How does one maintain innovation in the antibody industry? In this episode of The Chain, host Tariq Ghayur, PhD, consultant and entrepreneur in residence, FairJourney Biologics, talks with Janine Schuurman, PhD, president of The Antibody Society, independent biotech consultant and founder of Lust for Life Sciences, about her inspiration to get into antibody engineering, her impressive career at Genmab, advice for a productive work environment, and her current work . Dr. Schuurman also shares insights on staying innovative, how to deal with the challenges of the industry, why young scientists should not be afraid to fail, as well as her plans as the new president of The Antibody Society.
GUEST BIO
Janine Schuurman, PhD, president of The Antibody Society; independent biotech consultant and founder of Lust for Life Sciences
Janine’s career centers around the antibody molecule as a biological source of inspiration and as a therapeutic modality.
Inspired to study biological mechanisms at the molecular level, she entered the antibody research domain during her PhD. After several post-doc positions, she decided to join Genmab’s R&D team in 2000 as one of the first scientists. For over two decades, she passionately worked to develop innovative antibody therapeutics at Genmab, with her most recent position being Senior Vice President heading Genmab’s Antibody Research and Technologies.
She is a co-inventor of many therapeutic antibodies and of the DuoBody, HexaBody, and HexElect technologies, which enable the generation of bispecific and effector-function enhanced antibodies. These technologies are being applied to antibody therapeutics discovery programs at leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide and have resulted in FDA-approved therapies such as RYBREVANT (amivantamab), EPKINLY (epcoritamab), TECVAYLY (teclistamab), and TALVEY® (talquatamab). Furthermore, she championed many successful academic and industry partnerships in the field of antibody therapeutics and complementary fields of research.
Janine is frequently invited to serve as speaker, as well as chair, at scientific conferences around the world due to her vision, impactful scientific publication track record and dynamic presentations.
Throughout her entire career Janine has actively served the scientific and biotechnology community. She joined The Antibody Society’s Board of Directors in 2020 and currently serves as president of this international, non-profit trade association, which represents individuals and organizations involved in antibody-related research and development.
Janine is currently an independent biotech consultant (Lust for Life Science B.V.) and collaborates with many organizations, including Bioqube Ventures and Cartography Biosciences.
MODERATOR BIO
Tariq Ghayur, PhD, Tariq Ghayur Consulting, LLC and entrepreneur in residence, FairJourney Biologics
Dr. Ghayur retired from AbbVie (July 2021) and works as an independent consultant. He has 30+ years’ experience leading multi-disciplinary and cross-therapeutic area Biologics discovery programs and developing novel Biologics platforms. Several biologics programs resulted in clinical development candidates. Dr. Ghayur led the team that pioneered the discovery and development of the Dual – variable – Domain -Ig (DVD-Ig) and other multi-specific platforms. Dr. Ghayur also led the team that defined the uptake, intracellular trafficking, and lysosomal degradation of anti-TNF mAbs/DVD-Ig, resulting in the concept of anti-TNF-ADC (next-Gen anti-TNF). In addition, Dr. Ghayur proposed and helped implement several corporate-wide (Abbott & AbbVie) initiatives to foster cross-functional/cross-TA collaborations to bring forward innovative concepts/programs.