Laurence Cooper, MD-PhD, Chairman

Notable Experience: Ziopharm Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, AuraVax, CellChorus

Dr. Laurence Cooper is board certified in pediatric hematology and oncology, and Chairman of Bio4t2. His expertise spans c-level executive, scientist, physician, entrepreneur, and educator.

As tenured professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Cooper was chief of pediatric bone marrow transplantation. He helped lead scientific and clinical efforts to develop and implement new treatment approaches in numerous trials which paired genetic engineering with immunotherapies. Among his contributions, his work in T-cell therapy includes non-viral gene transfer, rapid “next day” manufacture of CAR-T, combining IL-15 with CAR biology, and redirecting T-cell specificity to neoantigens to target solid tumors.

Most recently Dr. Cooper was CEO of Ziopharm Oncology. He has help launch numerous companies including, AuraVax Therapeutics, CellChorus, and outside the field at Ignite Power and Chalice Wealth Partners. He has responsibilities for multiple boards.

Dr. Cooper has an MD in Medicine and a PhD in Immunology from Case Western Reserve University.

Farzad Haerizadeh, PhD, Co-Founder, CSO and COO (US & China operations)

Notable Experience: Codexis, Life Technologies, Intrexon Inc (now Precigen, Inc.) , Synthetic Genomics, F1 Oncology/Exuma Biotech

Dr. Farzad Haerizadeh has over 20 years of experience in the life sciences and pharma-biotech industry, with increasing focus on cellular therapy and immuno-oncology drug development. His training and expertise spans from synthetic immunology, T Cell engineering, synthetic biology, genomics, genome editing, viral vector engineering, drug transfer technologies, to bio-manufacturing, and product development. He has established multiple discovery platforms, initiated, and directed cutting-edge pipeline programs, and led multiple CAR-T cell therapy programs for solid cancer indications from early discovery through clinical trials including related CMC and regulatory efforts.

Dr. Haerizadeh has held multiple senior R&D roles with increasing responsibilities in companies such as Codexis, Life Technologies Corporation, Intrexon Inc (Precigen Inc), Synthetic Genomics Inc, and F1 Oncology (Exuma Biotech) where he served as VP of Research and Early Development. He holds a PhD and postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular, Cellular & Systems Biology from the University of Melbourne, Australia and a postdoctoral fellowship from Stanford University, California.

Masood Tayebi, Co-Founder & Board Member

Notable Experience: Bridgewest Group, BioDuro-Sundia, BioAtla

Dr. Masood Tayebi is a Founding Partner and CEO of the Bridgewest Group. He has a wealth of experience commercializing new technology, particularly in pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. He is instrumental in scaling Biotech and deep tech start-ups through market development to achieve outsized success. He has successfully founded several companies including BioDuro, the third largest global CRDMO, BioAtla and BioCina.

In deep tech, Dr. Tayebi founded a global wireless communications company that earned recognition in the Top 10 Hottest IPOs on Nasdaq. He has been integral in the success of multiple public and private companies alongside his brother Dr. Massih Tayebi.

Dr. Tayebi earned his M.S. in Electronics Engineering and PhD in mobile radio propagation while in the United Kingdom.

Cyrus Mirsaidi – Co-Founder & Board Member

Notable Experience: Advent International, Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute. BioDuro-Sundia

Cyrus Mirsaidi provides strategic senior management insights to young start-ups and fortune 100 companies, with a proven track record in Biotech. Cyrus is Chairman and Managing Partner of BioSelective Capital Investments, a risk-capital biotech investment company with focus on early-stage therapeutics and select translational opportunities. He is co-founder of BioArdis and a member of its Board of Directors.

Cyrus is an Operating Partner at Bridgewest Ventures New Zealand and serves in advisory roles at Advent International. In addition, he is currently on the Board of BioDuro-Sundia, a global CRDMO company, after serving as President and CEO for the company for over 5 years. Cyrus served as CEO of Formex, Founder and CEO of Molecular Response, and held key executive roles at AltheaDx, Ontogen, Inc. and Quest Diagnostics.

Cyrus received a BS in Biology from University of California, Irvine.

Dr. Hinrich Abken, Professor at the University of Regensburg and the Chair for Genetic Immunotherapy

Affiliation: University of Regensburg, Leibniz Institute for Immunotherapy (LIT)

Dr. Hinrich Abken is a Professor at the University of Regensburg and the Chair for Genetic Immunotherapy. In addition, he is Director of the Leibniz Institute for Immunotherapy (LIT) where he focuses on the development of adoptive cell therapy of malignant diseases using engineered T cells. Dr. Abken is regarded as one of the pioneering figures in the cell therapy and CAR-T field since the 1990s when he and his team published their first paper on chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) in T cells.

Dr. Abken studied medicine at Essen University, completed his doctoral thesis at the Institute for Molecular Biology, and performed his post-doctorate research at the Institute for Cell Biology (Professor Rajewsky). He received his venia legendi in Genetics and Immunology from the Faculty of Science of the Rheinische Wilhelms Universität Bonn where he was group leader at the Institute for Genetics. In 1993, he became C3 University Professor for Tumor Genetics at the Medical Faculty of the University of Cologne and was member of the CMMC with an Independent Research Group. In June 2018, Dr. Abken joined the University Regensburg where his current research is aimed at improving T cell selectivity for cancer, developing novel strategies in modulating an immune response, and translating the T cell strategy into clinical trials. Dr. Abken is a recipient of the Johann-Georg-Zimmermann Medal, one of the most prestigious awards in medicine in Germany, particularly in oncology.

Dr. Steven Albelda, M.D., Endowed Professor of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Albelda is the William Maul Measey Endowed Professor of Medicine, Director of the Thoracic Oncology Research Laboratory, and co-Director of the Translational Center of Excellence for Lung Cancer at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Albelda graduated from Williams College and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He performed his post-graduate studies at Penn Medicine. For the past 27 years, Dr. Albelda has led an NCI-funded Program Project aimed at developing new treatments for mesothelioma and thoracic malignancies. Dr. Albelda has been involved with more than a dozen “bench to bedside” projects, including the development of a series of Phase I and II clinical trials of CAR T-cell therapies targeting mesothelin and fibroblast activation protein for patients with mesothelioma and lung cancer.

Additionally, he has major contributions on the augmentation of anti-tumor immune effects, the tumor microenvironment, mechanisms of T cell dysfunction, and adoptive T cell transfer targeting tumors and stroma. For his accomplishments, Dr. Albelda received the American Thoracic Society Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishment and was the 2010 recipient of the Wagner Award from the International Mesothelioma Interest Group honoring the top researcher in the field.

Dr. Prasad Adusumilli, MD, FACS, FCCP, Deputy Chief and Professor, Thoracic Surgery; Vice Chair, Dept. of Surgery; Co-Director, Mesothelioma Program

Affiliation: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

Dr. Prasad Adusumilli is a thoracic surgeon-scientist and vice chair of translational Research in Dept. of Surgery at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. In addition to clinical expertise in performing complex oncological resections, Dr Adusumilli's laboratory research focuses on solid tumor immunology and immunotherapy studies.

Supported by NIH R01 and Dept of Defense awards, his laboratory’s publications were among the first to highlight the prognostic importance of tumoral and stromal immune cell infiltration in thoracic cancers that provided the foundation for ongoing studies investigating immune modulation. His laboratory established clinically relevant solid tumor models and investigated regional delivery of biological therapies, including oncolytic viruses and immune cells. The resulting mechanistic data has been translated to clinical trials including combination immunotherapy to reactivate both CAR-T cell and endogenous immunity by use of cell-intrinsic and extrinsic checkpoint blockade strategies. His discoveries in early-stage lung adenocarcinoma pathobiology were now included in WHO classification of lung tumors and resulted in changes in the standard-of-care for patients.

Dr. Adusumilli has mentored >100 junior faculty, post-docs and MDs resulting in >250 publications (one-third in journals with IF>10) and 75 research awards. He is an elected member of prestigious associations - Fleischner Society, American Association for Thoracic Surgery, American Surgical Association.