Venn Therapeutics, a privately held immuno-oncology company focused on developing novel, early-stage cancer therapies, announced today that Dr. Stefani Spranger, Assistant Professor, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, has been appointed to its scientific advisory board.
Dr. Spranger is widely regarded as an expert in cancer immunology and cancer biology. During her postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago, under the supervision of Dr. Thomas F. Gajewski, Dr. Spranger made the novel discovery that tumor cell-intrinsic activation of the oncogenic Wnt/ β-catenin pathway results in exclusion of T cells from the tumor micro-environment. This groundbreaking work has been published in Nature. She has co-authored significant scientific papers on key immunotherapeutic targets such as IDO, STING, Tregs and checkpoint inhibitors. She is the current chair of the ESC committee for SITC (Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer) and winner of the 2015 Wissler Fellowship Award at University of Chicago.
“We are delighted to have Dr. Stefani Spranger on board. Her pioneering work on the β-catenin pathway is world renowned. She brings deep scientific insights that will accelerate the development of our entire pipeline, which we believe has the potential to deliver breakthrough drugs for cancer patients. At Venn we are building a world class, early stage oncology franchise and that mission requires talents of accomplished scientific leaders like Dr. Spranger.” said Venn CEO & Chairman, Sam Shrivastava
Dr. Spranger added, “My long-standing interest is to understand the molecular differences between patients that allow some to respond to immunotherapeutic interventions while others do not benefit. Venn provides a unique platform where these questions can be studied in a pre-clinical and clinical setting, which I hope will result in bringing novel therapeutics for the cancer patients.”
For more information about Venn Therapeutics, please visit: http://www.venntherapeutics.com/
About Venn Therapeutics:
Venn Therapeutics is an immuno-oncology company focused on developing novel, best-in-class drugs such as a STING agonist, TGF- β blocking monoclonal antibodies, and β-catenin inhibitors, which transform tumor-resident innate immune cells to an anti-tumor phenotype reversing the immunosuppressive microenvironment found within tumors. Venn believes this approach will expand the number of patients who can be effectively treated with immuno-oncology modalities such as PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors.
For any inquiries, please contact, Dr. David Sobek, Investor Relations, at 225-284-4308 or David@VennTherapeutics.com