FOLLOWING THE SCIENCE

Alumni scientists pursue medical breakthroughs through innovation

ILLUSTRATIONS BY WINSY LEUNG (HBSC ’21 INNIS)

Glenn Morrison

(BSc ’92 Innis, MSc ’94, PhD ’00)

The underlying causes of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are not fully understood, despite the fact that it is the most common cause of dementia, suffered by 50 million people worldwide. AD remains the only top-ten cause of death that cannot be prevented, cured, or even significantly slowed; an effective treatment for AD remains an urgent unmet medical need.

I recently led clinical development for AD for a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering immuno-neurology, a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Immuno-neurology targets immune dysfunction as a root cause of multiple pathologies that are drivers of degenerative brain disorders.

The company is conducting clinical trials in AD, frontotemporal dementia (the most common cause of dementia in people under 60), and Amyotrophic

Lateral Sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease), testing compounds designed to functionally repair genetic mutations that cause dysfunction of the brain’s immune system, and enable the rejuvenated immune cells to counteract emerging brain pathologies.

I now have a new role as vice president of clinical development for neuroscience and rare disease at Recursion—a clinicalstage biotechnology company decoding biology to radically improve patients’ lives by industrializing drug discovery, development, and beyond through disruptive innovation.

Samuel Rabkin

(BSc ’76 Innis)

I am a virologist in a neurosurgery department seeking to use viruses to treat disease. My laboratory has been converting disease-causing viruses into cancer killers, so-called oncolytic viruses.

The virus we work on is herpes simplex virus (HSV), which causes cold sores, but also lethal diseases like encephalitis. To make HSV safe for patients, we delete the viral genes necessary for disease but not those for growth in cancer cells. We have constructed a number of new oncolytic HSVs; two of these, G207 and G47D, have entered clinical trials for patients with brain cancer.

In order to study these new therapeutics, we have been establishing tumour models that mimic features of the patient's tumour. So far, oncolytic HSV has not caused any serious adverse events in cancer patients. These HSVs have exhibited efficacy in early-phase clinical trials, and one oncolytic HSV, T-Vec, similar to our design, has been approved in the US and Europe for the treatment of advanced melanoma. This translational work is only possible because of basic studies to understand HSV biology, the function of its genes, and interactions with its host, humans.

Nick Shah

(HBSc ’01 Innis, PhD ’08)

Pursuing the discovery and development of novel medicines has been scientifically engaging, profoundly challenging, and ultimately rewarding for me.

My role in drug discovery has been focused on the development of biological tools that enable good decision making at the earliest stages. I’ve worked in the areas of biochemistry, biophysics, and cell biology to discover a number of drug candidates at multiple start-up companies.

I worked with a small team at Flexus Biosciences to discover Linrodostat (BMS-986205), a drug that led to a major acquisition by BMS, and is currently in phase-III clinical trials for cancer. While at FLX Bio (now RAPT), we discovered FLX475, currently in phase II for cancer, and RPT193, about to enter phase-II trials for atopic dermatitis.

I currently lead the in vitro pharmacology group at DiCE, a drug discovery start-up devoted to addressing unmet medical needs in immunology. Our lead program—an orally administered IL17 antagonist—is approaching the clinic.

My career so far has reinforced the idea that a strong foundation in teambased problem solving can be powerfully applied to many areas, especially to the collaborative science of drug discovery.