Immatics’ Scientific Advisory Board is made up of pioneering scientists with expertise ranging across areas such as immuno-oncology, adoptive cell therapies, clinical oncology and cancer biology.
Anne Kerber, M.D.
Senior Vice President Head of Cell Therapy Development Bristol Myers Squibb
Anne Kerber, M.D.
Anne Kerber serves as senior vice president, head of Cell Therapy Development at Bristol Myers Squibb and leads all clinical trial and late development activities of BMS’ cell therapy portfolio.
Anne is an experienced leader and drug developer, with particular expertise in cell therapies. Prior to BMS, she worked at Kite, a Gilead Company, as vice president, Clinical Development. During her tenure at Kite and BMS, she has brought several CAR-T assets across different hematologic malignancies from clinical development to regulatory approval. Before that, she held several leadership roles at Affimed overseeing the development of T- and NK-cell engagers.
Anne received her M.D. from Philipps University in Marburg, Germany and she is a board-certified hematologist/oncologist. She also holds a degree in Pharmaceutical Medicine from the University of Basel, Switzerland.
Cassian Yee, M.D.
MD Anderson Cancer Center US
Cassian Yee, M.D.
Dr Yee completed his medical degree in Canada, and then an internal medicine residency at Stanford before going on to an oncology fellowship at the University of Washington. He ascended to the position of Professor at the Univ of Washington and Full Member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He was recently recruited to MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he is Clinical Oncologist and Professor in the Departments of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Immunology, Director of Solid Tumor Cell Therapy, and Co-Director of the Adoptive Cellular Therapy Platform. He is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigators, recipient of Clinical Translational Scientist Award from Burroughs Wellcome Fund, CPRIT Clinical Investigator award, and co-Leader of the Stand Up to Cancer- American Association for Cancer Research / Cancer Research Institute Immunotherapy Dream Team.
Dr Yee’s research over the last 20 years has been focused on developing immune-based therapies for the treatment of patients with cancer. His specialty, in the area of adoptive cellular therapy, involves the isolation of rare tumor antigen-specific T cells from the peripheral blood, manipulation of immune modulating factors to enhance their effector function and in vivo persistence and, expansion to numbers sufficient for adoptive transfer.
Crystal Mackall, M.D.
Co-Chair, Stanford University US
Crystal Mackall, M.D.
Crystal Mackall joined the Immatics Scientific Advisory Board as Co-Chair in 2020. Crystal Mackall is the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Stanford University. She serves as Founding Director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Associate Director of Stanford Cancer Institute, Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Stanford, and Co-Executive Director of Stanford Laboratory for Cell & Gene Medicine.
During a 27-year tenure culminating as Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch, NCI, and now at Stanford, Crystal Mackall has led an internationally recognized translational research program. Her work is credited with defining the major pathways of T cell homeostasis and she has conducted numerous first-in-human and first-in-child clinical trials spanning dendritic cell vaccines, cytokines, and adoptive immunotherapy using NK cells and genetically modified T cells. Her group was among the first to demonstrate impressive activity of CD19-CAR in pediatric leukemia, developed a novel CD22-CAR that demonstrates impressive activity and has identified major pathways of resistance to CAR therapies.
Crystal has published over 185 manuscripts and serves in numerous national leadership positions, including Chair of the NCI Pediatric Cancer Immunotherapy Trial Network, and co-Leader of the St. Baldrick’s-StandUp2Cancer Pediatric Dream Team. She is Board Certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Internal Medicine.
Dirk Busch, Prof. Dr. med.
Technical University of Munich Germany
Dirk Busch, Prof. Dr. med.
Prof. Dr. med. Dirk Busch joined Immatics Scientific Advisory Board in 2021.
Dirk Busch studied human medicine at the Universities of Mainz and Freiburg, and completed his doctor’s degree in medicine in 1993. Dirk Busch studied human medicine at the Universities of Mainz and Freiburg, and completed his doctor’s degree in medicine in 1993. This was followed by his residency and postdotoral studies at the Children’s Hospital of the University of Würzburg from 1994 until 1996 and at the Section of Infectious Diseases and Immunobiology at the Yale University in New Haven/USA from 1996 until 1999. From there he joined the Technical University of Munich (TUM) where he finished in 2005 his clinical specialization in Medical Microbiology and Infection Epidemiology, and started his own independent research work as principal investigator. He gained his habilitation from TUM in 2001.
From 2004 until 2008 he was C3-Professor for Medical Microbiology and Immunology at TUM. Since 2009 he has been Full Professor and Director of the Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene at TUM. His research centers on antigen-specific T cells and the development of technologies to make immune cells usable for diagnostic and cell therapy applications, including synthetic cellular immunity. He is author of more than 300 articles, many of which were published in top international journals. In addition, he is co-founder of the spin-off companies STAGE celltherapeutics (now Juno/BMS) and T Cell Factory B.V. (now Kite/Gilead).
Gwendolyn Binder, Ph.D.
Cabaletta Bio US
Gwendolyn Binder, Ph.D.
Dr. Gwendolyn Binder joined the Immatics Scientific Advisory Board in 2020.
Dr. Binder is an R&D executive with specialized expertise in the discovery and early clinical development and optimization of engineered T cell therapies. Dr. Binder studied viral immunology and translational research at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA where she earned in Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Medicine in 2002. From 2002-2005, Dr. Binder served as the Director of Scientific Affairs at VIRxSYS Corporation in Gaithersburg Maryland where she supported the development of the first clinical lentiviral vector used in humans, for the application of engineered T cell therapy for HIV.
From 2006-2011, Dr. Binder served as the Director of Translational Research Operations for Carl June at the University of Pennsylvania, where she progressed multiple IND submissions for novel engineered T-cell therapies in HIV and oncology, including the CD19 CAR IND acquired by Novartis (now Kymriah), the first human gene editing IND, and three TCR engineered T cell therapy studies in oncology and HIV.
From 2011-2018, Dr. Binder established the U.S. arm of and served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Adaptimmune, developing TCR-engineered T-cells for oncology, where she ultimately led the research team focusing on understanding mechanisms of tumor response and resistance, and translating this understanding to next generation products and clinical study designs. In prior roles, she established and led the translational research group, in addition to the manufacturing and quality teams including oversight of the buildout and commissioning of an in-house manufacturing facility.
Currently, Dr. Binder is the E.V.P. of Science and Technology at Cabaletta Bio, which is developing engineered T cells for B cell mediated autoimmune diseases. At Cabaletta, she established and leads the preclinical, translational, manufacturing and quality teams. She has authored over 30 publications in the field, including top international journals such as “Science”, and “Nature Medicine”. She is a recognized leader in the biotechnology sector for the translational and clinical advancement of novel T cell therapies for patients with serious diseases.
Hans-Georg Rammensee, Ph.D.
Eberhard Karls University Germany
Hans-Georg Rammensee, Ph.D.
Prof Hans-Georg Rammensee joined Immatics Scientific Advisory Board in 2000.
Prof Hans-Georg Rammensee studied biology at Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen. He completed his Ph.D. at the Max-Planck-Institute in Tuebingen in the group of Prof Dr Jan Klein. Following his postdoctoral studies at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla and at the Basel Institute of Immunology, Dr Rammensee again joined the Max Planck Institute for Biology where he was Head of the Laboratory for Immunology from 1987 to 1993.
During this time Dr Rammensee also assumed teaching responsibilities at University of Tuebingen.
From 1993 to 1996 Dr Rammensee was Head of the Department of Tumor-Virus Immunology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, where he was also with the Faculty of Theoretical Medicine.
Currently, Dr Rammensee is Head of the Department of Immunology at University of Tuebingen. Hans-Georg Rammensee is author of more than 250 articles, many of which were published in top international journals such as “Nature”, “Cell” and “Science”. His work on MHC molecules and associated peptides is perceived to be a milestone in the history of immunology. He is also co-editor of several journals including “Immunogenetics”, “Cellular and Molecular Life Science”, “European Journal of Immunology” and others.
Since 2013 he is co-director of the site Tübingen of the DKTK (German Cancer Consortium) and since 2019 he is co-chair of the Cluster of Excellence iFIT in Tübingen.
Dr Rammensee has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards.
Hidde Ploegh, Ph.D.
Boston Children’s Hospital US
Hidde Ploegh, Ph.D.
Hidde Ploegh joined Immatics' Scientific Advisory Board in July 2020.
Hidde Ploegh (born in the Netherlands) is an immunologist at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is well-known for his contributions in understanding antigen processing and the evasion of the immune system by viruses.
Ploegh received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1975, and a Master of Science degree in biology and chemistry in 1977, from the University of Groningen. Having worked for six months in Jack Strominger’s lab at that time, he was able to continue his PhD studies under Strominger and received a doctorate from the University of Leiden. Ploegh then proceeded with several positions at a number of institutions such as the University of Cologne, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Utrecht University (2012-2015), Harvard Medical School, and the Whitehead Institute. In 1986 Ploegh became a member of EMBO. In 1997, Hidde Ploegh became a correspondent of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and was elected to the National Acadamy of Sciences in 2016.
Patrick Hwu, M.D.
Co-Chair, Moffitt Cancer Center US
Patrick Hwu, M.D.
Patrick Hwu, MD, is the president and CEO of Moffitt Cancer Center, one of the leading cancer hospitals in the US and the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center based in Florida.
As an internationally recognized tumor immunologist, Hwu has led pioneering research and clinical efforts to better understand the interactions between tumors and the immune system. He helped launch the field of gene modified T cells, publishing research on the first chimeric antigen receptor directed against cancer. His work focuses on vaccines, adoptive T-cell therapies and immune resistance.
Prior to joining Moffitt, Dr. Hwu was the head of the Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he held various leadership roles for 17 years.
Roland Kontermann, Ph.D.
University of Stuttgart Germany
Roland Kontermann, Ph.D.
Roland Kontermann joined Immatics' Scientific Advisory Board in July 2020.
Roland Kontermann received his PhD in molecular biology from the University of Heidelberg in 1992. From 1993-1996 he was a postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of Sir Gregory Winter (shared winner of the nobel prize in Biochemistry 2018) at the MRC Centre for Protein Engineering in Cambridge (UK) where he started his work in the field of recombinant antibodies and phage display technology. From 1996-2000 he was a group leader at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Tumor Research (IMT) at the University of Marburg, where he also obtained his habilitation in molecular biology. Between 2001 and 2004 he was head of biotechnology and later on head of research of a co-founded Biotech company working in the field of targeted drug delivery systems. In 2004 he was appointed Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Institute of Cell Biology and Immunology (University of Stuttgart), endowed until 2014 by the Deutsche Krebshilfe.
Current research interests focus on the development of recombinant antibodies and bispecific and bifunctional antibody fusion proteins with improved biological and pharmacokinetic properties for cancer therapy and other indications. He has published more than 150 articles and is editor of several books on antibody engineering and bispecific antibodies.
