Appia Bio

LOS ANGELES, Calif., December 15, 2022 – Appia Bio, Inc., a preclinical-stage biotechnology company developing allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor natural killer T (CAR-NKT) cell therapies for cancer patients, today announced the appointment of Robert S. Negrin, M.D., to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Negrin is one of the world’s leading experts in hematology and cellular immunology and joins Appia Bio’s scientific founders in advising the Company’s research and development. 

Appia Bio is focused on discovering and developing off-the-shelf allogeneic cell therapies across a broad array of cancer indications, utilizing a scalable technology platform with the goal to increase access for patients. With its ACUA (Appia Cells Utilized for Allogeneic) technology platform, Appia Bio leverages the biology of lymphocyte development with CAR and T cell receptor (TCR) gene engineering to generate CAR expressing innate-like invariant NKT cells from healthy donor stem cells. 

“We are thrilled to have Dr. Negrin join our world-class Appia Bio Scientific Advisory Board.  He brings a wealth of knowledge in cellular immunology, cell therapy, and NKT biology as well as deep clinical expertise in hematology and bone marrow transplantation.  Dr. Negrin’s experience will be a great asset to Appia Bio as we deliver on our mission to develop novel cellular cancer medicines with curative potential which are broadly accessible for patients,” said Jeff Wiezorek, M.D., chief medical officer at Appia Bio.

Dr. Negrin is a professor of medicine and former chief of the Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation at Stanford University. His research work has focused on cellular immunology in particular developing a more fundamental understanding of complex biological reactions such as graft versus host and graft vs tumor reactions, with an emphasis on immune regulatory mechanisms. 

Dr. Negrin has authored more than 225 original papers, 40 book chapters, and a book, and has received a number of awards including the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award and is a member of the Association of American Physicians. He was previously the president of the International Society of Cellular Therapy and the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. He served as an associate editor of the journal Blood and is the founding editor of Blood Advances. Dr. Negrin received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley and his medical degree from Harvard University. He trained in medicine and hematology at Stanford University and joined the faculty in 1990.

Dr. Negrin joins Appia Bio’s Scientific Advisory Board and Scientific Founders in advising the company, comprised of the following leaders in immunology, immuno-oncology, and cell therapy engineering:

Scientific Advisory Board

• Mitchell Kronenberg, Ph.D., president and chief scientific officer (CSO), La Jolla Institute for Immunology
• Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and director of the Tumor Immunology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Margo Roberts, Ph.D., former CSO, Kite Pharma and Lyell Immunopharma
• Irving Weissman, M.D., director, Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Professor of Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research, Professor of Developmental Biology and, by courtesy, of Biology

Scientific Founders

• David Baltimore, Ph.D., Nobel laureate, president emeritus and distinguished professor of biology, Caltech
• Pin Wang, Ph.D., professor of chemical engineering and materials science and biomedical engineering, University of Southern California (USC)
• Lili Yang, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics, UCLA

About Appia Bio
Appia Bio is a preclinical-stage biotechnology company based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 2020, Appia Bio is focused on discovering and developing engineered allogeneic cell therapies across a broad array of indications with a scalable technology platform that can increase access for patients. With its ACUA (Appia Cells Utilized for Allogeneic) technology platform, Appia Bio leverages the biology of lymphocyte development with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and T cell receptor (TCR) gene engineering to generate CAR-engineered innate-like invariant natural killer T (CAR-NKT) cells from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). For more information, please visit www.appiabio.com.

Media Contact:
Kathy Vincent
(310) 403-8951
kathy@kathyvincent.com

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