Scientist/Immunologist: Improving responses to immunotherapy - London, United Kingdom - Deep Science Ventures Limited

Description

Over the last 9 months, Loïc has worked with DSV, devising and de-risking a novel RNA-based approach to overcome immune suppression in the tumour microenvironment.

Immunotherapies, especially antibody-based immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and CAR-T cell therapy have revolutionised cancer treatment with incredible results in a subset of solid tumours and in blood cancers, respectively.

Despite this widely recognised success and paradigm shift in cancer treatment, these therapies still only increase median patient survival by limited degrees, often by only 10-20% vs.

chemotherapies, or they only work in selected patient subsets with variable predictability. The lack of TME-specific cell markers means that targeted approaches (e.g. to inhibit or deplete TME cell types) incur significant autoimmune-like side effects on the same cells in other parts of the body, rendering these therapies intolerable or unusable in a substantial proportion of patients – an issue that typically compounds with combinatorial immunotherapies.

WHAT WE ARE BUILDING

In collaboration with our partner Cancer Research Horizons, we are seeking to build the 'holy grail' company, solving these above challenges by simultaneously reprogramming multiple problematic cell types in the tumour microenvironment, while preventing systemic toxicities associated with current treatments.

We believe we can build technology that can revert the immune suppressive environment of solid tumours and transform them into a susceptible state where the full power of ICIs can be unleashed — even in patients who would otherwise not respond (or be eligible for) conventional ICI therapies.

The collaboration with Cancer Research Horizons Therapeutic Innovation brings a highly-skilled team of scientific leaders and hands-on experts to drive the creation of this venture and realise a streamlined pathway for this therapeutic approach to the clinic.

DSV will provide ongoing support in venture creation and growth throughout the process, and experimental work will be supported through in-kind contributions at Cancer Research Horizons' state-of-the-art research facilities in Cambridge, UK.

We are looking for a passionate and motivated scientist with strong immunological expertise and track-record in immunology or immuno-oncology, to drive forward the science of this early-stage biotech.

Driving the strategic direction of the immuno-oncology aspects of the experimental work plan;
Designing, refining and optimising the experimental work plan and scientific process;
Orchestrating the development of cutting-edge oligonucleotide therapeutics for critical in vitro and ex vivo translational studies in order to assess efficacy, toxicology and PK/PD profiles of those drugs in the context of our technology;
Planning in vivo biodistribution and efficacy studies;
Ensuring that all techniques are updated with the latest advancements in the field;
Ensuring data quality and integrity, to align with objectives and deadlines;
Crafting compelling data packages and presentations for investor conversations.
You have a PhD in immunology or immuno-oncology (or MRes + 5 years of relevant work experience).
You are driven by unsolved challenges in medicine, especially oncology and immunotherapy, and have the ambition to work with a team to build new solutions resulting in curative therapies
A deep biological understanding of immune cell biology, particularly immune cells present within the tumour microenvironment
You are innovative, creative, and guided by first-principles thinking
Track record of high quality publications in the field, or thought leadership in the field
Bioinformatics and data analysis skills
Salary benchmarked against similar stage companies, with an attractive share option plan for early hire

We provide optimised, purpose-built, proprietary tools, resources and processes to help create high-impact ventures from scratch, using our venture creation methodology.

We draw on opportunity area specific know-how provided by our network of Partners and Advisors;

DSV provide continuous support after post spin-out, including fundraising, commercial partnerships, recruitment and team-building (amongst other things); Loïc Roux , an accomplished scientist whose expertise sits within biotechnology, drug discovery and development, pharmacokinetic and translational science with a focus on design, manufacture, formulation and pre-clinical development of nucleic acid therapeutics.

His experience comes from prestigious institutions in the nucleic acid field including The RNA Therapeutics Institute at UMass Med School and Oxford University, where he pushed forward research programs in neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases.

After a position as principal scientist at PepGen Ltd promoting a peptide delivery platform for nucleic acid delivery, he contributed to building and establishing NATA, a new UKRI initiative aiming to promote the development of nucleic acid therapeutics.

He then moved back to industry as Director of Lead Development for OchreBio, a Phenomics-led RNA medicines company developing the next-generation of RNA therapeutics for chronic liver diseases where he built oligonucleotide and new modalities chemistry capabilities, alongside efficacy and toxicity biology capabilities, to collaborate on programs including target screens, translational model development from primary cells to human organs, delivery methodology for specific cell types including HCC cancer cells, and led innovation programs for IP generation and scientific strategy.

Deep Science Ventures is creating a future in which both humans and the planet can thrive.

We use our unique venture creation process to create, spin-out and invest into science companies, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures.

We operate in 4 sectors: Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture and Computation, tackling the challenges defining those areas by taking a first principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.

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