Obsidian Therapeutics Appoints Jan ter Meulen, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Obsidian Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company pioneering controllable cell and gene therapies, today announced that Jan Henrik ter Meulen, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. ter Meulen will lead Obsidian's ongoing efforts in the application of the Company's proprietary cytoDRiVE™ platform to develop a new generation of therapies in which the level and timing of protein activity are fully controlled in a dose-dependent manner by FDA-approved small molecule drugs. Obsidian is pursuing these cell and gene therapeutics through its internal programs, as well as through collaborative relationships.
"Jan has broad therapeutic knowledge and diverse development expertise, as well as the skill to communicate our strong scientific value to stakeholders, which will maximize Obsidian's potential at this stage in the company's trajectory," said Paul K. Wotton, Ph.D., Obsidian's Chief Executive Officer. "Jan's appointment as CSO reflects our commitment to establishing a robust internal pipeline. Additionally, his experience, leadership, academic and industry connections will be important as we establish new collaborations and grow our existing relationships. Our unique technology, capabilities and culture have enabled us to attract exceptional and experienced professionals, like Jan, who will contribute to Obsidian's growth and continued success."
Dr. ter Meulen added, "By controlling the expression of therapeutic proteins delivered by cell and gene therapies, Obsidian's cytoDRiVE™ technology has the potential to significantly impact the treatment of patients with cancer and other serious diseases. I look forward to working with the team to make our vision of controllable cell and gene therapies a reality across multiple therapeutic areas and for patients worldwide."
A veteran researcher in pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic settings, Dr. ter Meulen brings more than 25 years of operational and strategic research experience to Obsidian. Previously, as Chief Scientific Officer of Immune Design, Seattle, he was responsible for devising and communicating the immuno-oncology research strategy of the company, building its pipeline, and participating in the IPO and later sale of Immune Design to Merck & Co. in 2019. Before Immune Design, Dr. ter Meulen was Head of Vaccine Basic Research at Merck Research Laboratories, where he had operational responsibility for the entire vaccine discovery pipeline, and before, Head of Antibody discovery at Crucell N.V., Leiden, The Netherlands. He has held appointments at the German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, the Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, and the Institute of Virology at the Philipps-University, Marburg, Germany. Dr. ter Meulen was an International Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute, and a consultant for scientific agencies in the US, UK, Germany, France, South Africa and for the European Commission.
About Obsidian Therapeutics
Obsidian Therapeutics, Inc. is a biotechnology company pioneering controllable cell and gene therapies to deliver transformative outcomes for patients with intractable diseases. Obsidian's proprietary cytoDRiVE™ platform provides, for the first time, a technology to develop a new generation of cell and gene therapies in which the level and timing of protein activity are fully controlled in a dose-dependent platform comprises a therapeutic protein of interest fused to a drug-responsive domain (DRD). In the absence of the small molecule drug, the DRD-tagged protein is degraded before it becomes active. In contrast, when the small molecule drug is present, the DRD-tagged protein is stabilized and active, permitting precise control of the timing and level of protein expression. The platform can be applied to design controllable intracellular, membrane and secreted proteins for cell and gene therapies as well as other applications. The Company is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit www.obsidiantx.com.
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SOURCE Obsidian Therapeutics
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