2021 SPARK
Translational Medicine Symposium

Dr. Backer is currently the owner and manager of Alava Biopharm Partners, a consulting firm started in 2013 with broad capabilities to support development of biological products including cell and gene therapies. Dr. Backer hasexperience in the development and manufacturing of a wide variety of biopharmaceuticals including antibodies, proteins, viral-based vaccines and cell therapies. He also has business experience as a biotech startup CEO, and was founding chairman of the vector manufacturing firm SAFC Pharma. Dr. Backer� industry experience began in 1978, when he was the seventh employee of Genentech and initiated its pilot manufacturing operations. He led pioneering efforts in large-scale cell culture technology and ex-vivo expansion and transfection of human stem cells. He also served as CEO of Vaxart (viral-based oral vaccine platform), SVP Technical Operations with Jennerex, VP Technical Development with Protein Design Labs, and previously served in positions of increasing responsibility with firms including Aviron (now MedImmune Vaccines), Systemix, IDEC, and Eli Lilly. Dr. Backer received a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington, and a BS in Chemistry from Stanford University.

Isabella Graef, M.D., is a scientific co-founder of Eidos Therapeutics and a faculty member at Stanford University. Dr. Graef� medical training, together with her research training at University of California, Berkeley and Stanford, led her to address questions at the intersection of medicine, biology and chemistry. Dr. Isabella Graef developed a screen to search for small molecules capable of stabilizing the Transthyretin(TTR) protein in its native tetramer and preventing aggregation of unstable monomers. Her lab was able to identify a novel small molecule that stabilized both the mutant and wild-type forms of TTR Testing in patient blood showed the molecule prevented monomer dissociation and reduced toxicity of aggregates. SPARK support helped the team to perform oral dosing studies in animals and show superiority of the small molecule lead to other compounds in development for TTR amyloidosis.

Lyn Frumkin consults on biotechnology for start-up and early stage biotechnology companies. He previously worked at Amgen Inc. and ICOS Corp., where he provided varying expertise, including leading clinical teams conducting global development programs across multiple therapeutic indications with successful approval of pivotal trials and programs in North America, Europe, and Japan. Lyn received his BS and a combined MD-PhD from the University of Washington. His postgraduate training in internal medicine was at Stanford University, with subsequent subspecialty training in Neurology (UCLA) and Infectious Diseases/Virology (University of Washington).