Dr. Marasco joined the Company in 2003 and was appointed Senior Scientific Advisor in August 2004. Dr. Marasco is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cancer Immunology & AIDS at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Marasco is a licensed physician- scientist with training in Internal Medicine and specialty training in infectious diseases. His clinical practice sub-specialty is in the treatment of immunocompromised (cancer, bone marrow and solid organ transplants) patients. Dr. Marasco's research laboratory is primarily focused on the areas of antibody engineering and gene therapy. New immuno- and genetic- therapies for HIV-1 infection / AIDS, HTLV-1, the etiologic agent in Adult T-cell Leukemia, and other emerging infectious diseases such as SARS and Avian Influenza are being studied. Dr. Marasco's laboratory is recognized internationally for its pioneering development of intracellular antibodies (sFv) or "intrabodies" as a new class of molecules for research and gene therapy applications. He is the author of more than 90 peer reviewed research publications, numerous chapters, books and monographs and has been an invited speaker at many national and international conferences in the areas of antibody engineering, gene therapy and AIDS. Dr. Marasco is also the Scientific Director of the National Foundation for Cancer Research Center for Therapeutic Antibody Engineering (the "Center"). The Center is located at the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute and will work with investigators globally to develop new human monoclonal antibody drugs for the treatment of human cancers. In 1995, Dr. Marasco founded IntraImmune Therapies, Inc., a gene therapy and antibody engineering company. He served as the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board until the company was acquired by Abgenix in 2000. He has also served as a scientific advisor to several biotechnology companies working in the field of antibody engineering, gene discovery and gene therapy. He is an inventor on numerous issued and pending patent applications. |