Team

  • MANAGEMENT

    Arnaud Foussat PhD., CEO

    Dr. Arnaud Foussat, Chief Executive Officer brings to Alderaan Biotechnology over 16 years of experience in immunotherapy research and development. Arnaud Foussat is also Operating Partner at AdBio partners. Arnaud Spend two years as Chief Operating Officer at Alderaan Biotechnology, launching the company operations before taking the CEO role. Before joining Alderaan Biotechnology, Arnaud was Chief Scientific Officer at TxCell (acquired by Sangamo Therapeutics in 2018) and developed the first generation of cell therapy products using Regulatory T cells (Treg cells) and launched the first program on CAR-engineered Treg cells. Arnaud spent 12 years at TxCell, managing the cell therapy research and process development with a strong involvement in regulatory affairs and corporate development. Graduate of Institut Pasteur of Paris, Arnaud Foussat obtained his Ph.D. degree of Immunology from the University of Paris VII in 2000. He then joined a French academic laboratory belonging to the French National Institute of Scientific and Medical Research (INSERM) where he focused his scientific efforts on the elucidation of the migratory pathways of Treg cells in normal and pathological conditions.

    William J Finlay PhD., Scientific Advisor

    Jonny Finlay is the CEO of UltraHuman, an antibody drug discovery biotech in the UK that is developing a series of therapeutics for inflammation and oncology. Prior to co-founding UltraHuman, Jonny led research teams in Biologics Discovery at Pfizer and Wyeth, and carried out postdoctoral research in recombinant protein engineering at several institutes, including the Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research, FDA.

  • Scientific Founders

    Armand Bensussan, PhD.,

    Armand Bensussan began his scientific career in Jean Dausset’s research laboratory at the Saint-Louis Hospital, before completing his training in the United States at Harvard Medical School in Boston in the field of immuno-cancerology. His research aims to define and to identify, by combining molecular, functional and genetic approaches, diagnostic and therapeutic targets for skin pathologies. With its collaborators, its research focuses on: the identification and characterization of membrane receptors and signaling abnormalities in skin tumors (T lymphomas and melanomas) and extra-ganglionic tumors (nasal NK/T lymphomas); the identification and study of the functions of cell populations present in severe toxidermias and other inflammatory skin diseases, such as psoriasis; molecular and functional identifications of specific receptors for lymphocyte subpopulations in healthy individuals (CD100 and CD101). Armand Bensussan is now Director of the Skin Research Center (U976) of Inserm at the Saint Louis Hospital in Paris. Former President of the French Association of Immunologists (2006-2008), he also served as Director of the Institute of Cancer Research. Jean Godinot from Reims. He is the author of numerous scientific publications (more than 300) and at the origin of the development of 5 therapeutic antibodies to preclinical or clinical stage.

    Daniel Olive MD, PhD.,

    D. Olive, after a training in Internal Medicine, he is currently Professor of Immunology at Aix Marseille University and Institut Paoli Calmettes, he is also in charge of the « Immunity and Cancer » research team of INSERM UMR1068 of Marseille Cancer Research Center . He is the head of the first IBiSA Platform dedicated to Cancer Immunomonitoring Platform.
    D. Olive has been a pioneer and leader in the co-signalling field since 1990. His work is dedicated to tumor immunology with a major emphasis on innate immunity and co-signalling molecules.

    Selected major breakthroughs:
    1) Identification of signaling pathways involved in CD28 and ICOS costimulatory molecules;
    2) Demonstration that BTN3A1/CD277 is a major inducer of Vg9Vd2 response;
    3) identification of the function of BTLA and HVEM in the regulation of immune function;
    4) identification of HVEM and BTLA as escape mechanisms in melanoma and non hodgkin lymphoma;
    5) Identification of molecular mechanisms associated to NK cells impairment in AML patients;
    6) first identification of alteration of NK cells in the tumor bed in breast cancer;
    7) First in man clinical trial using anti-KIR mAbs in AML patients;
    8) demonstration of the targeting of pDC by HCV;
    9) Deciphering of of ICOS ICOSL interaction in the regulation of Tregs in lymphomas.
    They are experts in the field of investigations on innate cells within tumor microenvironment.

    He is actively involved in translating discoveries to Biotech that he has either co-founded (Imcheck Therapeutics, Emergence Therapeutics , Alderaan Biotechnology) as well as out-licensing patents to pharmas (ICOS to GSK and CD277 to Imcheck Therapeutics that are currently in clinical trial phase2-3 and phase1 respectively)

    Anne Marie-Cardine, PhD.,

    Anne Marie-Cardine holds a PhD degree in Immunology obtained at P. and M. Curie / Paris VI University. After her graduation, Anne spent 5 years as a post-doctoral fellow at the German Cancer Research Center and Ruprecht-Karl University of Heidelberg (Germany) where she acquired a strong background in the field of T cell signalling and the identification of new signaling proteins. She is currently research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the team leader of the “Onco-dermatology and Therapies” team at Inserm Unit 976 (Saint Louis Hospital, Paris). Her scientific work focuses on skin cancers, with a peculiar interest for cutaneous T cell lymphomas and the identification of new tumor antigens (e.g. KIR3DL2 and CD39), but also on the restoration of efficient anti-tumor immune responses through NK cell targeting. During her academic career, Anne had the opportunity to develop numerous collaborations with industrial partners and actively participated in the proof-of-concept stepassociated to the development of new therapeutic antibodies prior to testing in phase I/II clinical trials (e.g. Lacutumab/anti-KIR3DL2, anti-CD70/ARGX-110 and anti-TIGITantibodies).

    Jérôme Giustiniani, PhD.,

    Dr Jérôme Giustiniani began his career on Dr Armand Bensussan’s research laboratory and obtained his PhD in 2006. He did a postdoctoral fellowship from 2006 to 2008 at the Queen Mary University of London/Saint Bartholomew Hospital in the field of B cell leukaemias. Jérôme Giustiniani is now researcher at the IMRB Institut/Hôpital H Mondor (Créteil).  Its research focuses on the identification and characterization of diagnostic and therapeutic targets on T cell lymphomas. He is the co-discoverer of CD160-TM with Dr Anne-Marie-Cardine and Dr Armand Bensussan.

  • BOARD

    Laurence de Schoulepnikoff

    Laurence is a seasoned pharma/biotech professional with over 25 years of experience in transactions and R&D operations and general management. She has worked in VC funded biotech start-ups, mid-size private companies as well as large corporate organizations. Prior to joining Alderaan, Laurence was COO and CBO of AMAL Therapeutics, a leading Swiss biotechnology company focused on therapeutic cancer vaccines acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim in 2019.

    Laurence holds a Master in Chemical Engineering from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne (EPFL). She is a board member of the Swiss Healthcare Licensing Group (HLG).

    Michèle Ollier, MD.

    Michèle is a co-founder and Partner at Medicxi. Prior to Medicxi, Michèle was a Partner at Index Ventures for 10 years, having joined the firm in 2006. She has led investments in, and continues to serve on the boards of, Palladio Biosciences, Kaerus Biosciences, Villaris Therapeutics, Pearl River Bio, Alderaan Biotechnology and Yukin Therapeutics. She was also a director at OncoEthix (sold to Merck Pharmaceuticals), Minerva Neurosciences (NASDAQ: NERV) and Aegerion (NASDAQ: AEGR). Prior to joining Index, Michèle was Investment Director at Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners in Paris for 3 years, where she served on the board of U3 Pharma. Before that, she spent more than 15 years in several development and marketing positions at Sanofi International, BMS, RPR/ Gencell/ Aventis International and Serono International. She currently serves on the board of directors of Ipsen Pharmaceuticals (Euronext:IPN). She also sits on the investment committees of the accelerator and technology transfer companies of Paris-Saclay and France-Nord. Michèle completed her medical studies in France at Paris Ouest University.

    Arnaud Foussat, PhD.

    Dr. Arnaud Foussat, Chief Executive Officer brings to Alderaan Biotechnology over 16 years of experience in immunotherapy research and development. Arnaud Foussat is also Operating Partner at AdBio partners. Arnaud Spend two years as Chief Operating Officer at Alderaan Biotechnology, launching the company operations before taking the CEO role. Before joining Alderaan Biotechnology, Arnaud was Chief Scientific Officer at TxCell (acquired by Sangamo Therapeutics in 2018) and developed the first generation of cell therapy products using Regulatory T cells (Treg cells) and launched the first program on CAR-engineered Treg cells. Arnaud spent 12 years at TxCell, managing the cell therapy research and process development with a strong involvement in regulatory affairs and corporate development. Graduate of Institut Pasteur of Paris, Arnaud Foussat obtained his Ph.D. degree of Immunology from the University of Paris VII in 2000. He then joined a French academic laboratory belonging to the French National Institute of Scientific and Medical Research (INSERM) where he focused his scientific efforts on the elucidation of the migratory pathways of Treg cells in normal and pathological conditions.

ALDERAAN BIOTECHNOLOGY

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Alderaan Biotechnology presents latest developments at SITC Congress 329 293 gloria

Alderaan Biotechnology presents latest developments at SITC Congress

Alderaan Biotechnology presents latest developments in next generation anti-CD25 antibody at SITC Congress. ALD2510 antibody…

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