DUSSELDORF, Germany, February 14, 2019 – LenioBio GmbH announces the appointment of Dr. Lorenz M. Mayr, Prof. Govind Rao, and Prof. Stefan Schillberg to LenioBio’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). LenioBio is a German life sciences start-up dedicated to the advancement of a transformative technology for the discovery, development, and expression of ‘difficult-to-produce’ proteins unconstrained by the limitations of the cell.
“We are thrilled to have such a strong group of people joining our SAB” said Dr. Remberto Martis, CEO of LenioBio. “Each of these individuals are preeminent experts in their own fields within the space of biotechnology, and jointly they comprise the perfect combination of knowledge and skills to provide invaluable guidance to LenioBio’s technological and strategic road map.”
Dr. Mayr is the Chief Technology Officer at GE Healthcare Life Sciences. Previously, he has held positions as Vice President & Global Head at AstraZeneca, and Executive Director at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, and the M.I.T./Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Mayr says, “It is clear that LenioBio has the potential to change the way proteins are produced in the biopharmaceutical industry. After looking into various cell-free platforms throughout my carrier, I had stopped expecting that a cell-free protein expression technology could be a game changer; this changed as soon as I came across the ALiCE® platform. The broad spectrum of protein classes that can be expressed by ALiCE in high yields provides limitless potential for the production of complex biopharmaceuticals. With the experienced management team and support from the SAB, LenioBio is set to facilitate biopharmaceutical development and production significantly for customers and partners who want to leverage this technology.”
Dr. Govind Rao is a Professor of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering and the Director and founder of the Center of Advanced Sensor Technology at the University of Maryland. The focus of Prof. Rao’s research has been the development of next-generation biomanufacturing technology, in particular, producing protein-based therapeutics at the point-of-care. Cell-free systems are the obvious choice for such an approach, as proteins are produced in hours compared with the several weeks needed by current cell-based processes. Prof. Rao explains, “After applying cell-free protein expression technologies in my research for the last 5 years, it is clear to me that a high-yield eukaryotic system such as ALiCE has the potential to finally allow the research community to make use of the full potential of cell-free protein expression technology. Furthermore, this technology has the potential to make medicines available anywhere in the world and to serve the vast fraction of humanity that currently has no access to affordable biologics”
Prof. Stefan Schillberg is Member of the Management Team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME in Aachen, Germany. His team, together with Corteva AgriScienceTM, developed a cell-free expression system capable of achieving a productivity of 3 mg per mL before LenioBio took over the development in 2017. “What is particularly exciting about the ALiCE platform is that it is in the early stages of development compared with other expression systems that have been around for decades. Therefore, LenioBio has plentiful opportunities to advance the system significantly further.”
LenioBio launched the ALiCE platform in October 2018 as an expression kit that outperforms its competitors in a single step.
Dr. Hákon Birgisson, Director of Business Development, concludes, “We have been experiencing a lot of momentum as of late. Already in the first three months from launch, most of the leading biotech companies in the world have purchased an ALiCE kit or communicated their interest in the ALiCE platform. Furthermore, we are finding an increasing interest in LenioBio from investors as we are entering into our next financial round.”
Additional biographical information for the SAB members can be found at https://www.leniobio.com/team .
About LenioBio:
LenioBio GmbH is a protein expression platform company committed to the advancement of transformative technology for the discovery, development, and large-scale production of proteins, unconstrained by the limitations of the cell. LenioBio was established as a legal entity in Germany in September 2016, with offices in Dusseldorf and R&D and production labs in Aachen. For more information about LenioBio, please visit our website at www.leniobio.com and follow LenioBio on LinkedIn.