VIENNA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OncoOne, a biotechnology company focused on discovering precision medicines for cancer and autoimmune diseases, today announced the appointment of three new members to its scientific advisory board to accelerate the clinical development of the company’s oxidized macrophage migration inhibitory factor (oxMIF)-targeting pipeline. oxMIF is the disease-related and druggable isoform of the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a critical driver in innate and adaptive immunity in cancers and immunology. oxMIF is a promising new target which was discovered by the OncoOne founders.
The new SAB appointees, Dr. Seamas Donnelly, Dr. Jennifer Guerriero and Dr. Robert Mitchell are established leaders in their respective fields and bring with them a wealth of MIF and macrophage expertise, spanning macrophage biology and MIF’s roles in both immunology and oncology. These experts will greatly complement the existing SAB and guide the company as it prepares to enter the clinic in 2023 with its two novel monoclonal antibody oxMIF assets, ON203 for solid tumors and ON104 for autoimmune diseases.
“Expanding our already robust SAB with these renowned, international specialists will provide us with invaluable counsel to ensure that we enter the clinic with the strongest possible development plan next year. We believe our SAB reflects and validates the potential of our oxMIF-targeting pipeline and sets a strong foundation for us to fully explore our approach in various drug modalities and disease areas,” said Randolf Kerschbaumer, Ph.D., CEO of OncoOne. “I extend a warm welcome to our newest advisors and look forward to applying their deep knowledge and understanding of MIF, immunotherapy, and oncology toward our shared goal of providing new options to patients living with these debilitating conditions.”
The new members of the OncoOne Scientific Advisory Board include:
Seamas Donnelly, M.D.
Dr. Seamas Donnelly is Professor of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin. He is a global leader in translational medicine with a research focus on the development of novel compounds as anti-inflammatory/anti-cancer therapies. He has authored many select MIF-focused publications in renowned peer reviewed journals including Nature Medicine and Molecular Medicine. Dr. Donnelly’s research epitomizes classical bench to bedside on an international stage and in recognition of this has been awarded an Honorary Professorship in Translational Medicine by the University of Edinburgh. He currently serves as Editor in Chief of the Quarterly Journal of Medicine (QJM). He is the current President of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain & Ireland, the leading academic medical association in the UK and Ireland. Dr. Donnelly is also the lead Trinity PI of Health Innovation Hub Ireland.
Jennifer Guerriero, Ph.D.
Dr. Jennifer Guerriero is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Lead Investigator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Division of Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery. She also serves as the Director of the Breast Tumor Immunology Laboratory at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Guerriero's research interests include harnessing the anti-tumor potential of tumor-associated macrophages for cancer immunotherapy in breast cancer. Her group studies the role of tumor associated macrophages both in promoting tumorigenesis as well as how to harness macrophages for cancer therapy. The major goals of Dr. Guerriero’s work are to elucidate the molecular and functional regulation of tumor macrophage phenotype and subsets, identify how tumor macrophages inhibit T cell function and limit the effectiveness of immunotherapy and identify novel strategies to target macrophages therapeutically. Dr. Guerriero completed her postdoctoral training at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where she investigated the role of tumor macrophages in breast cancer and identified novel mechanisms to target pro-tumor macrophages to an anti-tumor phenotype to induce tumor regression. Dr. Guerriero also serves on the board for the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer.
Robert Mitchell, Ph.D.
Dr. Robert Mitchell is a tenured Professor in the Department of Surgery and a member of the Division of Immunotherapy at the University of Louisville. He has joint/associate appointments in the Departments of Microbiology & Immunology and Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics. His research is concentrated on the study of immune tolerance in tumor biology. Specifically, his work focuses on the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) family of cytokines and their independent and coordinated influences on myeloid lineage-dependent T cell suppressive mechanisms which govern tumor-associated immune evasion and subsequent disease progression. He and his laboratory have developed numerous patented pharmaceutical agents that are designed to treat malignant and nonmalignant diseases and they are currently evaluating whether these compounds have a specific role in governing MIF-dependent mitochondrial homeostasis that dictates myeloid cell immune suppression.
For more information on OncoOne’s SAB visit https://www.oncoone.com/about-us/#Scientific.
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About OncoOne
OncoOne seeks to overcome the limitations of targeting the macrophage migration inhibitory factor by harnessing the high tumor-specificity of the disease-related isoform of MIF, the oxidized macrophage migration inhibitory factor (oxMIF). The Company is focused on developing two optimized monoclonal antibodies to leverage oxMIF’s potential as a target for the treatment of solid tumors such as colorectal, ovarian and lung cancers, as well as for chronic inflammatory diseases. Equipped with a successful track-record in early-stage drug development as well as a deep understanding of the target itself, OncoOne’s leadership will advance a pipeline based on oxMIF’s promise in both solid tumors and autoimmune disorders. www.oncoone.com
