About
Novasenta discovers novel therapeutic targets to develop innovative and effective treatments with the goal of transforming the lives of patients with cancer.
Single-cell level analysis of high-quality, human tumor samples combined with the advanced data mining abilities of our research and computational biology teams accelerate the path from discovery to patient. Our goal is to identify novel targets to generate effective therapies for a range of cancers.
Experienced Team
Our team is comprised of seasoned life science executives, scientists, clinicians, and investors with a track record of successful value creation and experience in drug discovery as well as clinical development.
Our founders bring unique perspectives from decades of research success in tumor biology, immunology and drug discovery, in Pittsburgh and beyond, that define our unique discovery and development process and methodology.
Our team deploys systematic, rigorous, and unbiased human tumor microenvironment analysis to uncover new druggable targets, exploiting the critical interplay of disease, immune response, and metabolism. The diverse scientific perspectives of our world-class team inform a unique approach to generate the next generation of safe and effective therapeutics for cancer and beyond.
Leadership
Dr. Lyman joined the Novasenta team in February 2023 supporting R&D activities. Prior to officially joining the team, Dr. Lyman served as an advisor since October 2022. Before working with Novasenta, Dr. Lyman was the Vice President of Discovery Research at IconOVir Bio, a preclinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the next generation of synthetic oncolytic virus therapies for the treatment of patients with solid tumors. Prior to joining IconOVir, he was the Director of Translational Research at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies. His translational research team was focused on the development of high throughput virus engineering and screening platforms to create a pipeline of novel virus-based therapies including vaccines and oncolytic viruses that led to the spin out of IconOVir. Previously, he was the Associate Director of Immunology at Tanabe Research Laboratories (a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation) where he and his team were responsible for the discovery and non-clinical research efforts for multiple biologics programs in the therapeutic areas of inflammatory disease and autoimmunity. Dr. Lyman began his industry experience as a scientist at Kyowa Hakko Kirin California (formerly Kirin Pharmaceuticals), where he was a major contributor to multiple therapeutic antibody programs that reached the clinic and was the project leader for KHK4083/AMG 451, a novel anti-OX40 antibody moving into Phase 3 clinical trials in atopic dermatitis.
Dr. Lyman received his Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis from Northwestern University and did his postdoctoral work at the Scripps Research Institute where he led projects to understand how tumor reactive T cells respond to cross-presented tumor antigens and investigated how to break tolerance to tumor associated self-antigens.
Dr. Dai is an accomplished industry leader with 23+ years of experience in global strategic development for biopharmaceuticals, instrumental in securing regulatory approvals and product life cycle management. With a diverse scientific background, she specializes in oncology, hematology, ophthalmology, and rare diseases.
As Executive Director of Regulatory Affairs at Adverum and Director at AbbVie, Melody drove regulatory strategies and led IND/IMPD global submissions for innovative treatments like gene therapy and antibody drug conjugates. At Amicus, she led submissions for global phase III studies, as well as BLA/MAA that paved the way for crucial therapies and addressed regulatory challenges in gene therapy programs. Melody holds a BS in Chemistry from Peking University and a PhD in Biophysical Chemistry from Rutgers University, with post-doctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Yu brings more than 20 years of combined experience in immunology and immune-oncology, drug discovery & development, as well as precision medicine. As the head of R&D operations, Dr. Yu currently leads target identification and validation, drug discovery and development across the company’s portfolio.
With a passion for innovation and a strength in cross-functional communication, Dr. Yu joined Novasenta as a founding employee where she built a diverse, high-performing team, leading the establishment of both computational target discovery and experimental target validation platforms. She has a proven record of discovering novel drug targets and leading clinical drug discovery programs.
Previously, Dr. Yu spent 3 years with NewLink Genetics focusing on IDO inhibitor clinical program development. Working in the discovery/cross-disciplinary team, she managed a diverse set of functionalities including new pipeline development, proof of concept assay design and development, preclinical IND enabling studies, biomarker analysis for ongoing clinical trials. Prior to NewLink Genetics, Dr. Yu led several projects to decipher immune system regulation at molecular level to explore the possible treatment of immune diseases in MD Anderson Cancer Center. She has authored multiple, high-impact articles in Nature immunology, Nature Communications, and PNAS.
Dr. Yu received her Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbiology from Wayne State University and BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Nankai University, China.
Kris Persaud currently serves as a Senior Advisor for Novasenta since January 2022. He brings more than 25 years of biopharmaceutical experience in oncology biologics drug discovery and development. He has demonstrated leadership experience in antibody technology across screening, production, biophysical characterization, engineering, and cell line generation. More recently, he served as Director of Cell Expression and Engineering of oncology discovery research at Eli Lilly and Company. As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, he directly supported the development and successful launch of several biologic oncology drugs including Erbitux®, Cyramza™, Portrazza® and Lartruvo™ as well as clinical advancement of many more therapeutic antibodies over the course of his career. Prior to Lilly’s acquisition, Kris was a Senior Scientist and Team Leader at ImClone Systems Inc. providing discovery research leadership within the Angiogenesis and Tumor Biology department, developing therapeutic antibodies to receptor tyrosine kinase. Kris received his BS in Biology from The City College on New York. He has also been an author on >30 manuscripts, and abstracts including patents.
Board & Founders
David (Dave) Moore has served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Novasenta since mid-2023. Dave brings over 20 years of biopharma operational and executive management experience to Novasenta. He is currently the Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at Novo Nordisk U.S., where he is responsible for corporate strategy, business development, integration and strategic alliances. Previously at Novo Nordisk U.S., Dave also worked as Senior Vice President, Commercial, where he led the successful transformation of the company’s commercial operating model into a purely integrated sales and marketing organization. He led the company through multiple new product launches, including one of the most successful launches in Type 2 diabetes to date.
Dave has also worked in other leadership roles as the CEO at Roivant Sciences, a biopharmaceutical drug development company, focusing on infectious disease and as Managing Partner with Gurnet Point Capital, a private equity firm that invests in de-risked life sciences companies.
He holds a degree in biology from Towson University, an MBA from Lehigh University and completed the graduate program in population health and healthy policy at Thomas Jefferson University.
Jeanne Cunicelli, a veteran venture capitalist in the life sciences industry, became president of UPMC Enterprises in January 2021. Jeanne was a managing director at Bay City Capital in San Francisco before joining UPMC in 2017 to lead UPMC Enterprises’ Translational Sciences focus area.
As president of UPMC Enterprises, Jeanne is leading UPMC’s efforts to commercialize its managerial and health care expertise. With a focus on improving the quality, efficiency and patient experience at UPMC, the division and its partners will then take those solutions to the broader health care market through its two focus areas, Translational Sciences and Digital Solutions.
Under Jeanne’s leadership, the Translational Sciences team has grown to more than 20 scientific and investment professionals working to accelerate the transfer of scientific discoveries into life-changing medicines, diagnostics and devices. Based on ground-breaking research from the University of Pittsburgh and other global innovators, the team will deploy $1 billion in life sciences investments by 2024. Through its Digital Solutions group, UPMC Enterprises has started and invested in a portfolio of companies that leverages UPMC’s scale and health care insights to provide clinicians, payers and consumers with engaging technology that improves the quality and cost effectiveness of health care.
Jeanne is a member of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Mellon University. She received an M.B.A. from the University of San Francisco and a bachelor’s degree in cognitive psychology from Carnegie Mellon University.
Dr. Delgoffe is an associate professor in the Department of Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, and a co-Founder and Director of Novasenta. Dr. Delgoffe’s research program studies how immune cells sense and acquire metabolic fuel to support anti-cancer immune responses. He has published in several high impact journals (Nature, Immunity, Nature Immunology) and translated his findings into several novel clinical trials for cancer.
Dr. Delgoffe brings an appreciation for several understudied mechanisms of immune suppression in cancer along with a passion and proven track record of reversing or redirecting immunoregulatory pathways to promote curative immunotherapeutic responses in patients.
He earned his Ph.D in 2010 from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed postdoctoral training at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in 2014.
Dr. Kleinz is Senior Vice President and Head of Translational Sciences at UPMC Enterprises. Matthias joined UPMC Enterprises in July 2017 to help the ITTC invest and commercialize innovative translational science by defining the true potential of new life science technologies, exploring optimal business models and strategies, and helping to form companies with a clear path to success. Matthias sits on the board of other UPMC Enterprises portfolio companies Generian and Cerevance. He is also a member of the executive committee for the UPMC Genome Center. Prior to UPMC Enterprises, Matthias spent nine years in management consulting at L.E.K. Consulting in its life sciences practice in Boston and London leading teams on over 70 strategic assignments for clients in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
Dr. Kleinz completed his PhD in the Clinical Pharmacology Unit of the University of Cambridge (UK), working on early stage discovery of G-protein-coupled receptor targets for hypertension, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome and graduated from Justus Liebig University in Giessen (GER) with a doctorate in clinical veterinary medicine.
Dr. Ferris is a co-Founder and scientific advisor for Novasenta. He is Hillman Professor of Oncology and Director at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Associate Vice Chancellor for Cancer Research at University of Pittsburgh, and Professor of Otolaryngology, of Immunology, and of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Ferris currently serves on the Editorial Boards of JNCI, JCO, Clinical Cancer Research, Cancer Immunology Research. He is Editor in Chief of Oral Oncology. Dr. Ferris has published over 400 peer-reviewed manuscripts, which have been cited over 45,000 times producing an h-index over 100. He served as co-chair of the NCI Steering Committee for 6 years to facilitate prospective clinical trials.
Dr. Ferris has been lead investigator of several practice-changing, prospective randomized trials, including Checkmate-141 which led to the FDA approval of nivolumab immunotherapy for head and neck cancer in 2016, ECOG 3311, testing radiation dose-deintensification for HPV+ oropharynx cancer, and ECOG-ACRIN 3132, using disruptive p53 mutation for molecular staging of high-risk cancer. The Ferris lab has been continuously funded by the NCI since 2005, focused on neoadjuvant “window” trials of immuno-oncology agents, and developing single-cell RNA sequencing and proteomic technologies for novel therapeutics and biomarkers of response in the tumor microenvironment, collaborating with many early phase biotech companies to develop new therapeutic agents. He serves on multiple scientific advisory boards for early phase biotech companies.
Dr. Vignali, is a co-Founder of Novasenta. Dr. Vignali is also the Frank Dixon Chair in Cancer Immunology, a Distinguished Professor and Vice Chair of the Immunology Department at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He is also Associate Director for Scientific Strategy, co-leader of the Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Program and co-director of the Tumor Microenvironment Center in the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. His research focuses on molecular and cellular aspects of negative regulatory immune mechanisms including regulatory T cells, inhibitory receptors, and inhibitory cytokines. His lab was instrumental in uncovering the role of LAG3 in mouse models of cancer, tolerance, autoimmunity and immune regulation. His lab discovered the inhibitory cytokine IL35 and the NRP1:SEMA4A axis, which are key regulators of intratumoral Treg stability and function.
His current research extensively uses systems immunology approaches to understand transcriptional regulation of effector T cell exhaustion and regulatory T cell function and fate in murine models of cancer and autoimmunity, and numerous human tumors. He has been a Highly Cited Researcher (top 1% by citations; Clarivate Analytics) for the last five years (2016-2020) and has published over 200 papers with over 38 as senior or co-author in high impact journals (IF>10). He has a strong record of extramural funding, which currently includes an NIH P01, R35 and three R01 grants. He is Director of the Cancer Immunology Training Program (NCI T32), and has trained, or currently training, 50 postdoctoral research or clinical fellows and 14 graduate students, with several successfully obtaining extramural fellowships (14 total), emphasizing his commitment to train the next generation of immunologists.
Dr. Vignali’s innovative, discovery-based research has led to 15 patent awards (11 in the US) and 11 pending patent applications worldwide, and he is a co-founding scientist of several companies including Potenza Therapeutics [sold to Astellas] and Tizona Therapeutics [sold to Gilead]).
Team
