Speaking of Northwest Bio’s connection with Charles Rivers . . . it’s been posted here that last year Charles Rivers acquired Cellero, (formerly Astarte), where Anne Lodge was Chief Science Officer. Not sure if this was posted though . . . Do you know who was VP of Research & Technology at Cellero? This might be a familiar name . . . Benjamin A. Tjoa. Hmmmm, small world.
Anne Lodge, Ph.D.
Chief Science and Innovation Officer
Anne Lodge received her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Vermont. Her thesis work examined the activation of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells by vascular endothelium and revealed the importance of endothelial cells in triggering organ rejection.
After completing her graduate work, Dr. Lodge received a postdoctoral fellowship from the Multiple Sclerosis Society. The fellowship supported her work at Vanderbilt University in the laboratory of Dr. Subramaniam Sriram. She studied T cells from patients with MS to determine their role in the disease process.
Dr. Lodge then accepted a position with Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. in Seattle. She had a number of different roles at the company and contributed to the Investigational New Drug filings for the company’s dendritic cell vaccine. Her expertise in cell-based therapeutics and broad background in immunology led to her founding Astarte Biologics in 2004 to provide immune cell products for research.
Patents
Smith J.P.; Lipsky P. E.; Lodge A. Human T cell line assay for evaluating the immunologic identity of glatiramer acetate preparations. Application Number 14/522,521. Filed October 23, 2014.
Shankar G.; Lodge, P.A.; Brunelle, A.N. Quality assays for antigen presenting cells. Application Number 60/379,126. Filed June 14, 2012.
Bosch M. L.; Harris P. C.; Monahan S. J.; Turner A.; Boynton A. L.; Lodge P. A. Tangential flow filtration devices and methods for leukocyte enrichment. Application Number 12/759,552. Patent Number 8,518.636. Filed April 13, 2010.
Bosch M. L.; Lodge P. A.; McEarchern J. A.; Boynton A. L.; Hugenholtz P. G. Tangential flow filtration devices and methods for stem cell enrichment. Application Number 10/992,154. Patent Number 7,790,039. Filed November 18, 2004.
Bosch M. L.; Harris P. C.; Monahan S. J.; Turner A.; Boynton A. L.; Lodge P. A. Tangential flow filtration devices and methods for leukocyte enrichment. Patent Number 7,695,627. Filed June 19, 2003.
Benjamin A. Tjoa, Ph.D.
Vice President, Research & Technology
Benjamin Tjoa received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Immunology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Tjoa has held various positions in R&D, product development, and translational research.
As a Senior Scientists at Northwest Biotherapeutics, Dr. Tjoa studied human dendritic cell basic biology, in vitro generation, antigen-loading, maturation, pre-clinical dendritic cell-based cancer vaccine studies, and assay developments. He published over 20 scientific articles and earned two patents.
Before joining Astarte Biologics, Dr. Tjoa also held VP of R&D and Lead Scientist positions at Sangretech Biomedical and Bostwick Therapeutics where he led research teams in the development of “second generation” dendritic cell-based vaccines for solid tumors and conducted process development and qualification for a GMP production of a cellular cancer vaccine for clinical testing.
As one of the first scientists to develop dendritic cells for use in cell-based vaccines, Dr. Tjoa has traveled internationally to set up laboratories for dendritic cell-based therapies.
Patents
Murphy G.P.; Boynton A.L.; Tjoa B.A. Isolation and/or preservation of dendritic cells for prostate cancer immunotherapy. Application Number US5788963. Filed July 31, 1995.
Tjoa B.A.; Bosch M.L. Generation of dendritic cells from monocytic dendritic precursor cells with GM-CSF in the absence of additional cytokines. Application Number: US8389278. Filed February 27, 2004.
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