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Scientific Advisory Board

Invectys’ Scientific and Clinical Board is composed of globally recognized top specialists and key opinion leaders:

Professor Maurizio Zanetti, M.D.

A professor of Medicine at the UCSD, Pr. Zanetti is the pioneer of T cell responses to telomerase reverse transcriptase in cancer patients. He is the Director of the Laboratory of Immunology at the UCSD Moores Cancer Center. He brings his vast knowledge to Invectys’ strategic decisions, especially in the domain of T cells.

Academic profile

Robert Jackson, Ph.D.

Robert Jackson’s career spans over more than 50 years.  He earned his Doctorate in Biochemistry from the University of London, and has since occupied several key positions such as COO at Chiroscience and CSO at Cyclacel, as well as working in hands-on scientific research jobs. For the past 14 years, Robert Jackson has been managing his own company, Pharmacometrics Ltd. He was Chairman of the Discovery Committee, Cancer Research UK, and is a reviewer for « Nature », « Science », « Journal of Biological Chemistry », « Molecular Pharmacology », PNAS, etc.

Professional profile

Edward Ball, M.D.

Edward (Ted) D. Ball, M.D.  is a tenured Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Diego.  He was among the first to develop monoclonal antibodies to cell surface antigens on human leukemia cells and to apply them in therapeutic clinical trials.  Dr. Ball was a co-founder of Medarex, which was acquired by Bristol-Myers-Squib to utilize its human checkpoint inhibiting antibodies ipilimumab and nivolumab. Dr. Ball’s experience with monoclonal antibodies will aid Invectys in the development of new therapies.

Academic profile

Theodore Friedmann, M.D.

Theodore Friedmann, M.D. is Professor of Pediatrics Emeritus in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego and a member of the UCSD Institute of Genomic Medicine and the UCSD Institute for Engineering in Medicine. He brings to Invectys his career-spanning experience of advisory, oversight and regulatory commitees, as well as laboratory and research leadership (participating in several major scientific advancements). Dr. Friedmann was rewarded with numerous awards, including H.C. Jacobaeus Prize of the Nordic Insulin Foundation, the Cross of Honor for Science and Culture from the Republic of Austria, the Newton-Abraham Professorship at the University of Oxford, etc.

Academic profile

Michael Croft, Ph.D.

Michael Croft, Ph.D., is an immunologist, Professor, and Director of Scientific Affairs, at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. He has spent the last 25 years focusing on stimulatory proteins that promote the activity of T cells and other lymphoid and non-lymphoid cell types, in particular numerous molecules related to tumor necrosis factor. His fundamental work in this area has helped to form the basis of many clinical studies related to cancer therapy, autoimmunity, and inflammatory disease.

Academic profile

Olivera (Olja) J. Finn, Ph.D.

Dr. Finn is University of Pittsburgh Distinguished Professor of Immunology and Surgery. After receiving her Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology at Stanford University in 1980 and completing her postdoctoral training in Immuno-oncology there in 1982, Dr. Finn started her research at Duke University and in 1991 moved to the University of Pittsburgh. She gained prominence through her basic and applied research on tumor antigens and cancer vaccines. She has served and currently serves on NCI study sections and was a member of the NCI Board of Scientific Councilors. Dr. Finn is member of the American Association of Immunologists – where she served as President in 2007/2008 – the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). Dr. Finn received numerous awards including the AAI Life Time Achievement Award (2016), the NCI Outstanding Investigator Award (2016), the AACR CIR Lloyd Old Cancer Immunology Prize (2017) and SITC Richard Smalley Award (2019). In 2019 she was inducted into the inaugural class of AAI Distinguished Fellows.

Academic profile

Wayne A. Marasco, M.D., Ph.D.

Wayne A. Marasco, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and Lab Chief in the Department of Cancer Immunology & Virology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is also a Primary Faculty Member of Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI). He is also board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases. Dr. Marasco brings to Invectys his pioneering expertise in the field of human antibody engineering and cellular/stem celtel therapies in which he is senior author of over 175 peer reviewed publications, chapters, books and monographs and holds over 75 patents. Dr. Marasco is the Founding Scientific Director of the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) Center for Therapeutic Antibody Engineering, Humanized Mouse Center at Dana-Farber and at HSCI’s Humanized Neonatal Mouse Center (HNMC) that were established to develop the latest models to test new antibody, cellular and stem cell therapies. He is named among the 13 top scientists in their field as the 21st century medicine « Pioneers of Medicine Progress » by US News & World Report. He is the Scientific Founder (Caladrius Biosciences (CLBS, NASDAQ) and Chairman of Scientific Advisory Board of several biotechnology companies that have licensed his antibody and cellular therapies for clinical development including Checkpoint Therapeutics (CKPT), BioRestorative Therapies (BRTX), Tizona, and AbViro, LLC.

Academic profile