AntlerA

Sachdev Sidhu, Ph.D

Dr. Sachdev Sidhu is a Professor in the Donnelly Centre, the Department of Molecular Genetics, and the Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. His research interest lies in the application of protein engineering to the development of new therapeutics.

Prior to joining the University of Toronto in April 2008, he spent a decade as a principal investigator in the Department of Protein Engineering at Genentech, Inc., where he led the development of phage-displayed synthetic antibody libraries. His laboratory has optimized a high throughput pipeline to develop exquisitely specific, high affinity synthetic antibodies using phage display screening and structure-guided library construction. This work has led to the generation of thousands of therapeutic-grade antibodies against virtually any target, including many relevant to human diseases such as cancer, inflammation and infectious diseases.

Dr. Sidhu holds a B.Sc and a Ph.D from Simon Fraser University and completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Genentech.

Stephane Angers, Ph.D

Dr. Stephane Angers is a Professor in the Faculties of Pharmacy and Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is the Associate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Pharmacy.

His research focuses on understanding cellular signaling mechanisms with a specific interest on developmental signaling pathways.

Dr. Angers is internationally recognized for his use of functional genomic and proteomic approaches to study the mechanisms of intracellular signaling activated by growth factors and their receptors. A major focus of his team is the study of the Wnt family of secreted growth factors and the signaling mechanisms they govern in stem and progenitor cells during normal tissue homeostasis, degenerative diseases and cancer. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors such as the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences, GSK Award and the Canada Research Chair in Functional Architecture of Signal transduction.

Dr. Angers holds a B.Sc from McGill University, a Ph.D from the Université de Montréal and completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Washington.

Somasekar Seshagiri

CEO/CSO

Dr. Seshagiri had a very successful 21 years tenure at Genentech, where he most recently served as an Associate Director and Staff Scientist. There he established a state-of-the-art genomics laboratory, conducted research in cancer and cell signaling areas and participated in drug development. He has authored/co-authored over eighty papers that included key publications in top tier journals such as Nature, Science, Cancer Cell and Nature Genetics.

Mahesh Pratapneni

Board Member
Founder & Managing Partner
Emerge Life Sciences

Mahesh Pratapneni is a visionary investor, founder, and strategist in the India life sciences and technology sectors. He is known for building outstanding global teams, differentiated strategies, and successful exits. He currently serves as Executive Director of MedGenome and is on the boards of AgriGenome Labs, Saksin Life Sciences and AntlerA, Theragen, and Emerge Biologics. Mahesh earned his undergraduate degree in electronics and communications from IIT Madras, and his MBA from IIM Calcutta.