People involved in the PACT4EYE consortium
Institut Curie
Dr. Didier Decaudin is medical oncologist at IC, the leading center for UM treatment in FR. He is the Head of the laboratory of preclinical and research activities in the Translational Research Department for 12 years. He has strong background in pre-clinical cancer research and studies, managing industrial projects, establishment of new PDX models. He published >130 articles and 10 patents.
Dr. Denis Malaise is ophthalmologist at Institut Curie. He is entirely dedicated to ocular tumors, such as uveal melanoma but also others such as retinoblastoma or conjunctival tumors. He is also completing a PhD on the creation of preclinical models of intraocular tumors and their use for the development of new treatment modalities.
Leiden University
Prof. Sylvestre Bonnet is professor in chemistry. He is an expert in PACT compound and phototherapy in hypoxic tumors. He published the first in vivo study of a Ru-based PACT compound. With Snaar-Jagalska he provided the first demonstration in ZF that eye melanoma can be attenuated by Ru-based compounds. He received prestigious VIDI and VICI grants from Dutch Research Council, and a Starting Grant and two PoC grants from ERC. Bonnet is involved in 3 European projects. He is a Fellow of the Young Academy of Europe and published >123 original peer-reviewed articles with >4500 citations (h-index = 41) and filed 8 patents.
Prof. Ewa Snaar-Jagalska is professor of cellular tumor biology. She is expert in human cancer modeling in ZF for preclinical anticancer drug discovery for personalized therapy and fast assessment of cancer cell aggressiveness. She coordinated ZF-CANCER for development of high-throughput bioassays for human cancers in ZF. She published >110 original research papers with >3970 citations (h-index=41).
Dr. Ludo Bretin is postdoctoral researcher within the Metals in Catalysis, Biomimetics and Inorganic Materials group at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry.
LUMC
Prof. Martine Jager is professor of ophthalmology at LUMC, the Dutch center for UM treatment and research. She is an expert in brachytherapy and proton beam therapy for UM and has published >250 peer-reviewed articles cited >12000 times (h-index 59). Prof. Jager served as Advisory Board Member of the International Council of Ophthalmology, President of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and President of the International Society of Ocular Oncology, the congress of which she Chaired in Leiden in 2022. She has been part of UM Cure 2020 and Arrest Blindness projects, and participates in many international studies (e.g., the American Joint Committee on Cancer, The Cancer Genome Atlas project).
Dr. Ellen W. Kapiteijn is registered specialist in internal medicine department of Medical Oncology, where she treats UM liver metastases patients. She has headed several research projects in metastasized uveal melanoma. She co-authored >125 peer-reviewed publications (h-index >34).
Dr. T.H. Khanh Vu is ophthalmologist with a focus on ocular tumors. She visited Schepens Eye Research Center of Harvard Medical School, and won the “Best Thesis in basic and clinical sciences” LUMC award in 2019. One of her articles won the Best Scientific Paper 2018 in de Wet Lab category at Harvard Medical School. Her research is on new treatments of ocular ETs and its immunology.
Recornea
Dr. Emiliano Lepore is a biomedical engineer. He previously led the development and commercialization of two medical devices through exclusive licensing deals to third parties. Lepore was also the team leader in three successful ERC PoC grants, published 20 articles in international journals, 2 books, 19 proceedings at international conferences, and 7 patents. He is 3rd time entrepreneur with RCN and has international business background in Japan and Singapore.
Dr. Moses Kakanga is a biochemist with experience in conducting clinical trials phase III for biopharmaceutical products (axyclova). Moses has co-authored 3 peer-reviewed scientific articles. He is a 1st time entrepreneur with RCN and has an international research background in UK and Singapore.
Dr. Jennifer Nißl is a Quality Management expert with experience in the development of quality management systems for medical devices in accordance with ISO13485, risk management, project management and business planning. She works at RCN to set up an ISO 13485 compliant quality management system for our company and medical device products.
Dr. Mario Ricciardi is expert in Molecular and Cellular Pathology. Since 2015, he is member of the Committee of Orphan Medicinal Product at EMA. He works at RCN to accelerate the regulatory approvals in EU and US through an optimized planning of the pre-clinical/clinical activities.
Paola Di Rosa is Funding and Investor Relationships Officer at RCN. As a lawyer by education and profession, Paola handles the strategic management and business development of the intellectual property arising from RCN. She is responsible for generating, structuring, and managing relations with VC funds and other investors from the life science innovation ecosystem.