Scientific advisory board

Kenneth Warrington, Ph.D., has decades of broad expertise across the cell and gene therapy product development continuum from discovery through GMP-compliant manufacturing to support IND-enabling pre-clinical and early-stage clinical programs. He has deep knowledge in advanced therapy manufacturing, including live attenuated and virus-like particle vaccines, live challenge viruses, viral vectors, and cell & gene-modified cell therapies. He served on the faculty at the University of Florida, Pediatrics-Division of Cellular & Molecular Therapy, with a research program focused on AAV vector development and production. Following his transition into industry in 2008, Dr. Warrington has held the lead technical operation and business development roles for global contract testing and manufacturing organizations, including Meridian Life Science, SGS Life Science, and Wuxi Apptec. He was formerly the SVP of Operations and Business Development at Biostem Life Sciences before assuming the role of chairman of the scientific advisory board. Dr. Warrington is currently Head of Strategy & Innovation and a Sr. Director of Business Development at GenScript ProBio, leading their gene & cell therapy CMC services, and Chief Technology Officer at Lacerta Therapeutics. He holds a B.S. in Biology & Chemistry from St. Lawrence University and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics from the University of Florida.

Jeffrey K. Harrison, Ph.D. is a Professor of Pharmacology & Therapeutics in the College of Medicine at the University of Florida. He directs an NIH-funded pre-clinical/translational research lab that seeks to better understand the role of chemokines and immune cells in the progression of brain tumors and their resistance to immunotherapies. He has collaborated with numerous pharmaceutical companies, large and small, to evaluate novel therapeutic agents in pre-clinical models of glioma. He also provides formal teaching to the next generation of scientists about the process by which novel small molecules and biologic agents are evaluated in preclinical studies that are aimed toward taking these therapeutics into first-in-human clinical trials. He holds a B.S in Cellular & Molecular Biology and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan.

Daniel Shelly, Ph.D., MBA is Vice President of Business Development and Alliances at Prescient Therapeutics. At Prescient, he is responsible for advancing the development of a next-generation Chimeric Antigen Receptor T and or NK Cell therapy technology along with small molecule targeted therapies. Prior to Prescient, he was Director of Global Business Development and Strategic Partnerships for the Global non-profit organization PATH where he was involved in the identification of new and innovative partnerships for vaccine and therapeutics development applicable to low and middle-income countries. He has an additional 18 years of industry experience having worked for Albumedix, Novozymes Biopharma, Meridian Life Science, and Kendle International. He has been responsible for asset in-licensing, alliances, and out-licensing of core drug delivery technologies along with biologics manufacturing, proposal writing, contract negotiations, market assessments, and clinical development/out-licensing of several vaccines. Dr. Shelly is also an adjunct professor in the Masters in Clinical Drug Development program at the UC College of Pharmacy. He has a B.S. in Animal Behavior from Lehigh University, a MA in Comparative Physiology from College of William and Mary, a Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology from Florida State University, and an MBA in Management of Advanced Technology and Innovation from the University of Cincinnati.

Shaun Opie, Ph.D. is a healthcare executive and has co-founded several laboratories in multiple disciplines including cardiac stem cell transplantation, clinical diagnostics, and cannabis safety testing. Before pursuing his entrepreneurial interests, he was a clinical trial administrator at Banner Health and oversaw an active, multi-site, sponsored clinical research program providing support for investigational new drugs, devices, and biologics, as well as tissue collection/biobanking and medical education research. He has held multiple adjunct faculty appointments at Arizona State University in the College of Health Solutions and also spent 2 years as an invited Entrepreneurship Expert at the W.P. Carey School of Business. Dr. Opie has a proven public-speaking track record and is an author of numerous scientific publications and textbooks. He has a BS in Biology from Bucknell University and a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics/Virology from the University of Florida.