Our team is pioneering in vivo cell engineering using clinically proven and next generation technologies in addition to established, large-scale manufacturing processes. We aspire to have a dramatic impact on patient outcomes and access, including those in underserved communities.
“Abintus’ retroviral technology is an ideal platform for in vivo engineering because it has a compelling precedent for safety, tolerability and proof of principle in patients with intravenous administration.”
Dr. Brenner is the Fayez Sarofim Distinguished Service Professor at Baylor College of Medicine and founding director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at the Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, and Houston Methodist Hospital. As a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Brenner’s expertise spans cell and gene therapy, molecular and human genetics, pediatrics, and translational biology & molecular medicine. His primary research interest is the use of gene transfer to augment the immune response to human tumors, using vaccines and adoptive transfer of genetically modified T cells. Dr. Brenner is also member of the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Brenner holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, a M.B.Ch.B. from Westminster Medical College, and a B.S. from the University of Cambridge.
Dr. Kronenberg is an internationally recognized scientist and one of the most highly cited immunologists in the world. This distinction is held by less than one half of one percent of all publishing scientific authors.
He received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1983 and stayed on to complete his postdoctoral work before joining the faculty of the UCLA School of Medicine in 1986. At UCLA, he rose through the ranks to full professor. In 1997, he joined La Jolla Institute. In September 2003, Dr. Kronenberg was appointed President of La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI). In addition to his executive duties, he serves as Chief Scientific Officer and conducts an active research program.
Over the years, Dr. Kronenberg has received many major awards, including a prestigious Merit Award for scientific achievement from the National Institutes of Health and the Distinguished Service Award by the American Association of Immunologists. He has also been a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Visiting Professor at Harvard University, delivered the Joseph S. Ingraham immunology lecture at the Indiana University School of Medicine, and has been elected a fellow of the American Associations for the Advancement of Science as well as most admired CEO by the San Diego Business Journal.
Dan Takefman, Ph.D., is the Principal at Takefman Gene Therapy Advisors LLC. Previously, Dr. Takefman headed regulatory activities at Spark Therapeutics from 2014 until its acquisition by Roche. At Spark, he oversaw the submission through to approval of the FDA and EMA Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec) marketing applications. Dan also supervised the regulatory process of multiple investigation products including SPK-9001 for the treatment of Hemophilia B (Breakthrough Designation received July 2016 and PRIME Designation received March 2017), and for SPK-8011 for the treatment of Hemophilia A (Breakthrough Designation received February 2018). Previously, Dan was Chief of the Gene Therapy Branch within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He supervised the Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) review process for all gene therapy products and for a variety of therapeutic vaccine products. Dan began his career at FDA in 1999 as a Postdoctoral Fellow and became a Staff Fellow shortly thereafter. Dr. Takefman holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from Rush University and a B.S. in microbiology from the University of Iowa.
Noriyuki Kasahara, M.D., Ph.D., is a Principal Investigator at UC San Francisco’s Brain Tumor Center. Dr. Kasahara has more than 30 years of experience and has authored more than 140 peer-reviewed articles in the fields of gene therapy and genetic engineering. He pioneered the development of tumor-selective retroviral replicating vectors (RRV) for gene therapy of cancer, including first-in-human multi-center clinical trials sponsored by Tocagen Inc.
Previously Dr. Kasahara was a professor of cell biology and pathology at the University of Miami and served as co-Leader of the Viral Oncology Program at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. Other past positions include professor of medicine and molecular pharmacology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he was director of the UCLA Vector Core and Shared Resource facility at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center for more than a decade. He also established and directed vector core facilities as a faculty member at the University of Southern California.
Dr. Kasahara serves as a member of the Scientific Committee on Cancer Gene and Cell Therapy for the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Japan Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and is a past president of the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy of Cancer.
He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of Tocagen Inc., POC Medical Systems Inc., the Mendez National Institute of Transplantation Foundation, and is on the Board of Advisors for OneLegacy. He is also a board-certified clinical pathologist, specializing in transplant immunogenetics, and serves as associate medical director of the HLA clinical laboratory for VRL Eurofins’ Los Angeles operations.
Dr. Kasahara trained with Professor Y. W. Kan at UCSF, a pioneer in the field of genetic diagnostics and recipient of the Lasker Award.
Dr. Caron A. Jacobson is the Medical Director, Immune Engineered Cell Therapy Program, Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Assistant Professor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Jacobson specializes in the Use of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapies in Clinical Practice for the treatment of B-cell malignancies. Dr. Jacobson received her medical degree from Columbia University School of Public Health.
Dr. Ronald Levy M.D., is a scientist at Stanford University, where he specializes in lymphoma, including Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Burkitt’s Lymphoma and Hodgkin’s Disease. His research investigates how the immune system can be harnessed to fight lymphoma. His work has led to the concept that antibodies can be used as personalized anticancer drugs and to the development of an antibody-based drug, Rituxan, that is widely used to treat lymphoma. Dr. Levy’s work has been recognized with the American Cancer Society’s Medal of Honor, the Karnofsky Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and others. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the Institute of Medicine
Mr. Hasnain is the Co-Founder, Chairman, CEO and President of Gossamer Bio and Chairman of Mirati Therapeutics. Previously, Mr. Hasnain served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Receptos, Inc (acquired by Celgene Corporation). Prior to joining Receptos, Mr. Hasnain was the President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Facet Biotech Corporation (acquired by Abbott). Previously, Mr. Hasnain was President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of PDL BioPharma, Inc. Mr. Hasnain served as Executive Vice President in charge of the oncology/rheumatology strategic business unit at Biogen Idec Inc. Prior to Biogen Idec, Mr. Hasnain held roles with Bristol Myers Squibb, where he was President of the Oncology Therapeutics Network, and for 14 years at GlaxoSmithKline and its predecessor organizations. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Sente, Inc., a member of the Board of Directors at Kura Oncology, and a member of the Board of Overseers of Scripps Research Institute. He previously served as Chairman of the Board of Tocagen, Inc., Ambit Biosciences Corporation and served as a member of the Board of Directors of Tercica, Inc., Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Seragon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Vital Therapies, Inc. He has also serves as an advisor to Temasek’s Vertex Fund. Mr. Hasnain received a BHK and BEd from the University of Windsor Ontario in Canada.
Trained as a immunologist, Anthony Williamson has over 25 years of experience as a discovery research scientist, entrepreneur and investor. As an academician, he held the position of Associate Professor at the Scripps Research Institute, where his laboratory studied antibody responses to infectious agents, including prion proteins. Anthony has co-founded and served as CEO of three biotechnology companies (Prion Solutions (acquired by Chiron), Calmune Corporation, and latterly AlphaBiomics). In the pharma setting he was Head of Technology, Prevention, at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson and Johnson. He serves as the Partner responsible for biopharma investments at Skyviews Life Science, a privately held advisory company specialized in precision health and longevity.
Dr. Williamson graduated with a Ph.D. in molecular immunology from the University of Sheffield, UK, and completed his post-doctoral training at Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, where he was a Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Research Fellow.
Dr. Boyle is a co-founder of Abintus and serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer and is a Director of the company. He has over 15 years of operational experience building value at cell/gene therapy and oncology companies from start-up to commercial and has led or supported over $1 billion of transactions including licensing deals and private and public financings. Prior to founding Abintus, Dr. Boyle was Vice President, strategy and business development at Tocagen Inc. where he held broad responsibilities including strategy, commercial, medical affairs, contracts and business development. He also served on a board appointed committee resulting in a reverse merger transaction. Before joining Tocagen he was Director, corporate development at Spectrum Pharmaceuticals where he closed a sequence of licensing transactions that catalyzed a 10-fold increase in market value. Previously, Dr. Boyle was team leader for antiviral and oncology drug discovery at Biota (now Vaxart) and a medicinal chemist at SmithKline Beecham (now GSK). Dr. Boyle holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Sheffield University, completed his post-doctorate research at The Scripps Research Institute, was a visiting scholar at The University of North Texas and received a Monbusho (AIST) fellowship to conduct gene editing and synthetic biology research in Tsukuba, Japan.
Paul Sundberg is a corporate attorney with over twenty-five years of experience, and a focus on business development and venture investment transactions within the bio-pharmaceutical industry including co-leading Takeda’s $62 billion dollar acquisition of Shire plc.
Mr. Sundberg joined Takeda in 2002, where he has held various positions of increasing responsibility within Takeda’s Global General Counsel organization. Mr. Sundberg has focused his practice on supporting business development transactions for Takeda, including support of Takeda Ventures, Inc., Takeda’s venture investment affiliate. Mr. Sundberg also has extensive experience in corporate governance matters, commercial contracting, securities law compliance, and privacy compliance. Mr. Sundberg previously served as Takeda’s first Chief Privacy Officer and served on the board of directors of OrphoMed, Inc.
Prior to joining Takeda, Mr. Sundberg worked in private practice in Chicago, and at TAP Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a joint venture between Takeda and Abbott Laboratories. Mr. Sundberg graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics & Finance from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and a Juris Doctorate from Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Troy Wilson has served as the Executive Chairman of Abintus since October 2020. Troy is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for building exceptional companies that create significant value for employees, investors and most importantly, patients. He currently serves as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Kura Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: KURA) and as President, CEO and Executive Chairman of Wellspring Biosciences LLC, and is the sole managing member of its parent company Araxes Pharma LLC. He also serves as the Chairman of Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNA) where he previously served as the company’s President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman. Troy is a member of the board of directors of Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ: PBYI). Previously, Troy was the President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Intellikine, Inc., until its acquisition by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. He holds a J.D. from New York University and graduated with a Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry and a B.A. in biophysics from UC Berkeley.
Lior Nissim, PH.D.
Dr. Nissim joined Abintus in 2022 and serves as Head of Synthetic Biology. Dr. Nissim concurrently serves as an Assistant Professor and Head of Biomedical Synthetic Biology group at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr. Nissim is an internationally recognized pioneer in the field of synthetic biology and has developed several novel biological engineering platforms for biomedical applications, combining multidisciplinary training in biology, biophysics, and synthetic biology. As part of his Ph.D. work, Dr. Nissim pioneered the very first engineered gene circuit for precise targeting of cancer cells. In his postdoc training, his team developed advanced synthetic RNA-based gene circuits for cancer immunotherapy, a high-throughput screening approach for identifying Synthetic Promoters with Enhanced Cell-State Specificity (SPECS), an integrated RNA and CRISPR/Cas gene regulation toolkit, and Synthetic Circuit-Driven Expression of Heterologous Enzymes for Disease Detection. Currently, his group is focused on developing advanced technologies that enable cell-state specific gene expression. These technologies are enabling the advancement of next-generation cancer therapies, antiviral vaccines, and other biotechnology innovations. He completed his postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he also received his Ph.D. in synthetic biology. Prior to that, he accomplished his M.Sc. at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he performed basic cancer research.
Traci M. Ostertag, M.S.
Traci M. Ostertag, M.S., serves as Vice President of Discovery Biology and Operations. Traci has over 20 years of drug discovery and development experience across oncology, immunology, and metabolic disease indications with expertise in early-stage drug discovery through to clinical development, operations, and R&D strategy. Prior to Abintus, Traci was a key contributor to establishing Viscient Biosciences’ drug discovery programs and operations. At Ardea Biosciences, she was a discovery and development team member for Zurampic, which received FDA and EMA approval. Her industry experience has spanned multiple startups as well as pharma, including Ligand Pharmaceuticals and Takeda. Traci holds a M.S. in Molecular Virology from San Diego State University.
Cory Bentley, Ph.D., MBA
Cory Bentley is a co-founder of Abintus and serves as a consultant. Dr. Bentley has over 15 years of experience in translational science focused on oncology and immuno-oncology. Prior to founding Abintus, Dr. Bentley was Director of Translational Research at Tocagen where she helped pioneer in vivo reprogramming of immune cells. She also has extensive experience in antibody discovery and development from her roles as Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder at RIFT Biotherapeutics, which focused on tumor microenvironment challenges, and Director of Discovery at Sevion Therapeutics. Dr. Bentley completed postdoctoral fellowships at Brown University and the The Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. She holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from UC San Diego, an MBA from the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego, and a BA in Chemistry from Occidental College.
Derek Ostertag, Ph.D.
Dr. Ostertag is a co-founder of Abintus and serves as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Ostertag has more than 20 years of virology, immunology, and gene therapy experience with a proven track record of taking gene and cell therapy technologies from start-up through BLA applications. This includes the integration of multiple disciplines spanning molecular virology, immunotherapy, retroviral-based gene therapy, bioinformatics and clinical biomarker, mechanism of action and safety assay development. He has multiple issued gene therapy related patents and strong publication record with demonstrated success in preclinical and clinical research programs to support regulatory filings, biomarker discovery, manufacturing, and clinical trials. Derek obtained his doctorate in Molecular Biology from the UC San Diego and San Diego State University, and was a post-doctoral researcher at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, San Diego as an Arthritis Foundation Fellow.
John Snyder, CPA
John Snyder, CPA, serves as consulting Vice President, finance and accounting at Abintus. John has over 17 years of finance experience in the healthcare and technology sectors and has held various operating roles at firms including PvP Biologics (acquired by Takeda), Mavupharma (acquired by AbbVie), NovaCardia (acquired by Merck) and Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pharmion). He graduated cum laude from the University of Arizona with a B.S. degree in finance and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of CPAs.
David D. Phinney, J.D.
David Phinney, J.D., serves as consulting General Counsel at Abintus. He is a partner at Adkins Black LLP, with a focus on life sciences, software, technology transactions and intellectual property law. Prior to joining Adkins Black, David was Associate General Counsel for Caradigm, a Microsoft-GE joint venture, and a senior associate in the technology transactions practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he represented clients in the negotiation and execution of numerous complex transactions related to the development and commercialization of intellectual property, primarily in the life sciences, software, and technology industries. He also served as vice president of legal affairs for Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, a global specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company. Prior to joining Angiotech, David was an associate at Heller Ehrman and a patent agent at a boutique patent law firm in the Silicon Valley. David obtained his J.D. from Stanford Law School and B.S. and M.S. degrees in biology from the University of Washington.
Carlos E. Ibañez, Ph.D.
Carlos E. Ibañez, Ph.D. is a co-founder of Abintus and serves as our Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Ibañez brings 27+ years of operations experience specializing in the field of viral gene and cell therapies from company start-up and early development through Phase III PPQ validation for commercial manufacturing processes for companies such as Viagene Inc, Chiron Corporation, Oxford BioMedica and Tocagen Inc. Dr. Ibañez is a trusted leader who builds and leads teams that are committed to excellence and continuous learning. His deep understanding of viral vector biology is combined with extensive regulatory experience and an emphasis on designing scalable manufacturing processes that can meet the needs of clinical trials and global commercial supply. Dr. Ibañez is a pioneer in the development of stable viral vector production cell lines adapted to serum free suspension cultures; automated continuous perfusion fed single-use bioreactor systems; downstream chromatography purification of viral vectors; product formulation of viral based therapies for IV administration; and the development of effective lot release and stability testing strategies in concordance with extensive product characterization and comparability testing. Dr. Ibañez has led CMC interactions with FDA and EMA for a viral vector product that achieved Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) and PRIority MEdicines (PRIME) designation, respectively. Dr. Ibañez is an inventor on multiple issued patents related to cell lines and manufacturing. Dr. Ibañez holds a Ph.D. in molecular pathology from the University of California, San Diego and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Research Institute at Scripps Clinic.
Nicholas A. Boyle, Ph.D.
Dr. Boyle is a co-founder of Abintus and serves as the President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the company. He has over 15 years of operational experience building value at cell/gene therapy and oncology companies from start-up to commercial and has led or supported over $1 billion of transactions including licensing deals, private and public financings and M&A. Prior to founding Abintus, Dr. Boyle was Vice President, strategy and business development at Tocagen Inc. where he held broad responsibilities including strategy, commercial, medical affairs, contracts and business development. Before joining Tocagen he was Director, corporate development at Spectrum Pharmaceuticals where he closed a sequence of licensing transactions that catalyzed a 10-fold increase in market value. Previously, Dr. Boyle was team leader for antiviral and oncology drug discovery at Biota (now Vaxart) and a medicinal chemist at SmithKline Beecham (now GSK). Dr. Boyle holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Sheffield University, completed his post-doctorate research at The Scripps Research Institute, was a visiting scholar at The University of North Texas and received a Monbusho (AIST) fellowship to conduct gene editing and synthetic biology research in Tsukuba, Japan.
Douglas J. Jolly, Ph.D.
Douglas Jolly, Ph.D. is a co-founder of Abintus and serves as the Chief Advisor. Dr. Jolly is an internationally recognized expert in the field of gene therapy and its pharmaceutical application. Over the last 30 years he has been a senior biotechnology executive involved in translating gene-based products from research through clinical development at the following companies that he also co-founded: Viagene, Inc., Candel Therapeutics Inc. and Tocagen Inc. He also served in executive capacities at Chiron Corporation, Oxford BioMedica plc, where he ran the U.S. subsidiary, BioMedica Inc. Before entering the biopharmaceutical industry, Dr. Jolly pursued his academic career in biophysics and molecular biology at the Weizmann Institute, Harvard Medical School, Scripps Clinic, the University of California, San Diego and The French National Institute for Health and Medical Research, (INSERM), in Paris, France. Dr. Jolly holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Glasgow, is an inventor on 50 US patents and is an author of over 130 scientific publications. Dr. Jolly is a past board and committee member of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy and is currently an Associate Editor for Cancer Gene Therapy.