Edinburgh and Cambridge, UK, 24 January 2022 - Macomics Ltd, an immuno-oncology company with world-leading expertise in macrophage biology, announces today that it has added five new internationally renowned Advisors to expand the immunology, oncology and clinical expertise within its advisory panel. The new additions from the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, the UK and Italy are Professor Karin de Visser, Dr Carlos Gomez-Roca, Professor Daniel Speiser, Professor Klaus Okkenhaug and Dr Mario Leonardo Squadrito.

They join Prof. Michele De Palma and Dr Jackie Doody world recognised experts in the fields of immuno-oncology, and Dr John Haurum who has over two decades’ experience in the international biotech industry, most recently as Chief Executive Officer of F-star.

Dr Carola Ries, Macomics’ Chief Scientific Officer, who recently joined the company from Roche said, “We welcome Karin, Carlos, Daniel, Klaus, and Mario to the team. Our target discovery platform has enabled us to identify and validate novel macrophage therapeutic targets, based on our deep understanding of macrophage biology. The insight and input of our expert immunology and clinical advisors will be invaluable as we progress our diversified portfolio of novel therapies targeting disease-specific tumour associated macrophages towards the clinic.“

Professor de Visser
She is a tumor immunologist with special interest in the crosstalk between the innate and adaptive immune system in cancer. She is a senior group leader at the Division of Tumor Biology & Immunology at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, alongside her appointment as group leader at Oncode Institute and professor of Experimental Immunobiology of Cancer at Leiden University Medical Center. Her research focuses on understanding mechanisms by which the innate immune system influences metastatic breast cancer. Utilizing state-of-the-art transgenic mouse models, Professor de Visser’s research team has made major contributions to understanding how mammary tumors induce pro-metastatic systemic inflammation and how the genetic make-up of breast cancer dictates immune composition and function in tumors.

Dr Gomez-Roca
He is a cancer specialist at the Institut Universitaire du Cancer de Toulouse (IUCT), where he is Co-Chair of the Clinical Research Unit at IUCT-Oncopole and leader in the Early Phase Unit with a focus on targeted therapies and immuno-oncology. His main research interests are early clinical development, phase I trials across solid tumors, innovative methods of evaluation of novel drugs’ clinical activity, personalized medicine and mechanisms of toxicities and resistance of new targeted agents and immunotherapies. He ran the first-in-human trial of emactuzumab, the trail-blazing monoclonal CSF1R antibody targeting tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs).

Professor Speiser
He is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Fundamental Oncology at the University of Lausanne and formally led the Unit for Investigator-Initiated Trials at the Department of Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV). Professor Speiser has over 30 years of medicine and translational research experience and was previously clinician-scientist at the Ludwig Cancer Research Institute. Professor Speiser has pioneered T cell-based immunotherapy for cancer patients, and made significant contributions to understanding the activation, differentiation, and function of human T cells, with special emphasis on direct analyses of immune activatory and inhibitory pathways, and their relation to parameters of cancer biology and inflammation.

Professor Okkenhaug
He is Chair of Immunology, at Cambridge University within the Department of Pathology. An expert in T cell biology, his research focuses on the pathways used by the immune system to instruct and coordinate defences against pathogens. Furthermore, he employs mouse models to predict and understand the effect of drugs on the immune system. Professor’s Okkenhaug work has made major contributions to understanding the role of PI3K signalling in cancer, with several PI3K inhibitors having now received regulatory approval for the treatment of breast cancer and B cell malignancies.

Dr Squadrito
He is project leader in the Unit of Targeted Cancer Gene Therapy, directed by Prof. Luigi Naldini, at the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy, Milan, Italy. Dr Squadrito is an expert in cell engineering and is focusing his research in the development of new gene-base strategies to convey antitumor molecules to liver metastases to activate immune functions. Previously, Dr Squadrito pioneered RNA sequencing of tumour associated macrophages and invented genetic tools to exploit circulating microvesicles as a source of tumor antigens for innovative tumor vaccines.

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About Macomics – www.macomics.com

Macomics Ltd is an immuno-oncology company with world-leading expertise in macrophage biology, developing precision medicines to modulate macrophages for the treatment of cancer. The company is progressing a diversified portfolio of therapies targeting disease specific tumour associated macrophages (‘TAMs’) towards the clinic. Its target discovery platform enables identification and validation of novel macrophage therapeutic targets and is based on its deep understanding of macrophage biology.

Macomics was co-founded in 2019 by Prof. Jeffrey Pollard and Dr. Luca Cassetta, University of Edinburgh, internationally recognised leaders in macrophage biology. It has R&D and office facilities in Edinburgh and Cambridge, UK and is backed by Epidarex Capital, Scottish Enterprise, and Caribou Property Limited.

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