REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Atreca, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing novel therapeutics based on a deep understanding of the human immune response, announced today the appointment of Lawrence Fong, M.D., as a technical Advisor. Dr. Fong is a world-leading researcher and oncology expert who has dedicated his career to advancing new cancer immunotherapies.
“We are delighted and fortunate to welcome Larry Fong as an Atreca technical Advisor. Larry is a leading cancer researcher who has contributed to an FDA-approved immunotherapy for prostate cancer, as well as to the successful development of ipilimumab, for which Larry and his team participated in the first-in-man clinical trials,” said Tito A. Serafini, Ph.D., Atreca’s President, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder. “We believe Larry’s expertise will add significantly to our programs focused on the immune system’s central role in fighting cancer across diverse indications.”
“At Atreca, we are creating a world-class network of advisors and thought leaders that will aid the Company in translating its pioneering technology into transformative medicines,” said William H. Robinson, M.D., Ph.D., Atreca Board member, Co-Founder, and Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University. “We are excited to work with esteemed advisors and collaborators such as Larry Fong, as well as Lewis Lanier, who recently was also appointed a technical Advisor, as we continue to discover and develop novel therapeutic agents to improve cancer care.”
Dr. Lawrence Fong is Co-Leader, Cancer Immunotherapy Program, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Efim Guzik Distinguished Professor in Cancer Biology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Fong’s laboratory is focused on how the immune system interacts with cancer, investigating how immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors and cancer vaccines can enhance anti-tumor immunity in patients. He has served on National Cancer Institute (NCI) Steering Committees for Genitourinary Cancer (GUSC) and Investigational Drugs (IDSC)-Immunotherapy Task Force, and is a senior editor for Cancer Immunology Research. Dr. Fong is also the site principal investigator at UCSF for the NCI-sponsored Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network (CITN). Dr. Fong received his B.A. degree from Columbia University and his M.D. degree from Stanford University, also completing an oncology fellowship at Stanford before joining the medical staff there in 1999. He joined UCSF in 2002.
“Atreca has a uniquely enabling platform, which has demonstrated important proof of concept in identifying novel therapeutic opportunities in oncology,” commented Dr. Fong. “I am very pleased to be advising the distinguished team at Atreca and look forward to the progress of their promising programs.”
About Atreca, Inc.
Atreca is a privately held biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics drawn from human immune responses, including effective anti-cancer immune responses. We are able to measure and analyze the structure of clinically relevant immune responses to identify the antibodies, T cell receptors, and targets that are key to successful treatment outcomes. Atreca’s proprietary Immune Repertoire Capture™ technology profiles a patient’s immune response at the single-cell level at very high throughput without bias or error, enabling the identification and generation of functional human antibodies and TCRs without prior knowledge of antigen. The Company is advancing a pipeline of candidates with the objective of enhancing engagement of the human immune response in cancer treatment and other indications, thus optimizing therapeutic outcomes. For more information on Atreca, please visit www.atreca.com.
