ST. LOUIS, March 1, 2021 – Wugen Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel, universal allogeneic off-the-shelf cell therapies, today announced the appointment of the company’s co-founder, Matt Cooper, Ph.D., as the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Dr. Cooper will be supervising the research and development of a universal truly “off-the-shelf” and fratricide-resistant CAR-T cell therapy for the treatment of a variety of T cell cancers, based on Wugen’s novel cell therapy platform, with the goal of bringing more durable and transformational therapies to people living with devastating cancers.
“We welcome the invaluable scientific expertise that Dr. Cooper brings to Wugen, especially given the rapid expansion of our allogeneic CAR-T therapy pipeline,” said John McKearn, Ph.D., CEO of Wugen. “With more than a decade of research experience in oncology, Dr. Cooper is in an ideal position as CSO to guide the expeditious development of our CAR-T platform and the advancement of our clinical studies.”
“I am very confident in the potential of Wugen’s novel cell therapy platform to transform therapies available for cancer patients,” Dr. Cooper said. “We all enter this field to make a difference for patients, and I am excited to be leading Wugen’s scientific and research advances for patients with intractable cancers.”
Dr. Cooper comes to Wugen from Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. As an assistant professor, Dr. Cooper’s work primarily focused on developing effective CAR-T immunotherapies for T-cell cancers which has the potential to reshape the treatment space. His scientific and research experience in oncology spans 15 years including post-doctoral research in hematologic malignancies with Dr. John DiPersio at Washington University.
About Wugen
Wugen is developing universal “off-the-shelf” cell therapy for the treatment of cancer. Wugen was founded based on technology licensed from Washington University in St. Louis. For more information, please visit www.wugen.com.
For media inquiries contact:
David Schull or Ignacio Guerrero-Ros
Russo Partners
858-717-2310
646 942-5604
david.schull@russopartnersllc.com
Ignacio.Guerrero-Ros@russopartnersllc.com
