Bioconjugate Advisory Board

Catalent’s Bioconjugate Advisory Board is comprised of recognized experts in the field of bioconjugates, drawing members with industry-leading track records of success in academia, science, CMC, clinical pipeline strategy, regulatory and product licensing, and business. The board provides strategic and tactical guidance on Catalent’s SMARTag® technology platform features and offerings, as well as target selection, pipeline development, and out-licensing. Board members include:

Carolyn Bertozzi, Board Chair

Professor of Chemistry, Stanford University
Nobel Laureate

Carolyn Bertozzi is the Baker Family Director of Sarafan ChEM-H and the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Humanities and Sciences in the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University. She is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her research focuses on profiling changes in cell surface glycosylation associated with cancer, inflammation and infection, and exploiting this information for development of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, most recently in the area of immuno-oncology. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Most recently she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Wolf Prize in Chemistry, Dr H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics, and Welch Prize in Chemistry. She also was awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize, among many others.

Mary Janatpour, PH.D.

Chief Scientific Officer, Actym Therapeutics

Mary Janatpour, Ph.D., has served on the Bioconjugates Advisory Board at Catalent Pharma Solutions since January 2023. She is the Chief Scientific Officer at Actym Therapeutics and also serves on the Board of Directors of Active Motif. Prior to working with Actym, Dr. Janatpour served as EVP and Chief Scientific Officer at Spotlight Therapeutics, where she was responsible for the overall strategy and build of Spotlight’s therapeutic pipeline, optimally leveraging the company’s proprietary CRISPR-based in situ gene editing platform. Prior to Spotlight, Dr. Janatpour served as Vice President Oncology Research at Dynavax Technologies where she led an immuno-oncology clinical program through Ph1 and a research laboratory focused on rational clinical combinations with TLR agonists. As a pipeline builder for much of her career, she built oncology early-stage portfolios at Chiron Corporation, Schering-Plough Biopharma and Novartis (ADCs) and was an independent consultant for immuno-oncology start-ups with novel platforms. Pertinent to Catalent’s BAB, Dr. Janatpour’s research efforts at Novartis, Dynavax and Spotlight all exploited using antibodies to deliver payloads to select cells. Dr. Janatpour received her BA in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and a PhD in Biomedical Science from the University of California, San Francisco. She did her post-doctoral training in Immunology at the DNAX Research Institute in Palo Alto, CA.

PAMELA N. MUNSTER, M.D.

Professor of Medicine, UCSF

Founder and CEO, Alessa Therapeutics

Pamela Munster is the Marian Moghadam Safinia Distinguished Professor in Residence, the Program Leader for Molecular Oncology, and the Co-leader of the BRCA Center for Research and Hereditary Cancer Clinic at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is also the founder and current CEO of Alessa Therapeutics, a UCSF Spin-off, which develops organ selective localized therapeutic interventions. Pamela serves on several NCI study sections including the steering committee for PREVENT. Additionally, she is the Co-chair of the Experiential Therapeutics committee at the Alliance of Clinical Trials in Oncology, chairs the Exam Committee for the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), and advises AnCan, a large national patient advocacy program as a board member. Pamela’s NCI funded basic research laboratory is focused on epigenetic and inherited factors of tumor development and treatment. Dr. Munster’s clinical mission is to translate novel scientific discovery more rapidly to patient care by integrating multi-modality novel treatment strategies and new detection methods with the goal to allow patients with incurable cancer real time and broad access to scientific advances. Dr. Munster has published in numerous peer-reviewed scientific journals and textbooks. She has recently authored “Twisting Fate”, a book on her journey of carrying the BRCA mutation.

Pamela Trail

Owner, AGL Biotechnology Consultants, LLC

Pamela A. Trail, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized expert in oncology drug research and development with over 30 years of experience including antibody-drug conjugates, bispecific T-cell engagers, immunomodulatory antibodies, tumor-directed immune modulators and small molecule drugs. Her work has led to multiple IND filings and four approved oncology drugs. Dr. Trail has published extensively and is a co-inventor on multiple small molecule and biologic based patents. Dr. Trail has held senior leadership roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bayer Healthcare, Seattle Genetics, MedImmune, Regeneron and Molecular Partners.

Greg Thurber

Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Michigan

Greg M. Thurber is Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan and Associate Chair of Graduate Education in ChE. His work focuses on applying fundamental biotransport principles to design novel therapeutics and molecular imaging agents including antibody-drug conjugates. Prof. Thurber received his Ph.D. training in protein therapeutics at MIT in the laboratory of Dr. Dane Wittrup and postdoctoral training in molecular imaging at Mass General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the lab of Dr. Ralph Weissleder. During his career, he has authored over 65 papers and book chapters and delivered 85 invited talks at major pharmaceutical companies, national and international conferences, and university departmental seminars. He also has consulting/research contract affiliations with more than 20 different companies. Prof. Thurber’s work has been featured in popular news outlets including NPR’s “All Things Considered” and Smithsonian Magazine, and he has received several awards including an NIH K01 award, the National Science Foundation CAREER award, and the World ADC George R. Pettit Award for Individual Contribution to the Field of Antibody Drug Conjugates.

Jonathan Ellis

Independent Consultant & Advisor

Jon Ellis, Ph.D. is an accomplished executive and scientist with more than 30 years of experience in the pharma and biotech industry. Currently working as an independent consultant and advisor, he previously spent more than 25 years in various leadership roles at GSK and predecessor companies, including Head of Antibody Engineering, VP Biopharm Business Development, VP and Head of Science and Technology Licensing; and most recently VP and Head of Technology BD. In these roles Jon created and led GSK’s strategic BD practice for platforms and technology globally, resulting in a broad range of transactions including licensing, M&A, divestment, and novel risk-sharing constructs. Dr Ellis has served on the boards of public and private companies, most notably Orchard Therapeutics where he was a member of the science & technology and audit committees. Jon has a particular interest in strategy and deal-making around complex technologies and emerging therapeutic modalities, and has worked extensively in biopharmaceuticals, cell & gene therapy, big data and genetics. He is an inventor on more than 35 global patent families covering technologies and therapeutic molecules, many of which have been the subject of clinical studies. Jon holds Master of Arts and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Cambridge, and a Master of Business Administration from Henley Management College specializing in R&D productivity.