Two key Nominations for CELLECTIS SA: Professor José Alain Sahel Joins the Scientific Advisory Board and Professor Roger J. Hajjar joins the Board of Directors
"We are honored that Professor José Alain Sahel – a World renowned specialist in Ophthalmology – has agreed to join our Scientific Advisory Board", declared Frédéric Pâques, Chief Scientific Officer at Cellectis. He added "Cellectis is deploying significant efforts to develop treatments for eye diseases. In 2008, the company was awarded funds of €10.4 m from OSEO-ISI, to fight viral diseases including herpetic infections of the cornea, as part of the ACTIVE project. In addition, the company is leading ambitious projects to treat genetic diseases causing retinal degeneration, with support from the FEDER (European Regional Development Fund). Professor Sahel is world famous in eye diseases and their treatment, and his expertise will be of tremendous value to us", concluded Frédéric Pâques. "Application of gene surgery technologies developed by Cellectis and targeting eye diseases is both innovative and promising, and requires strong teamwork. Being appointed to Cellectis’ Scientific Advisory Board alongside leading figures in the field is a true honor", stated José Alain Sahel. Professor José Alain Sahel thus becomes the ninth member of the Cellectis Scientific Advisory Board whose members stand out for their active contribution to the development and optimization of the company's technology. Professor José Alain Sahel and his team at the Vision Institute are currently working with Cellectis on its developments to treat eye diseases.
Professor Roger J. Hajjar has been appointed as the permanent representative of Kaminvest Holding on Cellectis’ Board of Directors. "We are delighted that Roger J. Hajjar has agreed to join us", said Christian Policard, Chairman of the Board, adding, "His medical and scientific expertise will enable Cellectis to optimize its strategy in developments using meganucleases for therapeutic purposes. Furthermore, his experience as a biotechnology executive on the American market is a considerable asset to the Board".
"Cellectis has the expertise and technology platform to produce meganucleases for use in numerous diseases that cannot be managed by conventional treatments. This innovative technology therefore represents a highly promising perspective for the development of new therapies", concluded Professor Roger J. Hajjar.
With respect to these two appointments, André Choulika, the company's CEO stated: "The appointment to our governing boards of such outstanding figures and key opinion leaders in the medical field is essential for supporting Cellectis in its integration downstream of the value chain. Turning a meganuclease into a therapeutic product is a long process that requires a variety of skills and extensive experience, not only in the knowledge of products and clinical trials, but also in the organization of our therapy-focused subsidiary, Cellectis Genome Surgery. Through the arrival of new figures, such as Professors José Alain Sahel and Roger J. Hajjar, on our most important boards, we are able to consolidate, not only our leadership in this industry, but also our position with regard to the downstream integration of our technology. We shall continue to consolidate the company's governing boards."
Dr. José-Alain Sahel is Professor of Ophthalmology at Pierre & Marie Curie University (Paris 6) and Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the Institute of Ophthalmology (University College London). He is Head of the Ophthalmology Department at the National Ophthalmology Hospital Center (CHNO) at the Quinze-Vingts Hospital and at the A. de Rothschild Ophthalmology Foundation, and also Director of the Inserm-UPMC U 968 Unit "Vision Institute" in Paris. He has also been a member of the French Academy of Sciences since 2007. He has received numerous awards, such as the Trustee Award from the Foundation Fighting Blindness in the United States (2005), the Alcon Research Institute Award for excellence in vision research (2006), the NRJ 2
Neurosciences Prize from the Institut de France (2006), and the Gold Medal from Pierre & Marie Curie University (2008).
Dr. Roger J. Hajjar has been Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center and Professor at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York since January 2007. Dr. Hajjar is in charge of expanding cardiovascular research programs at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He set up an animal Catheterization Laboratory to simulate improved procedures for cellular gene therapy. Before joining Mount Sinai, he was Director of the Cardiology Laboratory for Integrative Physiology and Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Hajjar headed a fundamental scientific research laboratory that focused on understanding heart failure mechanisms. Here he developed several gene transfer methods and heart targeting techniques in order to improve contractility in heart failure. He also worked as a cardiologist at the Heart Failure and Transplant Center in Boston. Roger Hajjar is the scientific co-founder of NanoCor Therapeutics Inc. and co-founder and member of the Scientific Advisory Board at Celladon Inc. in the United States. He graduated from Harvard Medical School and trained in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
About Cellectis S.A.
Cellectis SA (www.cellectis.com) is a world leader in genome engineering and genome surgery. The company focuses on developing and producing custom meganucleases for use in vivo genome surgery addressing the therapeutic, agricultural biotechnology, biomanufacturing and research sectors. Worldwide, Cellectis has entered into more than 50 agreements with major players in the pharmaceutical, biotech and agricultural biotechnology industries and has over 20 collaborations with academic research groups. Since its incorporation, Cellectis has raised over 50 million in both equity operations and public financing and is listed on the NYSE-Euronext Alternext market (ticker code: ALCLS). For more information on Cellectis, visit our website: www.cellectis.com