Scientific Advisors
Prof. Eithan Galun
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.
Prof. Michael Sela
Prof. Michael Sela has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board at DeveloGen AG since June 1, 2005. He is also a Member of Scientific Advisory Board at Rosetta Genomics. He has been a Director of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. since 1987. Prof. Sela served as former President of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and Chief Immunologist at the New England Medical Center in Boston, USA. He has held visiting professorships at the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, and at the Institute Pasteur in Paris, France. Prof. Sela received, among others, the Doctorate Honoris Causa of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the University of Tel-Aviv and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He received his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from Hebrew University in 1954. Prof Sela developed two leading drugs: a copolymer which became a major multiple sclerosis medication. Produced by Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd. under the name Copaxone®, it has been approved for marketing in United States and Europe; in addition, he developed a monoclonal antibody for the treatment of colorectal, head and neck cancer. The antibody is marketed under the name Erbitux® worldwide.
Prof. John J. Rossi
Prof. John J. Rossi is widely regarded as a world leader in the development of RNA interference and in clinical research with nucleic acids for the treatment of various diseases. He currently serves as an Associate Director of Laboratory Research at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center. Prof. Rossi is the Lidow family Professor and Chair of the Division of Molecular Biology, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope. Since 1998, Prof. Rossi served as Dean of the City of Hope Graduate School of Biological Sciences. He is also an Adjunct Professor, Division of Biomedical Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California, as well as an Adjunct Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Loma Linda University, California. He co-founded Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and has been its Chairman and member of its Scientific Advisory Board since October 2008. Dicerna Pharmaceuticals is developing RNA interference therapeutics in multiple disease areas. In 1993, City of Hope bestowed its highest honor upon him, adding him to the Gallery of Medical and Scientific Achievement for his pioneering work at the molecular level in the battle against AIDS and other major diseases. He has authored more than 275 peer-reviewed papers and more than 70 book chapters.
Prof. Abraham J. Domb
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.
Prof. Chezy Barenholz
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)