Paul Parren, PhD

EVP, Head of R&D and Professor at Lava Therapeutics and Leiden University

Prof. Dr. Paul Parren worked in antibody biology and biotechnology for almost 30 years. He holds a PhD in molecular immunology from the University of Amsterdam (1992). Dr. Parren was an Associate Professor at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, where he studied the role of human antibodies in protection against viral infections. In 2002, he joined Genmab where he serves in the position of Senior Vice President and Scientific Director. He heads the Genmab Utrecht site and leads an international group of about 135 employees responsible for Pre-clinical development and Research. Dr. Parren was appointed Adjunct Professor of Translational Cancer Research at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Denmark in 2013 and Professor of Molecular Immunology at the Leiden University Medical Center in Leiden, the Netherlands in 2015. Dr. Parren is dedicated to translate antibody biology and immunotherapy knowledge into innovative antibody therapeutics and technologies. Currently his studies focus on antibody structure-function relationships, antibody effector functions, bispecific antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, antibody drug discovery and development and vaccines. He is an inventor of the therapeutic antibodies ofatumumab (approved world-wide), daratumumab (phase III), teprotumumab (Phase II), TF-011-ADC (Phase I) and the DuoBody and HexaBody technologies.