06 November 2023
T-knife Therapeutics Announces the Appointment of Simone Silva Steiner, Ph.D., as Chief Technical Operations Officer
San Francisco, CA and Berlin, Germany – November 6, 2023 - T-knife Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing T cell receptor-based immunotherapies that deliver transformational benefits to cancer patients, today announced the appointment of Simone Silva Steiner, Ph.D., to the role of Chief Technical Operations Officer.
“We are excited to welcome Simone to T-knife,” stated Thomas M. Soloway, Chief Executive Officer of T-knife. “Her impressive track-record of success in cell therapy manufacturing, analytical development and process development will be invaluable as we scale up our manufacturing activities to support the ongoing Phase 1/2 IMAG1NE study for TK-8001, our T cell receptor engineered T cell therapy specific for the Melanoma-associated Antigen Gene-A1, or MAGE-A1.”
Dr. Steiner was previously the Head of Technical Development and Manufacturing at Tigen Pharma where she led all activities related to technical development and manufacturing strategy for a TIL product. From 2010 to 2020, Dr. Steiner was in manufacturing and quality roles at Novartis, most recently as the Head of Process Unit CGT Stein where she designed and constructed a cell therapy manufacturing facility and supported the successful manufacturing of Kymriah. During her tenure, she built the company’s cell therapy production capabilities, hiring and training more than one hundred manufacturing associates. At QSV Biologics, a contract manufacturing organization, Dr. Steiner was responsible for process development for multiple projects and worked on the full renovation of QSV’s cGMP manufacturing facility. She obtained her Ph.D. at ETH Zurich and completed her post doc work at the University of Alberta.
Dr. Steiner added, "T cell receptor-based immunotherapies are a promising modality for the next generation of cancer therapeutics, and T-knife’s platform has the potential to deliver best-in-class TCR-Ts. TK-8001 has already demonstrated potent preclinical activity, and I am excited to support the advancement of this differentiated product candidate, as well as the pipeline of candidates generated from the MyTTM platform.”
About T-knife Therapeutics
T-knife is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing T cell receptor-based immunotherapies that deliver transformational benefits to cancer patients. Focused on T cell receptor (TCR) engineered T cell therapies (TCR-Ts), the company’s unique approach leverages its proprietary MyTTM platform, a suite of technologies to enable the advancement of next-generation TCR-Ts for solid tumor cancers.
T-knife is advancing a portfolio of TCR-T product candidates against targets with high unmet medical need, including cancer testis antigens and commonly shared tumor-driving neoantigens. The company’s lead program targeting MAGE-A1 positive solid tumors is in a Phase 1/2 clinical study. T-knife was founded by leading T cell and immunology experts utilizing technology developed at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine together with the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and is supported by a leading group of international investors, including Andera Partners, EQT Life Sciences, RA Capital Management and Versant Ventures. For additional information, please visit the company’s website at www.t-knife.com.
Contact
T-knife Therapeutics, Inc.
Camille Landis
Chief Business Officer / Chief Financial Officer
media@t-knife.com