SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Immusoft Corporation, a Seattle-Wash.-based, leading cell therapy company, today announced that Scott McIvor, Ph.D., Chief Development Officer, and Professor Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development at the University of Minnesota, will present at the 16th Annual WorldSymposium™, hosted in Orlando, FL, February 10-13, 2020. WorldSymposium™ is the largest international gathering of lysosomal disease researchers.
Dr. McIvor will present, “Iduronidase-transposed human B lymphocytes correct enzyme deficiency and glycosaminoglycan storage disease in immunodeficient MPS I mice,” during the Contemporary Forum session at 4:15 p.m. ET / 1:15 p.m. PT on Thursday, February 13, 2020.
With over 150 publications, Dr. McIvor is one of the earliest pioneers in gene transfer and gene therapy. Dr. McIvor received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Minnesota in 1982. He completed his postdoctoral work at the University of California, San Francisco, and then at Genentech, Inc., where he conducted early work on therapeutic gene transfer into mouse hematopoietic stem cells using retroviral vectors. Dr. McIvor has been on the faculty at the University of Minnesota since 1986, where he has worked on the development of genetic therapies for cancer and inherited metabolic and immunodeficiency diseases using viral and non-viral vector systems. Starting in 2006, Dr. McIvor was CEO and Chief Science Officer of Discovery Genomics, Inc. (DGI), founded in part to develop the Sleeping Beauty transposon system. In 2016, DGI was acquired by Immusoft Corporation where Dr. McIvor currently serves as Chief Development Officer. Dr. McIvor also served on the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee and is an industry-recognized key thought leader for lysosomal storage disorders.
Additional information regarding the ISP™ platform and the WORLDSymposium™ presentation can be found at: https://immusoft.com/technology/.
About Immune System Programming (ISP™) Technology
Immusoft’s proprietary ISP™ platform technology is a gene modified cell therapy approach that uses a clinically validated, non-viral vector that aims to safely and reliably insert functional genes into immune cells. Once administered back into the patient, a subset of ISP™ modified cells are expected to reside within survival niches in the body, continuously producing gene-encoded protein(s). The platform’s broad utility to produce a wide range of therapeutic protein classes (e.g. antibodies, signaling proteins, and enzymes), has the potential to disrupt the current standard of care for many diseases requiring protein injections or infusions, including many to address orphan diseases.
About Mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I)
MPS I is a rare, lethal childhood genetic disease that affects the body’s ability to produce IDUA (alpha-L-iduronidase), which is an essential enzyme that helps to break down long-chain sugars inside cells. When the sugar chains cannot be broken down and disposed of, they accumulate in the cells and cause progressive damage. In its most severe form, and if left untreated, children affected rarely live longer than ten years after diagnosis.
About Immusoft
Immusoft Corporation’s (immusoft.com) mission is to treat diseases using its breakthrough technology platform called Immune System Programming (ISP™). The technology modifies a patient’s B cells and instructs the cells to produce gene-encoded medicines (biologics). The B cells that are reprogrammed using ISP become miniature drug factories that are expected to survive in patients for many years. Immusoft Corporation is based in Seattle, Washington.
