Press release

Professor Jeffrey Pollard Macomics’ Co-founding Board Member and Chair of its SAB Elected to the Academia Europaea

Edinburgh and Cambridge, UK, 03 October 2022 - Macomics Ltd, a biotech company with world-leading expertise in macrophage biology, congratulates its co-founder Prof. Jeffery Pollard Ph.D. on his election to the Academia Europaea (the European Academy, AE).

Prof. Pollard will be welcomed as a new at a ceremony during the 33rd Annual Conference of Academia Europaea, Building Bridges 2022, in Barcelona 27-27 October.

The prestigious Academia Europaea has recognized Prof. Pollard for his visionary and pioneering work in the field of macrophage biology. He co-founded Macomics with Dr Luca Cassetta, as a spin out from Edinburgh University to develop precision medicines to modulate macrophages for the treatment of cancer. He now provides expert consultancy to the company, is a board member and also Chair of its Scientific Advisory Board, whilst Dr Cassetta has joined full time as VP Immunology.
Founded in 1988, Academia Europaea members include leading experts from the physical sciences and technology, biological sciences and medicine, mathematics, the letters and humanities, social and cognitive sciences, economics and the law. Its 4,500 members are drawn from across Europe as well as European scholars who are resident in other regions of the world. Current members include seventy-two Nobel Laureates, several of whom were elected to the Academia before they received the prize.

Membership is highly selected, through peer nomination, scrutiny, and confirmation as to the scholarship and eminence of the individual in their chosen field. Election is confirmed by the Council of the Academia. Prof. Pollard was elected based on his contribution to the foundation of knowledge on the role of macrophages in disease. He is a Member of the section Clinical & Veterinary Science.

Professor Pollard is also Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, Fellow of the Royal Society of Biologists, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Scottish academy) and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (British academy). He has received several awards most notably the American Cancer Society “Medal of Honour for Basic Science Research” for his studies in tumour immunology (2010), Rothschild Yvette–Meynet Curie award (2009), the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (2013 – 2018) and the Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award (2013 – 2021). For many years he has been on the annual Highly Cited Researchers list from Clarivate, being in the top 0.001% and thus one of the most cited researchers in science.

Commenting on the achievement, Dr Steve Myatt, CEO of Macomics said: “I congratulate Jeff on being elected as a Member of Academia Europaea. It reflects the ground-breaking nature of his research over more than 30 years in the macrophage field, on which Macomics is built. Our vision is to deliver benefits to patients from this research and to continue to develop our position as a leading biotechnology company pioneering macrophage-based therapies for the treatment of cancer.”
Macomics is progressing a diversified portfolio of therapies targeting disease-specific tumour-associated macrophages (‘TAMs’) towards the clinic. Its target discovery platform enables the identification and validation of novel macrophage therapeutic targets and is based on its deep understanding of macrophage biology.

Caption: Professor Jeff W Pollard, co-founder of Macomics and Chair of its SAB; MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, The University of Edinburgh.

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About Macomics – www.macomics.com

Macomics Ltd is using its world-leading expertise in macrophage biology to develop 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.
The company was co-founded in 2020 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.

Professor Jeff W Pollard - https://www.ed.ac.uk/centre-reproductive-health/professor-jeffrey-polla…

Prof. Jeffrey Pollard is Professor of resilience biology in the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health (MRC-CRH), University of Edinburgh. He has been investigating the roles of macrophages in development, tissue repair and cancer for almost 30 years. His group was the first to show that tumour-associated macrophages promote the progression of tumors to metastasis in part, through the establishment of a suppressive immune microenvironment that supports tumor cell survival. Prof. Pollard has published over 380 scientific papers and is one of the most cited researchers in science. He has been awarded many honours , and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences.

Acadamia Europaea - https://www.ae-info.org/

The Academia Europaea was established in 1988 at the instigation of the Royal Society of London and is the Pan-European Academy of Sciences Humanities and Letters. The object of Academia Europaea is the advancement and propagation of excellence in scholarship in the humanities, law, the economic, social, and political sciences, mathematics, medicine, and all branches of natural and technological sciences anywhere in the world for the public benefit and for the advancement of the education of the public of all ages in the aforesaid subjects in Europe.

Academia Europaea is a European, non-governmental association acting as an Academy. Our members are scientists and scholars who collectively aim to promote learning, education and research. Founded in 1988, with more than 4500 members which includes leading experts from the physical sciences and technology, biological sciences and medicine, mathematics, the letters and humanities, social and cognitive sciences, economics and the law.

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