Dr. Herbert Heyneker Joins Crystal Bioscience's Board of Directors
Emeryville, CA, September 7, 2016 (Newswire.com) - Crystal Bioscience Inc, a pioneer in the development of avian-derived human antibody discovery platforms, today announced the appointment of Dr. Herbert Heyneker to the Board of Directors.
“Dr. Heyneker’s broad experience in the biotechnology industry and in the development of therapeutic antibodies adds a valuable perspective to our Board of Directors”, said Robert Etches, the co-Founder, President & CEO of Crystal Bioscience. “We appreciate his willingness to serve on our Board and look forward to benefitting from his judgment, wisdom and counsel”.
After receiving his PhD degree in Molecular Genetics in 1975 from the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, Herbert started post-doctoral work in the laboratory of Prof. Herbert Boyer at UCSF where he cloned and expressed genes of therapeutic interest. The following year, when Boyer and Swanson founded Genentech, Herb was hired as the first scientist. At Genentech, Dr. Heyneker’s lab was responsible for the co-expression of the light and heavy chain immunoglobulin genes. This pioneering work subsequently led to the Cabilly I and II patents; IP which continues to be among the most important in the field. In 1984 Herb joined Genencor, a spin-off from Genentech, as VP of research. In the years that followed, Herbert co-founded three biotechnology companies including Eos, a functional genomics company that was acquired by Protein Design Labs. Dr. Heyneker has also been an advisor to several Venture Capital firms and has served on the Board of Directors and the Advisory Boards of several biotech startups. Herb is an author on more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and an inventor on more than 30 US patents.
“I’m impressed by the outstanding antibody discovery platform developed by the Crystal team”, said Dr. Heyneker. “Their unique understanding of avian genetics and technical competence in cell biology and DNA manipulation has led to the development of chickens functionally expressing human immunoglobulins (i.e. the HuMab chicken). Equally exciting, the team developed a robust technology for direct interrogation of B-cells (the GEM assay) to isolate panels of desired Abs, making the time-consuming and expensive hybridoma step a method of the past. I am honored to be selected to their Board of Directors”.
About Crystal Bioscience
Crystal Bioscience is the global leader in avian genetic engineering. We have applied our unique skills to the development of Crystal’s antibody discovery platform and use this platform to access previously unavailable epitope space. We have coupled this discovery platform with the GEM assay to simultaneous evaluate antigen recognition, specificity and in some cases, biological activity. Crystal’s combination of next generation technologies creates panels of therapeutic antibodies addressing unmet medical needs.
For more information, please visit www.crystalbioscience.com or contact Robert Etches, CEO, 510-250-7798 or robetches@crystalbioscience.com.
Source: Crystal Bioscience
