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SCRA Portfolio Company KIYATEC Announces Inaugural Scientific Advisory Board Members
[April 13, 2016]

SCRA Portfolio Company KIYATEC Announces Inaugural Scientific Advisory Board Members


KIYATEC, a leader in emerging 3D ex vivo predictive cancer diagnostics, today announced the appointment of leading experts to its scientific advisory board (SAB). The SAB will serve in a strategic oversight capacity to help guide KIYATEC as it continues the development and validation of predictive cancer diagnostics and complex ex vivo 3D tumor models.

"This is the ideal group to help us take a quantum leap forward for cancer patients and their treatment decisions," said Matt Gevaert, Ph.D., KIYATEC's CEO. "The impressive scientific and clinical backgrounds of our SAB members bring a level of expertise rarely seen in the clinical diagnostics markets. In conjunction with our exceptional scientific team at KIYATEC, our SAB will lead us towards developing the world's most clinically relevant and predictive cancer diagnostics."

The members of KIYATEC's scientific advisory board include:

  • Carlos L. Arteaga, MD (Vanderbilt University) is the Donna S. Hall Chair in Breast Cancer Research and Professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Arteaga is Director of the Center for Cancer Targeted Therapies and the Breast Cancer Program and Associate Director for Translational/Clinical Research at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC). He is funded by the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program and Stand Up 2 Cancer (SU2C) among others. He is an inducted member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (1998) and the Association of American Physicians (2005). Dr. Arteaga is a former recipient of the AACR Richard & Hinda Rosenthal Award, an ACS (News - Alert) Clinical Research Professor Award, the 2009 Gianni Bonadonna Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the 2011 Brinker Award from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, and the 2015 Prize for Scientific Excellence in Medicine from the American-Italian Cancer Foundation. He was elected Fellow of the AACR Academy in 2015 and serves in the Scientific Advisory Board of the Komen Foundation. He served as the 2014-5 President of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR).
  • David Kaplan, PhD (Tufts University) is the Stern Family Professor of Engineering, an Endowed Chair at Tufts Universiy. He is also Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering there and also holds faculty appointments in the School of Medicine, the School of Dental Medicine, Department of Chemistry and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. His research focus is on biopolymer engineering with emphasis on studies related to biomaterials engineering and functional tissue engineering/regenerative medicine. He has published over 600 peer reviewed papers and edited eight books. He directs the NIH P41 Tissue Engineering Resource Center (TERC) bridging Tufts University and Columbia University and is Associate Editor for the ACS journal Biomacromolecules. He has received a number of awards for teaching. Dr. Kaplan is an Elected Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, has been honored with the Columbus Discovery Medal and Society for Biomaterials Clemson Award and serves of the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals.
  • Anil Sood, MD (MD Anderson) is the Vice Chair for Translational Research in the Departments of Gynecologic Oncology & Reproductive Medicine at MD Anderson, and is a Leader in Breast and Ovarian Cancers Moon Shot program focusing on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). He is also Director of the Blanton-Davis Ovarian Cancer Research Program and Co-Director of the Center for RNA Interference and Non-Coding RNA. Dr. Sood has received major recognition for his research accomplishments including the Hunter Award, the Margaret Greenfield/Carmel Cohen Excellence in Ovarian Cancer Research Prize, and the GCF/Claudia Cohen Research Prize for Outstanding Gynecologic Cancer Researcher. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and AAAS.



"The formation of KIYATEC's SAB reflects our collective commitment to translate patient-derived tumor models into functional drug response assays and biomarkers," said Hal Crosswell, MD, Chief Medical Officer of KIYATEC. "We are honored to be working with such an esteemed and accomplished board who share our mission of improving lives of cancer patients."

KIYATEC has been a part of SCRA's SC Launch program since 2007. For more information on KIYATEC visit http://www.kiyatec.com/.


ABOUT KIYATEC, INC.

KIYATEC prioritizes accurate ex vivo prediction of patients' response to drug treatment, with a focus on data correlation to human clinical outcomes. The company creates and utilizes live phenotypic 3D cell-based models for drug response profiling. These models are applied in order to generate information relevant to preclinical testing, clinical trials and clinical diagnostics applications. By accurately predicting patient drug response without ever exposing actual patients to drugs, KIYATEC will create informed drug selection that minimizes clinical trials' failures and maximizes patient outcomes in the clinic. For more information, please visit www.kiyatec.com or follow KIYATEC on Twitter (News - Alert) (@KIYATEC).

ABOUT SCRA

Chartered in 1983 by the state of South Carolina, SCRA enriches South Carolina's technology economy. SCRA improves the development and growth of South Carolina's innovation ecosystem by supporting entrepreneurs, enabling university research commercialization and connecting industry to innovators. For further information, visit http://www.scra.org/.


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