This addition to Biomica’s scientific expertise will support the company’s upcoming steps towards its clinical development
Rehovot, Israel – 06 November, 2018 – Biomica, a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ, TASE: EVGN), an emerging biopharmaceutical company developing innovative microbiome-based therapeutics announced today that internationally renowned experts have joined the company’s scientific advisory board. The experts will join Prof. Yehuda Ringel, Biomica co-founder and CSO, an internationally recognized thought leader in the field of the functional gastrointestinal disorders and the intestinal microbiome, in order to support the company’s upcoming steps towards its clinical development.
The experts joining Biomica’s scientific advisory board include:
Prof. Willem M. De Vos is Professor and Chair of Microbiology at Wageningen University, the Netherlands and Professor of Human Microbiomics at the University of Helsinki, Finland, where he also served as Finland Distinguished and Academy Professor. He supervised over 100 PhD students, is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and various academic and industry boards. He has (co) authored over 700 peer-reviewed papers, was involved in the filing of more than 50 patents or patent applications., and received many international scientific, honorary and royal awards.
Prof. R. Balfour Sartor serves as the Midget Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology and Director of the Multidisciplinary IBD Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In addition he has served, as Chief Medical Advisor to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, where he now directs the Litwin Pioneers grants program and is a nationally and internationally recognized authority on host- microbial interactions, mucosal immunology and inflammatory bowel diseases
Prof. James Versalovic, Pathologist-In-Chief at Texas Children’s Hospital and Director of Texas Children’s Microbiome Center, Professor and Vice Chair of Pathology & Immunology at Baylor College of Medicine, a Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics, Molecular Virology & Microbiology, and Pediatrics. Prof. Versalovic created the first pediatric microbiome center and the first therapeutic microbiology fellowship program in the US. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Manual of Clinical Microbiology and has authored more than 160 primary manuscripts and received notable awards.
In addition, a leading Israeli microbiome researcher will join as an advisor to the company:
Dr. Ravid Straussman, is the Principle investigator of the Tumor microenvironment, tumor microbiome and resistance to anti-cancer therapy lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. Straussman’s lab focuses on understanding the roles of the tumor microenvironment and the tumor microbiome in resistance to cytotoxic, targeted, and immune mediated anti-cancer therapies. Straussman holds an MD/ PhD from the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School and completed a Post-doc training at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.
Dr. Elran Haber, Biomica CEO said: “We are proud to welcome our new scientific advisors, world leading renowned experts in their fields. In light of their scientific achievements, proficiency and vast accumulated experience, their addition to our company will contribute to the promotion of the Biomica’s clinical development and the advancement of its business and scientific objectives.”
About Biomica:
Biomica, a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ, TASE: EVGN), is an emerging biopharmaceutical company developing innovative microbiome-based therapeutics utilizing a dedicated Computational Predictive Biology platform. Biomica aims to identify and characterize disease-related microbiome entities, and to develop novel therapeutics based on these understandings. The company’s initial focus is on the development of therapies for antibiotic resistant bacteria, Immuno-Oncology and microbiome-related gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. Biomica was established by Evogene and Prof. Yehuda Ringel in 2017. Biomica’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Elran Haber, joined the company at the beginning of 2018. Dr. Haber served as CEO Therapix Biosciences (NASDAQ, TASE: TRPX). For more information, please visit: www.biomicamed.com
About Evogene Ltd.:
Evogene (NASDAQ, TASE: EVGN) is a leading biotechnology company developing novel products for major life science markets through the use of a unique computational predictive biology (CPB) platform incorporating deep scientific understandings and advanced computational technologies.
Today, this platform is utilized by the Company to discover and develop innovative products in the following areas (via subsidiaries or divisions): ag-chemicals, ag-biologicals, seed traits, integrated castor oil ag-solutions and human microbiome based therapeutics. Each subsidiary or division establishes its product pipeline and go-to-market, as demonstrated in its collaborations with world-leading companies such as BASF, Corteva, Bayer and ICL. For more information, please visit www.evogene.com
Forward Looking Statements:
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” relating to future events. These statements may be identified by words such as “may”, “could”, “expects”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “plans”, “believes”, “scheduled”, “estimates” or words of similar meaning. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions, describe opinions about future events, involve certain risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and are not guarantees of future performance. Therefore, actual future results, performance or achievements of Evogene may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, many of which beyond Evogene’s control, including, without limitation, those risk factors contained in Evogene’s reports filed with the appropriate securities authority. Evogene disclaims any obligation or commitment to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions.
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