Verismo Therapeutics Appoints Steven Albelda, MD, to Scientific Advisory Board
Company Adds Renowned Pulmonologist to its Board to Guide Advancement of KIR-CAR Platform Through Clinical Trials for the Treatment of Solid Tumors |
[09-November-2021] |
PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Verismo Therapeutics, Inc., a recent Penn spin-out behind a novel multichain KIR-CAR platform technology for CAR T-cells, today announced the appointment of a leading pulmonologist and gene therapy clinician, Steven M. Albelda, MD, to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Albelda is a William Maul Measey Endowed Professor of Medicine, Director of the Thoracic Oncology Research Laboratory, and co-Director of the Translational Center of Excellence for Lung Cancer at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “It is a great privilege to have Dr. Albelda join our Scientific Advisory Board,” stated Dr. Bryan Kim, Chief Executive Officer at Verismo. “Dr. Albelda brings over 30 years of expertise in oncological gene therapy and immunotherapy. His experience in developing and implementing new immunological treatments into the clinic for patients with mesothelioma will provide us with invaluable insights into the clinical aspect of the disease, and help us guide our KIR-CAR platform through a successful First-in-Human Clinical Trial. We are excited to see his great contribution to Verismo’s mission to eradicate solid tumors in terminally ill patients.” For the past 27 years, Dr. Albelda has led an NCI-funded Program Project aimed at developing new treatments for mesothelioma and thoracic malignancies. Dr. Albelda has been involved with more than a dozen “bench to bedside” projects, including the development of a series of Phase I and II clinical trials of CAR T-cell therapies targeting mesothelin and fibroblast activation protein for patients with mesothelioma and lung cancer. Additionally, he has major contributions on the augmentation of anti-tumor immune effects, the tumor microenvironment, mechanisms of T-cell dysfunction, and adoptive T-cell transfer targeting tumors and stroma. Dr. Albelda’s lab has developed a wide variety of animal models of lung cancer and mesothelioma that can be used to evaluate new therapies and T-cell function. For his accomplishments, Dr. Albelda received the American Thoracic Society Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishment and was the 2010 recipient of the Wagner Award from the International Mesothelioma Interest Group honoring the top researcher in the field. ABOUT VERISMO THERAPEUTICS ABOUT KIR-CAR PLATFORM Contact:
SOURCE Verismo Therapeutics |