Vault Nano Inc. Announces Dr. James Mulé and Dr. Antoni Ribas to Join Scientific Advisory Board
Los Angeles, California: (PRWEB) June 22, 2015 -- Vault Nano Inc. (VNI), a biotechnology company developing immune therapies for cancer and infectious diseases, announced the addition of two high profile immune oncology experts to its Scientific Advisory Board. James Mulé Ph.D. and Antoni Ribas M.D. Ph.D. will join scientific founder Leonard Rome Ph.D. and Paul Wender Ph.D. in advising the company on research and development efforts. “This is a tremendous step for VNI,” said Michael Laznicka, CEO. “To have two of the world leaders in cancer immune therapy joining our scientific advisory group is going to make a significant impact to our clinical trial programs.”
VNI-101, VNI’s lead therapeutic, is being prepared for clinical studies for late-stage lung cancer. The company is exploring multiple metastatic cancer indications both as a mono-therapy and ultimately in combination with other immune agents such as checkpoint inhibitors. “By recruiting and activating dendritic and T cells to the tumor, we are adding an important treatment mechanism to the immune therapy milieu,” said Oliver Foellmer, COO. “There are indications from our work in vault vaccines that vault particles have the ability to present targets to and activate the immune system without the typically negative inflammatory response. Pairing this with the chemokine active ingredient in VNI-101 gives us a completely novel approach at stimulating the immune system.”
About James J. Mulé, Ph.D.
Dr. Mulé is the Associate Center Director for Translational Science, the Michael McGillicuddy Endowed Chair for Melanoma Research and Treatment, and Director of Cell-based Therapies at the Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida. Dr. Mulé is recognized for his research and clinical trial contributions to cancer immunotherapy, particularly in solid tumors. His clinical research group is involved in developing and validating genomic signatures of immunotherapy response, as well as vaccine strategies (e.g., with dendritic cells) and other approaches (e.g., with adoptive T cells; chemokines) to recognize and destroy tumors. The translational work in these areas has helped to develop new treatments for advanced cancer patients.
Dr. Mulé serves on Advisory Boards of numerous biotechnology companies and publicly held companies. He remains a long-standing special government employee to the FDA (CBER) and the NCI. He was Chair of the Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee of CBER, FDA. He currently serves on the advisory boards of several NCI designated Cancer Centers and was a member of the NCI Director’s Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC-A). Dr. Mulé also serves on the Editorial Boards of several peer-reviewed journals, including Scientific Reports (nature.com), Journal of Immunotherapy, and Cancer Immunology Research (AACR). He has published nearly 200 articles in the areas of cancer vaccines and adoptive immunotherapy, and is a continuously funded investigator for nearly 25 years.
About Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D.
Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D. is a Professor of Medicine, Professor of Surgery, and Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). He is the Director of the Tumor Immunology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC), Vice-President of the Society for Melanoma Research (SMR) and the Chair of the Melanoma Committee at SWOG.
He trained at the University of Barcelona, Spain, with postdoctoral research and clinical fellowship at UCLA. Dr. Ribas is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI). He has published over 200 manuscripts on laboratory and clinical research in malignant melanoma. As a physician-scientist, Dr. Ribas has a NIH and California State-funded laboratory where he conducts research focusing on adoptive cell transfer with T cell receptor (TCR) engineered lymphocytes, anti-CTLA4 antibodies, anti-PD-1 antibodies, BRAF and MEK-targeted therapies.
About Vault Nano Inc.
Vault Nano Inc., located in Los Angeles, California, is the leading biotechnology company in developing and commercializing immune therapy for cancer and infectious diseases. VNI’s mission is to develop safe and effective immunotherapeutics with the goal of changing the existing treatment paradigm of life-threatening and debilitating diseases.
Activating the Immune System to Destroy Cancer
Immune Therapy Powered by Vaults
Oliver Foellmer, Vault Nano Inc., http://www.vaultnano.com, +1 310.267.4838, [email protected]
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