November 29, 2021
MELBOURNE (November 29, 2021) – Aculeus Therapeutics (“Aculeus”) has announced that Dr Geoff Matthews was recently appointed Head of Immunobiology. Aculeus is one of a growing number of portfolio investee companies co-founded by SYNthesis Research (“SYNthesis”).
Geoff brings to the role extensive experience in the pharmaceutical, biotech and academic sectors both within Australia and the United States. Geoff has expertise in cancer and molecular biology, immuno-oncology, preclinical models of cancer, epigenetics, gene editing, pre-clinical drug development, biopharma strategy and project management.
Geoff joins Aculeus from CSL where he spent 2 years as a Global R&D Project Manager following 2 years as a Strategy Consultant for Trinity Life Sciences, a biopharma consulting firm based in Boston where he provided strategic direction to leading pharmaceutical companies. Prior to that, Geoff was a Research Scientist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School following a Peter Doherty Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute here in Melbourne.
Aculeus CEO Mark Devlin said “Geoff brings a deep knowledge of immunology and cancer biology to Aculeus and his appointment comes at an important time as our STING agonist development candidates enter into late preclinical phase studies”.
SYNthesis Chief Innovation Officer Martine Keenan said “We are delighted to welcome Geoff to Aculeus at this exciting stage in the company’s drug development program”.
About Aculeus Therapeutics
Aculeus Therapeutics is a Biotech company based in Melbourne Australia, developing small molecule drugs that modulate the immune system for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases. Aculeus is doing this by developing drugs that target the Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) biochemical pathway. Aculeus in-licensed its lead programs, STING and ENPP1, in 2020 from the CRC for Cancer Therapeutics, a Public Private Partnership between a number of Australia’s leading Medical Research Institutes, Universities and Industry partners with a track record of scientific and commercial success. Aculeus is currently advancing its STING agonist program through preclinical studies in preparation for formal IND-enabling studies commencing in 2022.
For more information, visit https://aculeustx.com/ or connect with us on Twitter @AculeusTx.
About SYNthesis Research
SYNthesis Research is a preclinical stage biotherapeutics company dedicated to discovering, developing, and commercialising highly differentiated medicines for devastating diseases, including cancer, chronic inflammatory conditions, and life-threatening infections, amongst others. The Company is creating a diversified pipeline of drug discovery and development ventures through the expertise of its research and development team and an extensive network of scientists, clinicians, and industry leaders. Our oncology-immunology pipeline has delivered five product candidates so far which are advancing both internally and through SYNthesis’ founded entities. Three candidates are about to enter formal IND-enabling studies. Additional pipeline ventures encompassing new therapeutic areas and innovative approaches to drug discovery are in development, supported by the Company’s deep scientific knowledge, capability, and early-access to programs.
For details about our venture-discovery programs and partnership opportunities please contact Dr Martine Keenan at martine.keenan@thePharm.bio. You can also visit us at https://synthesisres.com or connect with us on Twitter @SYNthesisRes.
