Hidde Ploegh, PhD. Chair
Dr. Ploegh is a professor at Boston Children’s Hospital and a world-renowned immunologist for his pioneering research in deciphering the mechanisms of how MHC molecules interact and present antigens to immune cells. He is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Ploegh is an acclaimed author of “Molecular Cell Biology”, expert in MHC processing, viral immune evasion, CRISPR, and leader in miniaturized VHH therapeutic nanobodies which will be critical in minimizing the number of humanized transgenic animals to be used as bioreactors (https://www.cerberustx.com/).
Li-shan Su, PhD. Member of Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Su is Charles Gordon Smith Endowed Professor for HIV research, Director of Division of Viral Pathogenesis and Cancer at the Institute of Human Virology, and Professor of Pharmacology in the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The Su laboratory studies how HIV-1 and HBV interact with human immune cells to cause inflammatory diseases. In addition, his laboratory is developing novel antibodies, CAR-T and therapeutic vaccines to treat human inflammatory diseases including virus infection, autoimmunity and cancer.
Dr. Su is an internationally prominent virologist and immunologist and has been the scientific cofounder of several biotech startup companies including NPBiosciences (novel immune-therapeutics for treating inflammatory diseases), DegraX Bio, and Fastback Bio (next-generation CAR-T cancer therapy).
Dr. Su received his PhD degree in Virology from Harvard University and did his postdoctoral training in Immunology and Stem Cell Biology at Stanford University. He then worked as a senior scientist in a biotech company SyStemix/ProGenesis/Sandoz (now Novartis), studying HIV immuno-pathogenesis and developing blood stem cell-based HIV-1 gene therapy. From 1996 to 2020, Dr. Su was a faculty member in the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and Professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
James Robl, PhD. Member of Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. James Robl is an internationally recognized scientist and entrepreneur in the field of transgenic animals and cloning in cattle. His team was the first to produce cloned and transgenic cattle (Science 1998). Dr. Robl began his career as a professor at the University of Massachusetts in 1985 where his research was focusing on animal cloning and genetic engineering technologies. In 1995, Dr. Robl applied the animal cloning and genetic engineering technologies developed in his laboratory and co-founded several biotech companies, including Advanced Cell Technology (Nasdaq: OCAT) and Hematech Inc. (now is called SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc.; NASDAQ: SABS). In 2000, he left his professorship position at the University of Massachusetts to fulltime serve as the president and chief scientific officer of Hematech. Under his leadership, Hematech successfully developed transchromosomic (Tc) BovineTM and DiversitAbTM Platform antibody production system by which large quantities of highly potent fully-human polyclonal therapeutic antibodies can be produced by hyperimminizting Tc cattle by any antigen of choice. Hematech was acquired by Kyowa Kirin, a Japanese pharma group, in 2005, and Dr. Robl left the company in 2009 to pursue other interests. He continues to consult and remains engaged in the advancement of science and the biotechnology industry.