ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OncoC4, Inc. is elated to announce that its co-founder and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Pan Zheng, has been selected by the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) to its 2022 College of Fellows.
Dr. Zheng was nominated, reviewed, and elected by peers and members of the AIMBE College of Fellows for outstanding contributions to immune checkpoint regulation and drug development in cancer immunotherapy and COVID therapy. The College of Fellows is comprised of the top two percent of medical and biological engineers in the country. The most accomplished and distinguished engineering and medical school chairs, research directors, professors, innovators, and successful entrepreneurs comprise the College of Fellows. AIMBE Fellows are recognized for their contributions in teaching, research, and innovation. Past AIMBE Fellows have been awarded the Nobel Prize, the Presidential Medal of Science and the Presidential Medal of Technology and Innovation, and many also are members of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Sciences.
A formal induction ceremony will be held during AIMBE's 2022 Annual Event in March. This prestigious recognition is also a testimony of the innovation behind OncoC4's novel immunotherapies that are the brainchild of our co-founders' decades long scientific pursuit. We congratulate Pan for her significant achievement and look forward to advancing our exciting clinical programs from early stage to late stage clinical evaluation under her leadership.
More About Dr. Pan Zheng and OncoC4 Inc.
Dr. Zheng spent over 2 decades in academic career as professor in various US universities, starting in Ohio State University Medical Center, to University of Michigan, Children's National Medical Center, and University of Maryland School of Medicine. In addition to her academic success, Dr. Zheng has devoted significant effort to technology development and commercialization, while serving as a co-founder and part-time Chief Medical Officer for OncoImmune, Inc. until its acquisition by Merck, Inc. in 2020. After the acquisition, Dr. Zheng co-founded OncoC4, Inc and served as the Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Zheng's lasting impact in biological and medical engineering roots in her fundamental research, documented in more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, most of which are in high-impact journals. For example, Dr. Zheng's laboratory co-discovered CD24-Siglec 10 interaction and its critical role as an immune checkpoint to restrain inflammatory response to tissue injuries (Science, 2009). This finding provides a framework to understand how humans can control inflammation to the minimum in response to tissue damages under normal circumstances, and the devastating consequences when this pathway goes awry during infection and in bone marrow transplantation. Most importantly, these studies provide new therapeutic approaches for graft vs host diseases, viral infection, and autoimmune diseases. Based on these findings, Dr. Zheng co-invented a first-in-class new drug, CD24Fc, and led OncoImmune to launch a series of Phase I, II, and III clinical studies on treatment graft vs host diseases, immunotherapy-related adverse events, HIV infection, and lastly, on severe and critical COVID-19 infection.
OncoC4 (https://www.oncoc4.com) is a privately held, clinical stage biotech company that is actively engaged in the discovery and development of immunotherapy products targeting cancer evasion of adaptive and innate immunity. The leading clinical candidate ONC-392 is a best-in-class anti-CTLA-4 antibody currently under a Phase 1A/1B clinical trial (PRESERVE-001, NCT04140526). A picture of Dr. Zheng with the crystal structure of ONC-392 binding to its CTLA-4 target is provided.
Media Contact:
Helen F Schiltz VP, Corporate Development
hschiltz@oncoc4.com
Related Images
Image 1: Dr. Pan Zheng
Pan with ONC-392 structure
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