| Name | Title | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|
Jason Christiansen |
Chief Technology Officer | Profile |
Chockalingam Palaniappan |
Chief Technology Officer | Profile |
Dave Henderson |
Chief Information Officer | Profile |
Dave Henderson |
Chief Information Officer | Profile |
Michael Giske |
Chief Information Officer | Profile |
CTI was founded on the belief that a coalition between unique scientific technology and its strong desire to “do right” by the patient could help us achieve our mission to acquire, develop and bring to market less toxic, more effective therapies to treat and cure cancer. We strive to do business better than other biopharmaceutical companies. Better means a more collaborative, well-trained team environment willing to institute novel approaches to scientific discovery and business opportunities. A willingness to push the limits to achieve challenging goals is the essential attribute that sets CTI employees apart.
Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is a chronic, life-threatening disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In the United States, 30,000 new cases are estimated every year with half of those cases diagnosed in young children. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the patient`s immune system goes awry and attacks and destroys the pancreatic beta cells. Beta cells are responsible for regulating blood sugar (glucose) levels by producing precise amounts of the essential hormone insulin. The discovery of injectable insulin in the 1920s changed T1D from a uniformly fatal disease with a life expectancy of months to one that could be carefully managed for decades through multiple daily blood glucose measurements and insulin injections. However, insulin injections are not a cure and patients face a lifetime of difficult disease management and serious complications including kidney failure, blindness and nerve damage. Despite nearly a century passing since the discovery of insulin, insulin injection remains the only treatment available to patients. Semma Therapeutics was founded to develop transformative therapies for patients who currently depend on insulin injections. Recent work in the laboratory of Professor Douglas Melton led to the discovery of a method to generate billions of functional, insulin-producing beta cells in the laboratory. These cells develop in islet-like clusters grown from stem cells. Initial preclinical work in animal models of diabetes has shown that transplantation of these cells are sufficient to control blood glucose levels. This breakthrough technology has been exclusively licensed to Semma Therapeutics for the development of a cell-based therapy for diabetes. Ongoing research at Semma Therapeutics is focused on combining these proprietary cells with a state-of-the-art cell delivery and immune protection strategy that can protect these cells from the patient`s immune system and allow the beta cells to function as they do in non-diabetic individuals. Implantation of the beta cell-filled device has the potential to provide a true replacement for the missing beta cells in a diabetic patient and would not require patient immunosuppression. Semma Therapeutics is working to bring this new therapeutic option to the clinic and improve the lives of patients with diabetes.
BioCentriq was founded in 2018 and is a full service CDMO for cell and gene therapy process development and clinical manufacturing. Our ISO-7 certified GMP clinical manufacturing facility is in Newark, NJ. At this facility, we manufacture autologous and allogeneic cell therapies, gene therapies and provide analytical and quality services across several cell types. We offer viral vector production, cell and viral banking and upstream and downstream processing. Additionally, we have the capabilities to manufacture immunotherapies, including monoclonal antibodies and proteins, and vaccines. Our facilities provide full customer access to work in hybrid teams from tech transfer through GMP clinical production. BioCentriq has a BSL-2 certified process development facility located in South Brunswick, NJ to accelerate scale-up and translation activities. We are vendor and technology agnostic and work with our clients to leverage the optimal technology platform for your product through the development process. In support of our full suite of process development and clinical manufacturing services, the team at BioCentriq offers pre-defined and custom workforce development programs as well as full access to our centers during projects in a unique collaborative approach with our expert scientists to knowledge transfer.
KalVista is a clinical stage pharmaceuticals company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of small molecule protease inhibitors.
Genome International Corporation is a Madison, WI-based company in the Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech sector.