

The New York Academy of Sciences

Speakers

Anthony Coyle, PhD

Pfizer

Anthony "Tony" Coyle is Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI). CTI was established in August 2010 as a new model to drive innovation in BioTherapeutics R & D. Tony is responsible for the CTI sites, which currently include CTI-New York City, CTI-Boston and CTI-California. Tony is supported by his leadership team, which will include the site heads of each CTI, his operations team, project management, clinical and Precision Medicine heads. Tony brings an extensive knowledge of the full development process to Pfizer. As a former Vice President and Global Head of Respiratory, Inflammation, and Autoimmunity Research at Medimmune Biologics, a Division of AstraZeneca, Tony has succeeded in advancing a biologic portfolio from discovery to Phase Two in the areas of Lupus, Asthma and COPD. Prior to Medimmune, Tony was Director of Research and Biology at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where he led a group responsible for the identification of novel target genes as well as for late stage lead optimization and delivery of both small molecule and biologic development candidates. Tony has been Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Experimental Therapeutics at McMaster University in Ontario since 1992, and has authored more than 180 manuscripts. He holds a B.Sc. Honours and a PhD from Kings College, University of London.

David Hilbert, PhD

Zyngenia

David Hilbert is the CSO and Head of R&D at Zyngenia, an early stage biotech developing multi-specific antibody-based therapeutics. Prior to joining Zyngenia, Dr. Hilbert worked four years (2006-2009) as an independent biotechnology consultant assisting companies with the many strategic and operational challenges associated with drug development. Prior to his consulting endeavors, Dr. Hilbert was the Vice President of Research at Cellective Therapeutics, a start-up antibody company acquired by MedImmune in October 2005. Dr. Hilbert began his biotech career at Human Genome Sciences (HGS) where he spent 8 years guiding the preclinical development of antibodies and genomics-based therapeutics. As Vice President, Research at HGS, Dr. Hilbert led the transformation of the company from a genomics research company to an integrated drug development organization. He was pivotally involved in the development of ABthrax and Benlysta. Prior to joining HGS, Dr. Hilbert was a Staff Fellow in the National Cancer Institute, NIH where he investigated neoplastic transformation of B lymphocytes. Dr. Hilbert received his B.S. from Haverford College and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Serge Muyldermans, PhD

Vrijie Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

Serge Muyldermans is professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel since 2003 where he is heading the "camel" antibody engineering group. This group is also part of the VIB, the Institute for Biotechnology in Flanders. The natural occurrence of functional Heavy-chain antibodies in sera of camelids has been the main discovery within this research group. Since then, the ontogeny of these unique antibodies and the applications of their unique single variable antigen-binding domain (now referred to as Nanobodies) became the major focus of the research activities in his group. It led to the publication of over 120 articles, many of which appeared in top journals. In January 2002, Serge Muyldermans was co-founder of a spin-off company Ablynx that generates Nanobodies for therapeutic purposes. Ablynx employs currently about 250 people and has several of their nanobody-based products in clinical trials.

Carl Nathan, MD

Weill Cornell Medical College

Carl Nathan, MD is R.A. Rees Pritchett Professor and chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College and co-chair of the Program in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis at Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University. After graduation from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, he trained in internal medicine and oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, the National Cancer Institute and Yale before joining the faculty of The Rockefeller University from 1977–1986. At Cornell since 1986, he has served as Stanton Griffis Distinguished Professor of Medicine, founding director of the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program, senior associate dean for research and acting dean. Nathan is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, associate scientific director of the Cancer Research Institute, a governor of the Tres Cantos Open Lab Foundation, and on the scientific advisory boards of the American Asthma Foundation and the Rita Allen Foundation. He served for ten years each on the SAB of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research and the Board of Trustees of the Hospital for Special Surgery. He has helped edit the Journal of Experimental Medicine since 1981 and is a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science Signaling. He received the Robert Koch Prize in 2009.

Nathan's research deals with the immunological and biochemical basis of host defense. He established that lymphocyte products activate macrophages, that interferon-gamma is a major macrophage activating factor, and that mechanisms of macrophage antimicrobial activity include induction of the respiratory burst and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). He and his colleagues purified, cloned, knocked out and characterized iNOS biochemically and functionally, discovered the cofactor role of tetrahydrobiopterin in NOS's and introduced iNOS as a therapeutic target. Although iNOS helps the host control Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the leading cause of death from bacterial infection, Mtb resists sterilization by host immunity. Nathan's lab now focuses on the biochemical basis of this resistance. Genetic and chemical screens have identified enzymes that Mtb requires to survive during non-replicative persistence, including the mycobacterial proteasome, a serine protease that controls intrabacterial pH, and components of pyruvate dehydrogenase that serve in peroxynitrite reductase. His group is identifying compounds that kill non-replicating bacteria while testing new collaborative models between academia and industry to help invigorate antibiotic research and development.

Mohammad Tabrizi, PhD

Merck Research Laboratory

Mohammad Tabrizifard (Tabrizi) PhD is a leader in translational sciences as related to development of antibody-based therapeutics and biologics. He has extensive experience in research and development of biologics. His product development experience spans many therapeutic areas including oncology, diabetes and inflammatory diseases, and his technical expertise includes preclinical pharmacology and safety, preclinical and clinical pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics (PD), GLP-compliant bioanalytics, and clinical pharmacology of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. He has been an author or co-inventor on more than 40 original papers, reviews, book chapters, published books ("Development of Antibody-based Therapeutics: Translational Considerations," Springer 2012) and patents and has been an invited speaker to numerous national and international conferences.

Mohammad joined Merck in December 2010, and since his arrival, he has built a translational PK-PD team with a key focus on development of biologics from bench to beside. Prior to Joining Merck, he served as vice president, preclinical development at AnaptysBio, a privately held biotechnology company in San Diego, CA with a focus on Somatic HyperMutation technology for development of therapeutic antibodies. Prior to AnaptysBio, he was a director of translational sciences at MedImmune, a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca, where he was involved in the design and implementation of effective translational strategies for development of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies from discovery to the clinic. In addition, he was one of the key contributors in successful establishment of the AstraZeneca R&D, Hayward (now MedImmune) and played a vital role in the integration of the Hayward team into the global company. He served in numerous managerial and scientific positions at AstraZeneca, Abgenix Inc. (now Amgen Inc.), Coulter Pharmaceutical Inc. (later acquired by Corixa), and TAP holdings Inc.

Mohammad received his bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from University of Houston (Summa Cum Laude) and his PhD from University at Buffalo, State University of New York (SUNY) in the area of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmaceutical Sciences. He completed postdoctoral training in pharmacology at SUNY with a focus on therapeutics.

K. Dane Wittrup, PhD

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Professor K. Dane Wittrup is the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Associate Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. Wittrup's research program is focused on protein engineering of biopharmaceutical proteins by directed evolution. Areas of interest include: pretargeted radioimmunotherapy; biological response modification of EGFR; and immunotherapy of cancer via engineered cytokines and vaccines.

Anna Wu, PhD

University of California, Los Angeles

Anna M. Wu, PhD, is a Professor and Co-Associate Director of the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, in Los Angeles, California. She also holds an appointments as Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Director of the Cancer Molecular Imaging Program in the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA. Dr. Wu's research interests include engineered proteins (including antibodies) for targeting and imaging applications in cancer, including the use of SPECT, PET, optical and multimodality approaches. Dr. Wu is also Founder, Board Member, and Chief Scientific Advisor to ImaginAb, Inc., an LA-based startup company which develops and commercializes engineered antibodies for clinical imaging in cancer and other diseases. Prior to joining the faculty at UCLA, Dr. Wu was a research scientist and faculty member at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope in Duarte, California. Dr. Wu received her AB degree in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University, and a PhD from Yale University in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry.