Board of Directors

Dr Michael Bettess

  • Dr Michael Bettess is the Chair of Currus Biologics and an Investment Manager at life science specialist venture capital firm Brandon Capital Partners (BCP). He is also an Executive Director at BCP investee companies Cincera Therapeutics Pty Ltd and Foray Therapeutics Pty Ltd (also MRCF investee companies). His prior experience in commercialisation and investment includes leading commercialisation in the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University, the largest medical faculty in Australasia, and 5 years as an Investment Manager (Life Sciences) and acting CEO at the Trans-Tasman Commercialisation Fund where he led diligence on seed investments in HMBL Limited (acquired by Heart Metabolics Ltd.) and Nexvet Biopharma (NASDAQ – NVET: acquired by Zoetis in 2017). Michael holds a PhD from the University of Adelaide, a Hoffman La Roche post-doctoral fellowship at the Swiss Cancer Research Institute (ISREC) in Lausanne, Switzerland and has an MBA specialising in technology management from La Trobe University.

Dr Alessandra Cesano

  • Dr Alessandra Cesano has decades of extensive experience in the global clinical development of oncology drugs. She has 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry focused on oncology, including extensive experience at Biogen, Amgen, and GSK. She was instrumental in the development and approval of two marketed drugs including Vectibix® (panitumumab), an anti-EGFR antibody for the treatment of certain colorectal cancers. Dr Cesano currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer & Executive Vice President at ESSA Pharma, Inc. and on the board of Puma Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ: PBYI), a clinical stage oncology company focused on solid tumors. Dr Cesano graduated from the University of Turin with her PhD in tumor immunology and her MD. She is a Board Certified oncologist in Europe.

Dr Julian Clark

  • Dr Julian Clark is a Non-Executive Director of Currus Biologics. Drawing on many years of international experience Julian has played a key role in the translation of medical and health innovations having their genesis in academic or public research. Working from executive and governance positions in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia, he has commercialised many products and technologies including drugs, vaccines, devices, diagnostics, processes and analytical instruments. Through his consulting company, Julian has assisted more than 100 organisations in Australia with commercialisation. He has been a Director of more than 20 boards, including UniQuest, Cancer Trials Australia, BioGrid Australia, Nexpep, Alchemia, and MediTech. Recently he was Head of Business Development at WEHI, and previously CEO of Cancer Therapeutics CRC (Australia), Faulding Pharmaceuticals (Australia), Pharmacia LKB Biotechnology (Sweden), Biochrom (UK). Julian has a PhD from the University of Glasgow and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Karolinska Institute. A Doctor of the University (Uni SA) and Fellow of the Australia Academy of Technology and Engineering are recognition of his contributions to research

Associate Professor Dominic Wall

  • Associate Professor Dominic Wall is a Non-Executive Director of Currus Biologics and the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) for Cell Therapies Pty Ltd. As the CSO, he oversees the quality and production nominees for the purposes of licensing by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). At the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Dominic has a joint appointment as the Executive Director for Business Ventures, leading its enterprises such as external Pathology services. He also provides executive oversight to the national Centre of Excellence in Cellular Immunotherapy which was established in 2019 with an $80 million contribution from the Commonwealth Government. Dominic’s academic background and interests are primarily in cancer immunotherapy, in vivo cell tracking in human cell therapy (using nuclear medicine and MRI) and regulation of the developing cell and gene therapy field. He has published more than 80 manuscripts, abstracts and presentations in these areas, and has previously been the ANZ regional president of the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT). In 1999 Dominic developed the cell therapy program at Peter Mac and was one of the founders of Cell Therapies in 2003, leading it to becoming the first TGA licensed service in this field in Australia.

Dr Peter Devine

  • Peter Devine has been CEO of Uniseed since 2006. Peter has extensive experience at board and executive management levels in the commercialisation of early stage technologies, having held senior R&D, business development and commercialisation positions in a number of Australian companies and Australian universities.  Before joining Uniseed, Peter was Vice President of Business Development at Progen Industries Ltd.  He was Research, Development and Commercialisation Manager at Brisbane-based PanBio Pty Ltd from 1996 to 2000 and also worked in business development at UniQuest Pty Ltd.

    Peter holds a PhD from the University of Queensland and received the Dean’s Prize for his MBA Studies at the Australian Graduate School of Management.  He received a Centenary Medal in 2003 for outstanding contribution to the business of biotechnology.  He is a Graduate and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Markets) and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance from Kaplan Professional. In 2011 & 2012, Peter was named on the Kaplan High Achievers Honour Roll.

    In 2018, Peter was named No.5 on the Global University Venturing Powerlist as one of those changing the face of university venturing.

Management

Sam Cobb
CEO

  • Sam Cobb is the founding CEO of Currus Biologics. Sam has over 25 years’ experience in business development and commercialisation with a focus on biologics. Prior to Currus Biologics, Sam was the founding CEO of AdAlta (ASX: 1AD), where Sam saw AdAlta through several transitions over a 12-year period including listing the company on the ASX. Sam led the development of AdAlta’s novel biologics platform from idea to a Phase I-ready lead candidate and secured multiple big pharma and biotech deals with its platform. Sam has worked for several biotech companies and technology transfer companies, focused on the commercialisation of life-science opportunities. Sam worked at the lab bench at Agen Biomedical as a research scientist, developing a diagnostic test for point of care application, taking the test from research through development and to production. Sam has a Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Intellectual Property Law and has completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors course.

Dr Ebony Heyns
Drug Development Manager

  • Ebony is the Drug Development Manager at Currus Biologics and has significant experience in the management of preclinical drug development programs. She has previously worked with ASX-listed biotechnology company AdAlta and early-stage startup Gertrude Biomedical, coordinating their internal and external preclinical research activities. In addition to project management capabilities, Ebony has experience in technical market appraisal including opportunity analysis and reimbursement strategy. Ebony completed a PhD in Cancer Pharmacology at The University of Melbourne concurrently with a Graduate Certificate in Commercialisation at Melbourne Business School.

Nicole Kruger
Clinical Operations

  • Nicole Kruger has over 25 years’ experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, with over 20 years in the clinical research field. Starting as a Clinical Trial Assistant and progressing through Clinical Research Associate, Project Manager and Operations Manager roles, she has worked with major pharmaceutical companies, Contract Research Organisations and medium to small biotechnology companies to implement and manage their clinical research programs and projects. Nicole is responsible for ensuring delivery of high-quality clinical trials at Currus Biologics.

Dr David Hambly
CAR Manufacturing

  • Dr David Hambly is an experienced CAR T-cell manufacturing expert that led Analytical Development for Kite Pharma’s Yescarta, the 2nd CAR T-cell product approved in the US. Thereafter, he led viral vector manufacturing, process and analytical development as well as cell therapy analytical development at Atara Biotherapeutics before founding Advanced Therapy Product Consulting, Inc. Dr. Hambly received his doctorate in Biochemistry from Washington University in St. Louis and spent a decade at Amgen working on analytical development teams within both Research and Development and the Technical Operations functions to support numerous recombinant protein and monoclonal antibody products, and the first FDA approved recombinant virus program, Imlygic®.

Scientific Team

Dr Michaela Sharpe
Regulatory

  • Dr Michaela Sharpe is a specialist adviser and consultant on the nonclinical safety assessment of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) and vaccines with over 20 years’ experience in the biotech and pharma sector.  Dr Michaela Sharpe has developed bespoke nonclinical strategies for over 35 complex therapies to facilitate progression into clinical trial; including pluripotent stem cell therapies, somatic cell therapies, immune therapies, genetically modified cell therapies, tissue engineered products and prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines. Dr Michaela Sharpe has an in depth understanding of regulatory agency (MHRA, EMA and FDA) non-clinical safety requirements for ATMPs, vaccines and GLP regulations. Dr Michaela Sharpe has an expertise in translational research, nonclinical safety, gap analysis, immunology, regulatory engagement, strategic development, due diligence and in-licensing opportunities, research collaborations and acquisitions.

Associate Professor Michael Kershaw
Founding Scientific Advisor

  • Michael received a PhD from the University of Melbourne in 1997 for his studies into the genetic redirection of immunity against cancer. He performed Postdoctoral studies in cancer immunotherapy in the laboratories of Dr Steven Rosenberg at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland from 1998 to 2001. He returned to Australia in 2002 and took up a position in the Cancer Immunology Program at Peter Mac. The program focuses on the development of effective immunotherapies for cancer. The approaches involve novel in-house derived strategies and new ways of using existing immunomodulatory reagents. Using these approaches in mouse tumour models, the progream seeks to determine the cellular and molecular mechanisms of immune-mediated anti-tumour effects. The principal research interests of the lab lie in understanding the tumour microenvironment and in the use of adoptive immunotherapy and vaccines for cancer treatment. Michael is a key inventor of the Currus Biologics technology and has previously developed a CAR-T that is currently in clinical development and licensed to Bristol Myers Squib.

Dr Clare Slaney
Founding Scientific Advisor

  • Clare’s current research interests are in understanding the interaction between the immune system and cancer, and in the use of immunotherapy to treat cancer. These interests include the use of genetically modified T cells (CAR T-cells) to treat solid cancers. Clare has published over 30 papers in high-impact journals including first and last authorships in Nature Medicine, PNAS, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research and Cancer Discovery. She has obtained over $2M research funding, including 3 fellowships and 5 CIA project grants. Her accomplishments have been acknowledged with a number of awards including the Seymour and Vivian Milstein Young Investigator Award for notable contributions to basic and clinical research in Switzerland (2012), a Joseph Sambrook Award in Research Excellence (2014), and the respected Mavis Robertson Award (2018) that is given each year to a female principal investigator considered to exhibit the greatest promise as a leader in breast cancer research in Australia. Clare is a key inventor of the Currus Biologics technology.

Bianca von Scheidt
Senior Scientist

  • Bianca is a Senior Scientist at Currus Biologics with over 15 years of experience. Bianca received a Diplom in Biologie (equivalent to Master’s degree in biology) at the University in Hamburg, Germany. She worked in the field of Immunology at The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at The National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, USA.

Dr Sara Quon
Senior Scientist

  • Sara is a Senior Scientist at Currus Biologics with over 10 years of expertise in molecular biology, immunology, and bioinformatics. She earned her PhD from the University of California, San Diego where her cutting-edge research in T cell biology and epigenetics, supported by national and international collaborations, led to multiple publications, including a first-author publication in Immunity. Sara then relocated to Melbourne to join the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute as a postdoctoral fellow, where she focused on understanding the molecular regulation of the immune system in the context of allergies and asthma. In her current role, Sara is deepening her understanding of cancer immunology and exploring industry-driven approaches to support the advancement of the Currus Biologics technology.

Scientific and Clinical Advisors

AssociSaar Gill

  • Associate Professor Saar Gill is a clinician researcher at University of Pennsylvania with considerable experience translating cell therapy research into clinical products. Prof Gill is the principal investigator on multiple CAR T-cell clinical trials and is the co-founder of Interius Biotherapeutics and Carisma Therapeutics.

Dr Michael Brown

  • Professor Michael Brown is the Director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Unit at Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH), and Professor of Medical Oncology, University of Adelaide. His tumour subspecialty interests are in lung cancer. Professor Brown has been the principal investigator on four CAR T-cell trials and will lead the Currus Biologics clinical trials in Adelaide at RAH.

Dr Zahid Bashir

  • Dr Zahid Bashir is pharmaceutical physician with over 16 years of experience in designing and executing clinical programmes for pharma and biotech companies specialising in haematological and solid tumours. Dr Bashir has been instrumental in driving the development and launch of multiple biologics and cell therapy products.

Dr Mark Throsby

  • Dr. Mark Throsby is a biopharmaceutical executive with extensive research experience and a track record of innovation and execution. He gained a PhD in Immunology from Monash University Melbourne, Australia and spent four years as a research fellow with Centre national de la recherche scientifique CNRS in Paris. Dr Throsby started his industry career at Crucell NV and worked there for 8 years in various roles, notably as Director of Antibody Discovery. Dr Throsby joined Merus BV in 2008 as COO (CSO from 2013) leading all the research activities of the company. He is an expert in antibody engineering and immunology with more than a dozen granted patents and >40 peer reviewed publications.