Christoph Esslinger, Ph.D.

CSO at Memo Therapeutics

Speaker

PhD immunologist and serial biotech entrepreneur with a strong focus on translating basic immunology research and biotechnological advances into medicines. Pioneered strategies for the discovery of antibodies directly from human donors, e.g. aducanumab for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. At Memo Therapeutics, an ETH-spin off CE co-founded, a droplet-microfluidic single-cell-based technology platform, Dropzylla® has been developed, that allows for the repertoire biobanking and expression of the antibodies of millions of human B cells in recombinant cells while preserving the original heavy- and light chain pairing. This technology is now being used for antibody discovery from clinically selected human donors e.g. potravitug, a potent neutralizer of BK polyomavirus currently in phase II in kidney transplant recipients , and of potentially tumor modulating antibodies expressed by tumor-infiltrating B cells from donors with signs of immune recognition of their tumors.