World-renowned experts across infectious diseases, vaccines, and dermatology to advise Piezo on advancing its energy-based delivery platform and internal programs to the clinic
ATLANTA, April 21, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Piezo Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering energy-driven genetic medicines, announced today the formation of its Scientific Advisory Board ("SAB") with leaders in infectious diseases, vaccines, and skin biology. The inaugural SAB will work closely with Piezo's leadership team to provide technical insights and strategic guidance as Piezo advances its energy-based delivery platform (Piezopen) for its wholly owned programs and with pharma/biotech partners. Members of Piezo's SAB bring decades of experience across RNA vaccines and therapeutics, DNA medicines, drug delivery, and dermatology.
"We are honored to welcome an illustrious group of industry veterans and academic leaders to our SAB as we advance Piezopen to the clinic," said Gaurav Byagathvalli, CEO of Piezo. "Our SAB members have dedicated their careers to advancing novel medicines and deciphering human biology to prevent and cure life-threatening diseases. We look forward to drawing upon their deep expertise across multiple therapeutic areas as we advance our internal programs and ongoing collaborations towards first-in-human studies."
Mark Prausnitz, PhD, Piezo co-founder and Regents' Professor at Georgia Tech, added that "Piezo was founded on rigorous science and technology development at Georgia Tech. Our distinguished SAB will allow the company to continue its commitment to the highest-quality science focused on addressing unmet medical needs through energy-driven genetic medicines."
The SAB includes (in alphabetical order):
- Dr. Kate Broderick, PhD: Dr. Broderick has more than 20 years of experience in the life science industry. A recognized vaccine expert, Dr. Broderick has a broad background in device and product development in the DNA therapeutic and drug delivery field. Prior to joining Maravai in 2022 as the Chief Innovation Officer, Dr. Broderick held roles of increasing responsibility at Inovio Pharmaceuticals, most recently as Senior Vice President, R&D. Dr. Broderick has served as a principal investigator for a variety of grants and awards from government agencies and non-profits, including the National Institutes of Health. She received her PhD from the University of Glasgow in Scotland and completed her post-doctoral research at the University of California, San Diego.
- Dr. Elaine Fuchs, PhD: Dr. Fuchs is renowned for her research in skin biology, its stem cells and associated disorders, including cancers and inflammation. She is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and has published >380 manuscripts. She received her PhD from Princeton in Biochemistry, her postdoctorate in Cell Biology at MIT, and has been on the faculty, first at University of Chicago and now Rockefeller University. Her awards include the National Medal of Science, L'Oreal-UNESCO Award, International Society for Stem Cell Research's Innovation Award, the Gairdner International Award and the Franklin Medal. Dr. Fuchs holds membership in the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, American Philosophical Society, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society. She is an inaugural member of the Academy of the American Association for Cancer Research, and now serves as its President.
- Dr. Norbert Pardi, PhD: Dr. Pardi holds a PhD in biochemistry and genetics from the University of Szeged, Hungary. He has been working at the University of Pennsylvania since 2011 and currently holds an Associate Professor position at the Department of Microbiology of the Perelman School of Medicine. He received training from Drs. Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman at the University of Pennsylvania before he started his laboratory. His research interest is the development of mRNA-based therapeutics with particular focus on new-generation infectious disease vaccines. He explored the development of a novel vaccine platform using nucleoside-modified mRNA in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and used it to generate highly effective vaccines targeting various pathogens (influenza virus, coronaviruses, malaria and others). Dr. Pardi is a pioneer of the nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine technology and published milestone papers in the field.
- Dr. Jeffrey Ulmer, PhD: Dr. Ulmer spent more than 30 years in vaccines R&D at Merck Research Laboratories, Chiron Corporation, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline. His most recent leadership positions included Global Head, External R&D; Head, Preclinical R&D; and Program Head, Technical R&D. His scientific focus has been vaccine technology platforms, including DNA and mRNA vaccines, viral vectors and adjuvants. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from McGill University and a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Dr. George Palade in the Department of Cell Biology at Yale University School of Medicine. He has published over 220 scientific articles, is an inventor on 11 patents, and is a Fellow of the International Society for Vaccines, where he serves as Vice-Chair of the Executive Board. He is currently President and CEO of TechImmune LLC, a biotechnology company based in Newport Beach, CA.
About Piezopen Platform
Our proprietary Piezopen platform enables localized yet highly efficient delivery of RNA and DNA without the need for lipid nanoparticles or viral vectors, with applications in infectious disease, cancer, chronic disease, and dermatology. In preclinical models, we have demonstrated robust induction of humoral and cellular responses to infectious disease and cancer vaccines with increased tolerability, dosing flexibility, and payload versatility. In human subjects, Piezopen was well accepted and shown to elicit superior tolerability compared to a hypodermic needle. Piezopen combines two innovations to surpass the limitations of formulations: piezoelectric pulses and microelectrodes for energy-based nucleic acid delivery. Piezopen improves the tolerability and efficacy of RNA/DNA medicines while slashing costs, simplifying manufacturing, and transforming scalability.
About Piezo Therapeutics
Piezo Therapeutics is a spinout from Georgia Tech focused on enabling next-gen nucleic acid vaccines and therapeutics via energy-based delivery. Integrating innovations in drug delivery and genetic medicine, Piezo is advancing its delivery platform and investigational therapeutics in collaboration with global pharma and biotech companies to prevent and treat debilitating diseases. The company raised its initial financing in 2023 backed by Good Ventures. For more information, please visit www.piezotx.com.
Media Contact
Gaurav Byagathvalli, Piezo Therapeutics, 1 4049973263, [email protected], www.piezotx.com
SOURCE Piezo Therapeutics
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