Download Ichor Management Team and Scientific Advisory Board

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 2007
Ichor Medical Systems Leadership
Founded in 1994, Ichor has developed the only fully integrated push button
electroporation device that allows effective, consistent and reproducible administration of
DNA from patient to patient with minimal operator training or skill. The automated
Ichor TriGrid™ Delivery System (TriGrid) enables total control of the site of injection,
placement of electrodes, rate of agent administration, and timing of electroporation
delivery. As a result, TriGrid makes the clinical application of electroporation easy, safe
and effective, with DNA uptake enhanced by several orders of magnitude compared to
conventional methods of delivery.
The development of the TriGrid and its rapidly expanding use in a wide range of preclinical and clinical studies around the world is being led by a management team with
unequalled experience and expertise. The team includes:
Robert Bernard, President & CEO
Bob co-founded Ichor and led the team that invented the TriGrid platform technology and
established its proof of concept. Throughout his business and professional career, he has
developed an extensive background in the life sciences. He is a proven entrepreneur with
experience managing and directing innovative technology-based companies. Prior to
founding Ichor, he was president and founder of Bernard Foods, Inc., an innovative,
technology-based food business that was acquired by Nestle in 1992. Bob served as
Nestle vice president, new business development until founding Ichor. Bob received his
degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from Louisiana State University.
Drew Hannaman, Vice President, Research and Development
Drew joined Ichor in 1995 after he earned his B.S. in Bioengineering/Cybernetics at the
University of California, Los Angeles. He is a co-inventor of Ichor's TriGrid technology
and designed and developed the company's experimental and clinical administration
systems. He leads the multi-disciplinary team responsible for Ichor's DNA drug research,
development, regulatory, and manufacturing activities and manages Ichor's collaborations
and partnerships. Drew speaks at industry conferences on the future of electroporation
for both prophylactic and therapeutic applications.
Ichor – Management Team
Page 2 of 3
Alain Luxembourg, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Infectious Disease Programs
Alain joined Ichor as a Senior Research Scientist in 2001. He received his M.D. with a
specialty in Public Health at the University of Montpellier, France and his Ph.D. in
Immunology at the University of Aix-Marseille, France. Prior to joining Ichor, he was a
Research Scientist at La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology conducting studies
on antigen recognition and lymphocyte activation. He completed his post-doctoral work
in Immunology at The Scripps Research Institute and the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical
Research Institute. Alain has played a leading role in the development of the vaccine
program at Ichor. He is currently principal investigator on several Ichor vaccine and
immunotherapy projects through the NIH SBIR program and contracts from the DoD as
well as with outside partners.
Claire Evans, Ph.D., Director, Protein Therapeutics
Claire joined Ichor as a Senior Research Scientist in 2003. Prior to this, she directed gene
expression profiling programs at Digital Gene Technologies in the areas of multiple
sclerosis, infectious diseases, and mucosal vaccines. Formerly, she was an Assistant
Professor at The Scripps Research Institute in the Department of Neuropharmacology
where she ran research programs in central nervous system inflammation and
demyelination, autoimmunity, and persistent viral infections. She has been a co-editor of
the journal, CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets (formerly Current Drug
Targets - CNS and Neurological Disorders), since 2002. Claire received her Ph.D. in
Biological Chemistry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is currently
principal investigator on several Ichor projects.
Karen E. Dolter, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist
Karen joined Ichor in 2005 as a Senior Research Scientist and currently designs,
oversees, and interprets in vitro and in vivo experiments, including GLP preclinical safety
studies, for developing and analyzing gene delivery and expression methods. She earned
her Ph.D. in Microbiology/Immunology from the University of Michigan and her B.A. in
Biochemistry-Molecular Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Karen
worked in postdoctoral positions at Wayne State University, La Jolla Cancer Research
Foundation's Burnham Institute, and The Scripps Research Institute in the areas of
molecular virology, tumor cell biology and gene regulation research. Prior to joining
Ichor, Karen specialized in oncolytic recombinant herpesviruses as an assay development
scientist at MediGene, Inc. and in RNA research as a Staff Scientist at Stratagene.
Ken Wills, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist
Ken joined Ichor in late 2005 as a Senior Research Scientist. He received his Ph.D. in
Pharmacology from Stanford University followed by post-doctoral research at the La
Jolla Cancer Research Foundation (now renamed the Burnham Institute) in San Diego.
From there, he joined a small start-up company named Canji, Inc. where he initiated a
Ichor – Management Team
Page 3 of 3
program designing and constructing recombinant adenoviruses expressing therapeutic
genes for treating cancer and other hyperproliferative disorders. After Schering-Plough
purchased Canji, Ken remained at the San Diego site, serving as Project Leader for
multiple interdepartmental projects focused on both technological advancements and
preclinical development of biological therapeutics. At Ichor, Ken leads the design and
development efforts in optimizing DNA vectors for clinical use as vaccines, biological
therapeutics, and cancer treatments when delivered by Ichor's proprietary TriGrid
electroporation system.
Van Tsai, M.A., Senior Research Scientist
Van joined Ichor in 2006 as a Senior Research Scientist and is responsible for developing
immunotherapeutics for oncology using the company’s TriGrid platform. She received
her MA from Harvard University in Biology/Immunology, and went on to do her
fellowship in the Weizmann Institute in the department of biophysics. Van has held an
academic post at UCSD as well as positions in biotech and pharmaceutical companies.
At Cytel and Epimmune, Inc., she was awarded patents for identifying novel cytotoxic T
cells epitopes in melanomas. As a Senior Scientist at Canji, Inc., a subsidiary of
Schering-Plough, Van was responsible for pre-clinical pharmacological studies in
oncology and immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.
May de las Alas, Ph.D., Business Development
May first joined Ichor in 1999. In four years as Research Scientist, May was the Project
Leader for the adaptation of Ichor’s electroporation technology for delivery of plasmid
DNA into muscle tissue. She earned her B.A. in Biology from Boston University and her
Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from University of California, San Diego (UCSD). May
then spent two years with Invitrogen Corp. as a Senior Technical Support Scientist, after
which she returned to Ichor and now heads its business development efforts. Her
responsibilities include developing contacts within major pharmaceutical companies,
coordinating conference exhibitions, and arranging speaking engagements for senior
management.
Contacts:
Gable PR - 877-251-3888
Tom Gable
Cell: (619) 251-3881
[email protected]
Erin Koch
Cell: (619) 261-0762
[email protected]
###