Imugene Ltd (ASX:IMU) has appointed professor Prasad S Adusumilli to its newly formed oncolytic virotherapy (OV) Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).
Adusimilli is a world-renowned thoracic surgeon with expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of cancers such as chest, lung, esophageal cancer, mesothelioma, thymoma, mediastinal and chest wall tumours.
“Distinguished physician and scientist”
Imugene’s managing director and CEO Leslie Chong said: “It is a great honour for Imugene to have such a distinguished physician and scientist join our team.
“Adusumilli has devoted his career and his scientific discoveries for the benefit of cancer sufferers.”
His research focuses on tumour immunology, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, oncolytic viral therapy and combination immunotherapy for cancers.
Over the years, Adusumilli’s team has developed clinically relevant mouse models and modelled biological therapies in these models.
This research has yielded mechanistic data that has been translated and is now in CAR T-cell and combination immunotherapy clinical trials for patients with lung cancer, pleural mesothelioma and breast cancer.
His ongoing research focuses on investigating immuno oncology agent’s efficacy in human ex vivo translational culture systems.
Oncolytic virotherapy
OVs are designed to both selectively kill tumour cells and activate the immune system against cancer cells, with the potential to improve clinical response and survival.
They also have the potential to transform oncology by directly causing tumour cell death and by delivering a potent payload in a targeted fashion that activates the immune system.