Author: edgover

Macomics Ltd, an immuno-oncology company with world-leading expertise in macrophage biology, announces today that it has made three new appointments to its scientific and operations teams, to support growth and accelerate its R&D.

In the R&D team, Dr Thomas Crozier joins as a Senior Scientist and Dr Yuxin Cui joins as Senior Bioinformatician, with Ms. Lisa Seymour joining as Operations Manager and Health & Safety Officer.

The new appointments are based at Macomics’ Cambridge site and brings the total team to 16 across both sites.

Dr Crozier joins from an academic role at the University of Cambridge. He brings over ten years of research experience and extensive knowledge of the use of unbiased genome and proteome-wide approaches to uncover gene and protein function in a range of biological systems. He obtained his PhD from the University of Dundee.

Dr Cui specialises in bioinformatic analysis of large-scale multi-omics data. He is building Macomics’ infrastructure-based bioinformatic engine for target identification and validation to enhance the understanding of the biology of tumour-associated macrophages. He has extensive R&D experience in both academia and industry, at Apitope, including biomarker identification and drug discovery in various solid and liquid cancers and autoimmune diseases. He has been a Research Fellow at Cardiff University, and postdoc experience from the University of Cambridge and the University of Bristol. He obtained his PhD from the University of Nottingham School of Pharmacy.

Prior to joining Macomics, Lisa was at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute where she held technical roles of increasing responsibility, including three years as a Licensed Animal Technician and seven years as an Advanced Laboratory Technician in Clinical Microbiology/virology and Parasitology. She also has over eight years’ experience as an Administrator. She has a BSC (Hons) in Biomedical Science from Cambridge University and is a Member of IOSH and the Royal Society of Biology. She holds a NEBOSH general Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety which includes Management in Health and Safety.

This expansion follows Macomics’ follow-on financing of £4.24 million announced in July 2021. It is 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.

Welcoming the new team members and commenting on the Company’s continued growth, Dr Steve Myatt, CEO of Macomics said:

“We are progressing well in our vision is to become a leading immuno-oncology company pioneering macrophage-based therapies for the treatment of cancer. We are delighted that this vision and strategy has enabled us to attract world-class talent to our team, as we advance our early-stage antibody R&D programs. Our new colleagues bring additional expertise and relevant experience that I know will make a positive contribution.”

About the new appointments

Dr Thomas Crozier
Senior Scientist

Thomas is a Senior Scientist at Macomics with over 10 years of research experience and extensive knowledge of the use of unbiased genome and proteome-wide approaches to uncover gene and protein function in a range of biological systems.

Thomas obtained his PhD at the University of Dundee where he focused on the use of proteomics approaches to provide functional annotation to uncharacterised proteins in the pathogenic parasite, Trypanosoma brucei. As a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge he has utilised CRISPR-Cas9 technologies to further understand mechanisms of epigenetic regulation of viral genetic elements and gained broad expertise in genetic engineering of human cell lines.

Dr Yuxin Cui
Senior Bioinformatician

Dr Yuxin Cui specialises in bioinformatic analysis of large-scale multi-omics data.  He has extensive R&D experience in both academia and industry, including biomarker identification and drug discovery in various solid and liquid cancers and autoimmune diseases.  Yuxin obtained his PhD from the University of Nottingham School of Pharmacy and gained postdoc experience from the University of Cambridge and the University of Bristol. Prior, Yuxin was at Apitope where he was responsible for the development of novel vaccine-like drugs and designing immunogenomics-based drug precursors. Before joining Macomics, Yuxin was a Research Fellow at Cardiff University. He is currently helping to enhance the understanding of the biology of tumour-associated macrophages and building an infrastructure-based bioinformatic engine for target identification and validation.

Lisa Seymour
Operations Manager/ Health and Safety Officer

Lisa has 3 years’ experience as a Licensed Animal Technician and 7 years’ experience as an Advanced Laboratory Technician in Clinical Microbiology/virology and Parasitology. She also has over 8 years’ experience as an Administrator in the insurance and recruitment sector.

Lisa Joins from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute where she held technical roles of increasing responsibility. During these roles she has led and contributed to projects involving Schistosoma mansoni and Trichuris muris parasites, including the development of caecaloids to study host-pathogen interactions.

Lisa has a BSC (Hons) in Biomedical Science from Cambridge University. She is a Member of IOSH and the Royal Society of Biology. She holds a NEBOSH general Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety which includes Management in Health and Safety.

Macomics Ltd, an immuno-oncology company with world-leading expertise in macrophage biology, is pleased to confirm that it will be presenting at a number of upcoming business and scientific conferences, as detailed below.

BioEquity, Milan

16-18 May 2022

Dr Steve Myatt, CEO of Macomics, will be attending BioEquity.

• Live corporate presentation during the Hot Topics #3 track on Wednesday, May 18 12.06-12.18
• Showcase presentation available online to confirmed event participants and at BioEquity Digital, May 23-24

3rd Miltenyi Immuno-Oncology Day, Brussels

13 May 2022

Dr Luca Cassetta, VP Immunology and co-founder of Macomics, will be attending the 3rd Miltenyi Immuno-Oncology Day.

• Giving a lecture on Tumor Associated Macrophages Therapies

A Cell for All Seasons: Macrophages in Health and Disease, Edinburgh

1 June 2022

Dr Carola Ries, CSO of Macomics, will be attending A Cell for All Seasons: Macrophages in Health and Disease.

• Science presentation, 11.10-11.40

Tumor Myeloid-Directed Therapies Summit, Boston

14-16 June 2022

Dr Carola Ries and Prof Jeff Pollard, founder of and advisor to Macomics, will be attending the Tumor Myeloid-Directed Therapies Summit.

• Prof Pollard on the panel ‘Modeling the Myeloid Compartment with In Vitro, Ex Vivo, & In Vivo Technologies to Enhance Translation & Mechanistic Understanding’, 10.30-12.30, June 14
• Dr Ries presenting on TAM Depletion vs Reprogramming: Why Both Have Merit, 15.00-15.30, June 15

BIA Life Science Leadership Summit 2022, Ware

21-22 June 2022

Dr Steve Myatt, CEO of Macomics, will be attending the BIA Life Science Leadership Summit 2022.

Dr Steve Myatt, CEO of Macomics said:

“We have made tremendous progress over the last 12 months to advance our portfolio of therapies targeting disease-specific tumour-associated macrophages (‘TAMs’) towards the clinic. Our target discovery platform enables the identification and validation of novel macrophage therapeutic targets, underpinned by our deep understanding of macrophage biology.

We look forward to meeting partners, collaborators and investors face-to-face to explore opportunities to work with Macomics to maximise the opportunities for TAM-targeting therapies to address unmet needs in cancer patients.”

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, the UK, France, Italy, and Switzerland are Professor Karin de Visser PhD, Professor Klaus Okkenhaug PhD, Dr Carlos Gomez-Roca MD, and Professor Daniel Speiser.

Professor de Visser is a world leader in macrophage tumour biology using transgenic models. 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.

Professor Okkenhaug 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  employssmouse 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 Gomez-Roca 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 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).

Dr Mario Leonardo Squadrito is project leader in the Unit of Targeted Cancer Gene Therapy, lead by Prof. Luigi Naldini, at the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy, Milan, Italy. Dr Squadrito world leading expertise in the development of new strategies to genetically reprogram tumour associated macrophages to activate immune functions. Previous, Dr Squadiroto invented a platform to exploit circulating microvesicles as a source of tumor antigens for innovative tumor vaccines. Dr Squadrito studied at the University of L’Aquila and San Raffaele University and began his post-doctoral academic at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Professor Daniel Speiser 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 Le Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV). Professor Speiser has over 20 years of medicine and translational research experience and was previously clinician-scientist at the Ludwig Cancer Research institute. Professor Speiser’s research has 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.

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, Klaus, Carlos and Daniel 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.“

Macomics Ltd, an immuno-oncology company with world-leading expertise in macrophage biology, is proud to announce that its co-founder Prof. Jeffery Pollard PhD has been named on the annual Highly Cited Researchers 2021 list from Clarivate.

The methodology that determines the “who’s who” of influential researchers draws on the data and analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate. It also uses the tallies to identify the countries and research institutions where these citation elite are based.

The Annual Highly Cited Researchers list includes One in 1,000 Citation Elite that recognizes pioneers in their fields over the last decade, demonstrated by the production of multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in the Web of Science citation index.

Macomics is developing precision medicines to modulate macrophages for the treatment of cancer, based on the pioneering work of its founders, Prof. Jeffrey Pollard and Dr Luca Cassetta, from the University of Edinburgh. Internationally recognised leader in macrophage biology, Prof. Pollard now provides expert consultancy to the company and is Chair of its Scientific Advisory Board, whilst Dr Cassetta has joined full time as Vice President Immunology.

Prof. Pollards’ publications build a foundation of knowledge on the role of macrophages in disease. One review¹ on macrophage diversity has been cited over 4,000 times, whilst others have citations exceeding 2,000^2,3,4.

David Pendlebury, Senior Citation Analyst at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate said: “It is increasingly important for nations and institutions to recognize and support the exceptional researchers who are driving the expansion of the world’s knowledge. This list identifies and celebrates exceptional individual researchers who are having a significant impact on the research community as evidenced by the rate at which their work is being cited by their peers. The research they have contributed is fueling the innovation, sustainability, health and security that is key for our society’s future.”

Commenting on the achievement, Dr Steve Myatt, CEO of Macomics said: “I congratulate Jeff on being included in the 2021 Highly Cited Researchers list. It is a reflection of the ground-breaking nature of his research in the macrophage field, on which Macomics is built. Our vision is to deliver benefits to patients from this research and to become a leading immuno-oncology 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.

The full 2021 Highly Cited Researchers list and executive summary can be found online here.

1. Cell Macrophage Diversity Enhances Tumor Progression and Metastasis, Volume 141, Issue 1, 2 Pages 39-51, (2010) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867410002874
2. Nature CCL2 recruits inflammatory monocytes to facilitate breast-tumour metastasis, volume 475, pages 222–225 (2011) https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10138
3. Nature Macrophage biology in development, homeostasis and disease, volume 496, pages 445–455 (2013)https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12034
4. Immunity Tumor-Associated Macrophages: From Mechanisms to Therapy, Volume 41, Issue 1,  Pages 49-6117 (2014) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1074761314002301

Macomics Ltd, an immuno-oncology company with world-leading expertise in macrophage biology, is pleased to announce that its co-founder and Vice President Immunology, Dr Luca Cassetta has been honoured by the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC) with the ‘Best Immunotherapy Biomarkers Paper Award’ for his 2020 publication Differential expansion of circulating human MDSC subsets in patients with cancer, infection, and inflammation.

As the first author, Dr Cassetta was presented with the award at an Awards Ceremony on the evening of 13 November, at the end of the SITC 36^th Annual Meeting November 10-13, in Washington DC. SITC is the world’s leading member-driven organisation specifically dedicated to improving cancer patient outcomes by advancing the science and application of cancer immunotherapy.

The publication provides improved technical protocols and workflows for the multi-center analysis of circulating human Myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) subsets. The presence of MDSC has been reported in the peripheral blood of patients with several malignant and non-malignant diseases, but direct comparison of MDSC across different diseases and centers is hindered by a lack of standardized methodology.

Accepting the award, Dr Luca Cassetta, co-founder, and Vice President Immunology, Macomics said

 “On behalf of the teams at our international network of 13 laboratories, I thank the judges for choosing our paper. This was the first study where a standardised SOP was used to compare frequency and activation status of MDSC in multiple patients cohorts. Results showed a significant expansion of PMN MDSC in cancer patients and shed light on important biomarkers such as PDL1 and LOX1. This paper represents a very useful resource for patient stratification and biomarker discovery in the clinical setting.”

JITC Editor-in-Chief Pedro J. Romero, MD, said

“Each year, one article is selected in the Immunotherapy Biomarkers category for presenting outstanding research on the discovery, development and/or clinical significance of biomarkers for immunomodulatory anti-cancer treatments. Following evaluation by a prestigious review committee of SITC leadership and the JITC Editorial Board, Dr Casetta’s paper was the highest ranked in category. I congratulated him and his network on being our 2021 winner, and I am delighted to present the award in recognition of their great achievement.”

The award-winning publication can be found here.

Macomics Ltd, an immuno-oncology company with world-leading expertise in macrophage biology, announces today that it has made five new appointments to its scientific team, to support and accelerate its R&D.

Moritz Haneklaus PhD joins as Senior Scientist, Carmen Rodrigue-Seoane PhD as Scientist, with Chantell Payton PhD and Conor Poland PhD joining as Associate Scientists, and Sadie Kemp BSc as Senior Research Technician. Moritz will be based in Cambridge and will utilise his deep immunology expertise to support progression of the company’s discovery portfolio and development of novel cell-based assays. He brings 10 years molecular immunology experience to the company with international experience gained in the UK, Ireland, Sweden and Germany.

Carmen, Conor, and Sadie will be based at Macomics’ Edinburgh site and Chantell at the Cambridge site. Together they bring over 40 years combined research experience to the company, with specialisms including complex cellular models, cellular and molecular biology, functional genomics, and cancer biomarker discovery.

This expansion follows Macomics’  follow-on financing of £4.24 million announced in July. It is 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.

Commenting on the expansion Dr Luca Cassetta, VP Immunology and co-founder who joined the company full time from his academic role said:

“I welcome our new colleagues to the team. Each brings valuable experience as we progress our early-stage antibody programs towards the clinic, expand our portfolio, and further invest in our target discovery technology.”

Macomics now employs 13 across its sites on the Cambridge Science Park and within Edinburgh University and will expand further in the coming months.

Dr Steve Myatt, CEO of Macomics added:

“Our vision is to become a leading immuno-oncology company pioneering macrophage-based therapies for the treatment of cancer. These new appointments reflect our strategy to build a world-class team across all functions and support us in the delivery of this vision.“

The full press release is available here.

Macomics has expanded its advisory team with the appointment of Prof. Michele De Palma and Dr Jackie Doody, internationally renowned experts in the fields of immuno-oncology.

Prof. Michele De Palma, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), leads research into tumor microenvironment including tumour associated macrophages, tumour angiogenesis and immunotherapies. His previous work has led to the first-in-kind clinical trials of engineered monocytes in patients with brain and haematological cancers.

Dr Jacqueline Doody has over 30 years of industry experience and is ex-VP of Immuno-oncology at F-star working on bispecific antibody therapies targeting T cells. Dr Doody headed the Immunology department at ImClone taking antibody programs to the clinical stage, including the macrophage program on CSF-1R.

They join Dr John Haurum as advisors. Dr Haurum has over 20 years experience in the international biotech industry. Previously John was Chief Executive Officer of F-star, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of novel bispecific antibodies, with multiple strategic collaborations with AbbVie, Merck KGaA, Denali and Boehringer Ingelheim.