MaxCyte Adds Vice President, Non-Clinical and Translational Studies, to Support Advancement of Programs from Its CARMA™ Platform
Dhana Chinnasamy, PhD, will oversee non-clinical and translational activities for MaxCyte’s autologous cell therapy platform for targeted cell-based immune therapies
GAITHERSBURG, Md., July 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — MaxCyte, the global clinical-stage cell-based therapies and life sciences company, announced today that it has appointed Dr. Dhana Chinnasamy, a 20+-year expert in the research and translation of gene and immunotherapies, as its Vice President, Non-Clinical and Translational Studies. In her new role, Dr. Chinnasamy will oversee all non-clinical and translational activities for MaxCyte’s CARMA platform working closely with the clinical, regulatory, manufacturing, and business development teams in support of MaxCyte’s clinical-stage therapeutic development.
Doug Doerfler, MaxCyte’s CEO, said: “Dhana is a welcome addition to our drug development team as we advance MCY-M11, our lead non-viral mRNA-based cell therapy candidate from our CARMA platform. She expands our scientific and translational capabilities as we identify and assess additional CARMA programs, broadening our ability to find treatments to help more patients.”
Dr. Chinnasamy’s vast experience includes key roles in bench-to-bedside translational studies on T and NK cell-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Most recently, she led the immuno-oncology team at Precigen/Intrexon where she developed novel T cell products co-expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) and cytokine genes targeting solid tumors. Previously, she served as a Senior Staff Scientist in the Hematology Branch at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and as a Senior Research Fellow in the Surgery Branch of the NIH’s National Cancer Institute (NCI).
“It’s a very exciting time for the team driving the potential for MaxCyte’s CARMA platform as we advance Phase I clinical testing of MCY-M11 and explore new therapeutics that we believe will make a real difference in treating patients with various cancers,” said MaxCyte’s Chief Medical Officer Claudio Dansky Ullmann, MD. “Dhana is a fabulous asset to CARMA and MaxCyte as we evaluate the non-viral approach of CARMA, which has the potential to address some of the most significant issues with current CAR-T therapies including challenging side effects as well the complex, expensive and time-consuming manufacturing processes.”
About MaxCyte
MaxCyte is a clinical-stage global cell-based therapies and life sciences company applying its proprietary cell engineering platform to deliver the advances of cell-based medicine to patients with high unmet medical needs. MaxCyte is developing novel CARMA therapies for its own pipeline, with its first drug candidate in a Phase I clinical trial. CARMA is MaxCyte’s mRNA-based proprietary therapeutic platform for autologous cell therapy for the treatment of solid cancers. In addition, through its life sciences business, MaxCyte leverages its Flow Electroporation® Technology to enable its biopharmaceutical partners to advance the development of innovative medicines, particularly in cell therapy. MaxCyte has placed its flow electroporation instruments worldwide, including with all of the top ten global biopharmaceutical companies. The Company now has more than 80 partnered program licenses in cell therapy with more than 45 licensed for clinical use. With its robust delivery technology platform, MaxCyte helps its partners to unlock the full potential of their products. For more information, visit www.maxcyte.com.
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