24 February 2021 - - US-based gene editing and cell and gene therapy company Metagenomi has added three experts in immuno-oncology clinical and basic research from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to its Scientific advisory board to drive the company into its next stage of growth, the company said.

Philip Greenberg, M.D., Aude G. Chapuis, M.D., and Tom Schmitt, Ph.D. will join existing SAB members Chad Cowan, M.D., current CEO of Clade Therapeutics and Associate Professor, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, as well as Eric Huang, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Autoimmune and Inflammation and New Venture Labs at Moderna.

Philip Greenberg, M.D. is an internationally recognized expert in cancer immunotherapy, currently serving as the Head of Immunology at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and holds the Rona Jaffe Foundation Endowed chair.

He is also a Professor of Medicine and Immunology at the University of Washington, and an Investigator of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.

He is known for his pioneering contributions in adoptive T-cell immunotherapy, for which he was awarded the Cancer Research Institute's William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Tumor Immunology and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Richard Smalley Memorial Career Award.

Dr. Greenberg holds an A.B. in biology from Washington University and an M.D. in medicine from State University of New York.

Aude G. Chapuis, M.D. is an expert in adoptive T cell immunotherapies and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

She is currently an Associate Professor of Immunology in the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and holds the John C. and Karyl Kay Hughes Foundation Endowed chair.

She is also an Associate Professor, Department of Medicine Division of Medical Oncology at University of Washington. Dr. Chapuis holds an M.D. from Lausanne University, Medical School, Switzerland.

Joining Dr. Greenberg and Dr. Chapuis is Thomas Schmitt, Ph.D. Dr. Schmitt is an Associate in Clinical Research in the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is an expert in T cell differentiation, thymic selection and T cell/TCR-mediated elimination of cancer.

Dr. Schmitt is developing high-throughput strategies for identifying and characterizing potent tumor-reactive T cells/TCRs for T cell-based cellular therapies and has developed novel and effective approaches for enhancing the functional avidity of therapeutic TCRs.

He previously helped define the molecular signals underpinning T cell lineage commitment and developed the first in vitro platform for differentiating T cells from hematopoietic or pluripotent stem cell progenitors without a thymus in vitro. Dr. Schmitt holds a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Toronto.