Scientific Advisors

Eileen M. O'Reilly, MD

Medical Oncologist

Dr. Eileen M. O’Reilly is an Associate Member of the in the GI Medical Oncology service at MSKCC and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.  Dr. O’Reilly received her medical degree at Trinity College (Dublin University) in Ireland. Dr. O’Reilly has pancreatic and hepatobiliary malignancies as the major focus of her research and clinical activities.  Research initiatives include integration of molecular-based therapies for the treatment of pancreas cancer along with development of adjuvant and neoadjuvant therapies and identification of biomarkers that maybe used to select therapy.  Dr. O’Reilly is the Chair of the NCI Pancreas Task Force, member of the Alliance GI core committee, member of the Advisory Board of the Lustgarten Foundation Pancreas Research Consortium and of the Medical Advisory Board of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and ASCO IMT committee.

Ron Epelbaum, MD

MEDICAL ONCOLOGIST​

Dr. Ron Epelbaum is currently the Director of the Division of Cancer in Rambam Health Care Campus (RHCC) in Haifa, Israel. Dr. Epelbaum is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa, Israel and a full-time cancer specialist at RHCC in Haifa. He obtained his degree as a senior oncologist in 1988 and completed his training as a Research Fellow for one year at Harvard University, in the Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA. His main research interest is treatment of pancreatic cancer and lymphoma, and he has been involved in many phase II-III trials exploring new therapies in these and other solid tumors.

Eithan Galun, PhD

CHAIRMAN OF THE SCIENTIFIC BOARD

Prof. Eithan Galun is a co-founder of Silenseed and serves as the Chairman of the Scientific Board of the company from its inception. Galun serves as the Director of the Goldyne Savad Gene Therapy Institute in Hadassah Medical Center (an institute of 80 investigators), and as President of the Israeli Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ISGCT). Galun is also the Chairman of the scientific board of Aptateck Ltd, a scientific advisor to MGVS Ltd and has founded a number of companies in the past. Galun wrote over 150 scientific reports and has over 15 active grants. In addition, Galun is co-chair of the Israel Council for Higher Education, called I-Core- Israeli Centers of Research Excellence on Genomics of complex diseases. Galun is a renowned researcher in the fields of RNAi, microRNA, delivery of naked DNA, gene therapy and chronic liver diseases.

Chezy Barenholz, PhD

MEDICAL adviosr​​

Prof. Barenholz, is the Head of the Membrane and Liposome Research Lab at the Hebrew University‐Hadassah Medical School, and is a renowned specialist in biochemistry, biophysics, nanotechnology and cancer. His applied research focuses on amphiphile-based drug carriers, especially liposomes, from basic design of the drug carriers through clinical trials and development of FDA-approved drugs. He is co-inventor of the first FDA-approved nano drug, DOXIL® , which is used extensively to treat ovarian and breast cancer. Prof. Barenholz has been a Visiting Professor at many universities throughout the world, including the University of Virginia School of Medicine; University of Utrecht; University of Kyoto, Japan; and La Sapeinza University, Rome. He is also founder of several prominent startup companies, including NasVax Ltd. and clinical stage Moebius Medical. Prof. Barenholz is a coauthor of more than 380 scientific publications, and a co‐inventor of over 30 approved patent families. He has also received many prestigious awards, such as: Donders Chair Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Utrecht; twice the Kaye award (1995 & 1997); the International Alec D. Bangham (the “father” of liposome research) award (1998); Teva Founders Prize (2001);an Honorary Doctor’s degree from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) (2012); and the International Controlled Release Society’s (CRS) CRS Founders Award (2012)

Ettie Pirak, PhD

MEDICAL ADVISOR​​

Dr. Ettie Pirak, Ph.D. is a co-inventor of a monoclonal antibody cancer therapy directed against EGFR; it includes among others that of the monoclonal antibody drug Cetuximab (Erbitux®). Dr. Pirak has founded Innovo Biotechnologies in 1998 (DNA Vaccines). She was a Director of Research Collaboration at Compugen. Dr. Pirak served as the Vice President of Technologies at Meytav Technological Incubator. She also served as a Director in Quinova Rx, Angio B, Novotyr therapeutics and Protea. She was for ten years a Consultant for IP portfolio and projects development at Yissum, the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr. Pirak is a member of the International Board of the Weizmann Institute of Science for a three-year term. She holds a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Louvain la Neuve, Belgium.

Avi Schroeder, PhD

Drug Delivery Expert

Avi Schroeder is an associate professor and a member of the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering at the Technion. He leads the Laboratory for Targeted Drug Delivery & Personalized Medicine Technologies. Prof. Schroeder’s focus is on the development of targeted and more personalized medicines, including nanotechnology. Of particular focus to him is using such medicines to better and more effectively treat cancer and improve patients’ quality of life. He is the author of scientific papers in the field of nanotechnology and medicine and is the inventor on 14 patents. Prof. Schroeder has received 20 national and international innovation awards and is a successful scientific entrepreneur, having launched five Technion spin offs.

Michael Sela, Phd

immunologist advisor

Prof. Michael Sela is an Israeli immunologist of Polish Jewish origin. He is the W. Garfield Weston Professor of Immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. He is a former President of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Sela is known for his research in immunology, particularly for research on synthetic antigens, molecules that trigger the immune system to attack. This work of Sela has led to the discovery of the genetic control of the immune response, as well as to the design of vaccines based on synthetic molecules. He was among the first who introduced the use of linear and branched synthetic polypeptides as antigens, and this brought about a better understanding of immunological phenomena. For several decades, Sela has been interested in the possibility of fighting the autoimmune disease, experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) with synthetic analogs of the molecules in the myelin sheath of the brain which are capable of provoking the disease. He is probably best known as the co-developer (with Ruth Arnon and Dvora Teitelbaum) of the multiple sclerosis drug copaxone.

Abraham J. Domb​, Phd

Medicinal Chemistry

Prof. Abraham J. Domb is a Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Biopolymers at the Faculty of Medicine of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He earned his Bachelor degrees in Chemistry, Pharmaceutics and Legel studies and a PhD in Chemistry from Hebrew University. He did his postdoctoral training at MIT and Harvard in the United States. Prof Domb founded and headed the Drug Delivery and Polymer division at Nova Pharmaceuticals in Baltimore, Maryland during 1988-1992. Prof. Domb was the head of the Department of Identification and Forensic Sciences (DIFS) at the Israel police during 2007-2012. Professor Domb has more than 150 patents in his name, many of which have been incorporated in large-scale commercial applications. One of them is an FDA approved brain tumor implant called Gliadel™ (Guilford, U.S.) which consists of a biodegradable polymer. Since 1992 he has been a faculty member at the Hebrew University with interests in biopolymers, gene therapy, controlled drug delivery, cancer therapy, biodegradable plastics, hydrogels, coatings, nanoparticles systems, and polymeric complexes.