Dogs Rule! (Cat Lovers Move Over)

Seriously, what could be happier than a dog in a bike basket? The owner does all the work while Jack savors the ride! In my next life, I’m coming back as a Dutch dog. Seriously! In Vondelpark (Amsterdam) dogs gambol off-leash and ride like the emperors of everything in bicycle baskets. OK Cat lovers, I get it, but would your cat do this?

Amsterdam, We Miss You Already!

Indeed, Amsterdam is very special. Katie and I would like to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the EpiVax’s 2022 Immunogenicity & Tolerance Seminar in Willemspark, Amsterdam, organized with Corine Kruiswijk of Intravacc. We learned about the importance of tissue-resident T memory cells, new developments in mucosal immunity to TB, vaccines for ALS, and autoimmune disease effects on tolerance to biologics and so much more!

Good news, the newly immune-engineered HIV envelope is looking good according to Rogier Sanders. Also in Amsterdam, our very own Brian Roberts presented his work on impurities and host cell proteins.

During morning runs, I worked hard to dodge Amsterdam’s eight-hundred thousand cyclists! OK there were a handful of close calls, but I didn’t get run over by a cyclist, so I consider that to be a win!

$2M to Study Host Cell Proteins

If you haven’t already heard, EpiVax won a $2M grant to validate in vitro studies of host cell proteins (HCP’s) in collaboration with the  Center for Drug Evaluation & Research (CDER) at FDA. Improvements to ISPRI-HCP and new data on in vitro immunogenicity of CHO HCPs is expected to improve biosimilar product inter-changeability and safety. We are grateful for the opportunity!

Giving Back for #GIVING Tuesday

November 29th is #GivingTuesday and we want to contribute to your favorite charity! Over the past 20 years, a significant portion of EpiVax’s revenue has been allocated to charitable foundations. Now, we want to help you and your neighborhood! Do you have a local organization you support? Send us your donation record before December 31 and EpiVax will match your donations to double your impact.

Personalized Cancer vaccines at SITC

Nicole, Guilhem, and I were delighted to be joined by our colleagues Takuya Tsunoda and Tomoyuki Ishiguro (Showa University) for SITC 2022!. Shout out to Guilhem for presenting his poster on Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy!  Bonus, we were able to treat ourselves to a delectable dinner after the conference…check out the photos below!

World Tour – Next Up San Diego!

In addition to Amsterdam, the fully vaccinated and boosted team visited Barcelona, Basel, Lisbon & Tokyo for meetings this Fall. We are fortunate to travel to beautiful cities and meet with our favorite scientific colleagues face to face again!

Along the way we learned a lot about monster molecules and cool new technologies like multi-specific platforms and TCRm’s (TCR mimics) that so many companies are developing. Of course they are challenging our engineers, but we’ve developed new immunoinformatic toolsISPRI is here to help you assess immunogenicity risk, and select the best therapeutic candidates. Get wild, we are ready for it. Let’s go, #FearlessScience!

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