“Asgard’s ability to attract such highly renowned figures as Cristina, Ignacio and Brian, demonstrates the huge potential of our technology and shows how fast the company is developing. Following the appointment of Shane Olwill as Chief Development Officer earlier this year, Asgard is now well positioned to advance its lead asset AT-108 towards clinical trials,” says Cristiana Pires, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Asgard Therapeutics.

Cristina Csimma

With decades of experience in global drug development, new company formation, value creation and strategic guidance, Dr Cristina Csimma brings significant expertise in venture capital and the US biotech capital market to Asgard’s Board of Directors, the company states. Cristina also holds board director positions at Syncona Limited (a FTSE 250 company), and New York Blood Center Ventures.

“Asgard’s unique approach, using in vivo direct cell reprogramming as a cancer immunotherapy, is a truly exciting technology. I’m delighted to be joining the company’s Board of Directors and contribute to bringing its therapeutic potential to patients,” says Cristina Csimma.

Ignacio Melero 

Prof Ignacio Melero is a leading expert in intra-tumoral immunotherapies who has served as Principal Researcher in over 65 clinical trials of cancer immunotherapies, including industry-sponsored studies, describes Asgard Therapeutics. He co-chairs the Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, where he is a full professor. In 2023 he was appointed as Kidani Professor of Cancer Immuno-Therapeutics at the University of Oxford. One of Prof Melero’s key research areas is bench-to-bedside and vice versa translational research, including biomarker discovery and validation, as well as actionable targets and mechanisms. An important focus of his recent work has been pioneering studies on cross-priming and the cross-presentation of tumor antigens, which is a critical functional property of the cell subset induced by AT-108.

“Asgard’s elegant strategy of using in vivo cell reprogramming to provoke a personalized, but off-the-shelf immunotherapy is both highly original and backed by strong preclinical data. I look forward to supporting the team on their mission of bringing it to patients,” says Ignacio Melero.

Brian Brown

Prof Brian Brown is an expert in cancer immunology and gene delivery, including both viral and non-viral mediated approaches. He has invented several widely used genomics and gene therapy technologies, including microRNA-based targeting, small RNA sequencing adapters, bispecific antibody-targeted nanoparticles, and Perturb-map spatial functional genomics. His lab has identified genes and molecular programs important for the control of tumor microenvironment composition and immunotherapy resistance, and he has made important contributions to understanding the body’s immune response to gene therapy. He is Director of the Icahn Genomics Institute and Vice Chair of the Department of Immunology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.

“Asgard’s immunotherapy will be a game-changer in the fight against cancer. This is a first-in-class approach that has the potential to address a key challenge of cancer immunotherapy that other treatments have not been able to overcome. I am very excited to be supporting and advising the company as it progresses AT-108 toward clinical development, as well as its broader pipeline of in vivo engineering approaches,” says Brian Brown.