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In the USA

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Leadership team & SAB

Leadership team & SAB

Leadership team

Sachdev Sidhu

Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Co-Founder

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Biography

A pioneer in antibody engineering, inventor, and serial entrepreneur with 30 years of research/scientific activity started at Industrial Department of Protein Engineering, where he led the development of its phage display technology.

Co-founder of multiple start-ups in Canada, the US, and India, including Aarvik Tx. (2021), Antlera Therapeutics (2019), Pionyr Immunotherapeutics (2015), Northern Biologics (2014), Saksin Lifesci. (2014), and Reflexion Pharma (2008).
Founder and former head of the Toronto Recombinant Antibody Centre. Founder and CEO/CSO of CCAB (Centre for the Commercialization of Antibodies and Biologics).

Currently Professor at the University of Waterloo and Director of The Anvil Institute.
Engineered 20,000+ human antibodies targeting 1,000+ unique antigens. ~300 scientific publications and 200+ scientific presentations. Patents: 39 granted, 43 filed, 100+ disclosed.

Orson Moe

MD, Chief Medical Officer, Co-Founder

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Biography

Doctor in Medicine and Postdoctoral training in Surgery, Internal Medicine, Nephrology, and Renal Physiology. Currently Professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre in Internal Medicine and Physiology, Distinguished Chair at Charles Pak Centre for Mineral Metabolism (UTSW Medical Centre), Professor of Clinical Investigation at Donald W. Seldin Centre (UTSW Medical Centre), Director of O’Brien Kidney Research Centre (UTSW Medical Centre). 200+ Original Peer-Reviewed Research Articles, 100+ Reviews, Chapters, and Editorials on kidney diseases and mineral metabolism. Four patents granted.

Sanjeev Munshi

PhD MBA, Chief Executive Officer

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Biography

30+ years in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Held CBO, SVP of Business Development and Alliance Management, Executive Director Search & Evaluation, and Head of Structural Biology roles at Greenfire Bio, InvenviAI, and Merck. Led multiple in-licensing, investment, and R&D collaboration deals. Published 80 peer reviewed research papers.

Luigi Colombo

Chief Operating Officer

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Biography

35+ years of experience in R&D and executive roles at leading pharmaceutical companies, including Marion Merrell Dow, Hoechst Marion Roussel, Boehringer Ingelheim, Serono, and Merck, Luigi has made significant contributions to the pharma/biotech industry. He co-founded Biosearch Italia, the first biotech company to be listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, which later went public on Nasdaq and was acquired by Pfizer. Luigi holds a degree in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies with honors and is an adjunct professor at the Università Statale di Milano (Italy).

Alessandra Gavirati

Fundraising, Investor Relations, Board Chair

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Biography

M.Sc. in Economics. 25+ years in Private Equity as Operating Partner (BS Private Equity, Synergo, Life Care Capital). Led over 15 management buyouts across different industries, mainly in Europe, with aggregated investment value of $600M+ and top-tier returns. She holds several positions as an executive and independent director in public and private MidCaps, and is active as Venture Partner in the MedTech and biotech industries.

Surya Sankuratri

Senior Advisor

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Biography

30+ years in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Held CBO, VP of Corporate Development, R&D, and Business Development leadership positions at Roche, Merck, Gilead, Caravan Biologix, and Atomwise. Extensive experience as a business and portfolio advisor for several startups and early-stage biotechs, including Aarvik Therapeutics, 1859, Inc., Antiverse, Anvila, and Arona Global Sciences. Led over 35 in- and out-licensing, M&A, and significant-size R&D collaboration deals for large pharma and biotechs.

Jagath Reddy Junutula

PhD, Board member

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Biography

20+ years of Oncology drug discovery and development experience and 30 years of experience in life science research at Aarvik Therapeutics, AntlerA Therapeutics, ModMab Therapeutics, Cellerant Therapeutics and Genentech. Focused on drug discovery & development of biologics, including discovery and validation of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), engineering next-generation ADCs, and development of bi-specific T-cell engaging antibodies. Developed a novel THIOMAB technology platform to generate site-specific ADCs to improve the therapeutic utility of antibodies. 60+ peer-reviewed publications and 300+ patents filed/issued. Co-founder and Board Chairman at Science Gurus, a non-profit organization that fosters in developing NextGen Scientists.

Scientific Advisory Board

Giovanni Camussi

MD

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Biography

After receiving his MD from the University of Torino (Italy), Dr. Camussi did postdoctoral training in Nephrology at the University of Torino and at Hospital Necker, Paris. He is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Medical Sciences, University of Torino (Italy), and Scientific Coordinator of stem cell research projects of 2i3T Incubator at Molecular Biotechnology Center (University of Torino). Before that, he was a Research Associate Professor of Microbiology and Pathology at the State University of New York at Buffalo, NY (USA), Full Professor of Nephrology at the University of Naples, University of Pavia, and the University of Torino (Italy) where he was President of the School of Medical Biotechnology, Director of the Department of Internal Medicine, Director of the Laboratory of Renal and Vascular Pathophysiology, and he was Adjunct Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine of Brown University, Providence (RI), USA.

Internationally renowned for 40+ years of research on diabetic nephropathy, renal and liver immunopathology, mediators of tumor and inflammatory angiogenesis, and stem cell biology. He has been named an inventor in 34 patents and has authored over 600 peer-reviewed scientific publications in PubMed-indexed journals (H-index 113 per Google Scholar).

Makoto Kuro-o​

MD, Ph.D.

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Biography

After receiving his MD and Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo, Dr. Kuro-o discovered and named the alpha-Klotho gene in 1997 and has written and published extensively on the topic, opening a new and promising field of research. He moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where he was appointed Professor (2012). He then moved back to Japan in 2013 as a Professor at the Division of Anti-aging Medicine Center for Molecular Medicine and a Professor at the Division of Anti-aging Medicine Center for Molecular Medicine at Jichi Medical University. Dr. Kuro-o has over 30 years of research and clinical experience in endocrinology, endocrine fibroblast growth factors, molecular biology of aging, nephrology, and mineral metabolism, and he has authored over 200 publications (H-index 100 per Google Scholar).

Stephen Michnick

Ph.D.

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Biography

After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, Dr. Michnick did postdoctoral training at the Department of Chemistry at Harvard University with Professors Stuart Schreiber and Martin Karplus (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2013). He is currently a Professor of Biochemistry at Université de Montréal, an Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering at McGill University, and a Canada Research Chair in Cell Architecture and Dynamics. Dr. Michnick’s laboratory studies physical principles governing the organization and properties of macromolecular assemblies in living cells, including the evolution of protein folding and protein-protein interactions. He focuses on how mechan-oactive biomolecular condensates drive functional membrane vesicularization and chromatin organization associated with gene transcription. He is an inventor on 25 patents and has authored over 125 publications (H-index 62 per Google Scholar).

Moosa Mohammadi

Ph.D.

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Biography

After receiving his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1993, Dr. Mohammadi did postdoctoral training at the New York University School of Medicine and became a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology. He is a Professor at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, and a Senior Principal Investigator at Oujiang Laboratory (Zhejiang Lab for Regenerative Medicine, Vision, and Brain Health) in Wenzhou, China. Dr. Mohammadi is an internationally renowned structural biologist/biochemist with over 30 years of basic research experience focusing on molecular mechanisms of FGF signaling in development and disease. He has authored over 140 publications (H-index 83 per ResearchGate), including two recent high-impact papers in Nature on the FGF23-aKlotho signaling axis. He is an inventor on 15 patents covering a range of FGF-related biologics for various metabolic disorders, including Type 2 diabetes, renal phosphate wasting, chronic kidney disease, and Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.