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Yorktown Heights, N.Y., May 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Akeso Therapeutics, Inc., an early-stage biotechnology company developing engineered natural killer T (NKT) cells for the treatment of cancer, announced today the appointment of Steven A. Porcelli, MD to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Porcelli is among the world’s leading experts in NKT cell biology and joins Akeso Therapeutics, Inc. in advising the company’s research and development.
Akeso Therapeutics, Inc. is operating in stealth mode and is focusing on developing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) engineered off-the shelf allogeneic NKT cell therapies for cancer. By leveraging its NKT cell expansion platform and two in-house patents, Akeso Therapeutics is advancing allogeneic type I and type III NKT cell therapeutics.
Dr. Porcelli is Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Medicine (Rheumatology), Chair of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, and Murray and Evelyne Weinstock Chair in Microbiology and Immunology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York. Dr. Porcelli has over 30 years of research experience and more than 230 peer-reviewed publications on NKT cell biology and other relevant topics in immunology. Dr. Porcelli received his B.A. from Columbia University and M.D. from Yale University and completed his Fellowship in Rheumatology and Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School.
“We are delighted that Dr. Porcelli has joined Akeso Therapeutics as Scientific Advisor,” said Dr. Xianzheng (Jerry) Zhou, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Akeso Therapeutics. “Dr. Porcelli is recognized as an internationally renowned expert in NKT cell biology. He was one of the pioneering scientists that identified CD1d-restricted, lipid antigen specific T cells that has become known as type I NKT cells and established the antigen presenting function of CD1 molecules. We are extremely fortunate that Dr. Porcelli has agreed to join our company’s advisory board after becoming familiar with our preclinical data.”
“I am excited to join Akeso Therapeutics’s Advisory Board,” said Dr. Steven Porcelli. “I was very impressed by Akeso’s preliminary results demonstrating that non-edited CAR-type I NKT cells can be scaled up using their expansion technology for potential cancer treatment. In addition, their discovery of type III NKT cell recognition of cancerous cells may have a broad application in many types of cancer therapy. I look forward to working with the development teams at Akeso Therapeutics.”
Media and investor contact
xzhou@akesotherapeuticsinc.com
