CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – October 16, 2019 – Casma Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company harnessing the process of autophagy to design powerful new medicines, today announced that Steven Gygi, Ph.D., will join its scientific advisory board.
A professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School, Gygi brings considerable expertise in applying mass spectrometry-based technologies to the field of proteomics. With his support, Casma will leverage those techniques to better understand the protein complexes that drive the cell’s natural recycling process, known as autophagy. Gygi will join founding scientific advisory board members Sascha Martens at the University of Vienna, Austria and Pietro De Camilli at Yale University, who were appointed to Casma’s SAB in March 2019.
“Proteomics technology, which is evolving as we speak, plays a critical role in both our foundational research and our drive to develop new therapeutics,” said Leon Murphy, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Casma Therapeutics. “We are fortunate to call upon Steve and his substantial knowledge in mass spectrometry to help us advance our understanding of autophagy and its potential to reverse or halt the progression of liver and muscle disorders, neurodegeneration and other diseases.”
Gygi joined the department of cell biology at Harvard Medical School in 2000 and has since spent nearly two decades exploring the growing field of mass spectrometry-based proteomics. His lab conducts comprehensive measurements of protein properties using mass spectrometry technology. The results allow for wide-ranging analysis of biological responses to environmental, genetic and pharmacological perturbations. In addition to his work at Harvard Medical School, Gygi is a member of the scientific advisory board at Thermo Fisher Scientific and a scientific co-founder of Cedilla Therapeutics. He earned his Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of Utah and conducted postdoctoral research with Professor Ruedi Aebersold, an early trailblazer in the proteomics field, at the University of Washington.
“Thanks to evolving capabilities for mass spectrometry, we are developing a much greater understanding of proteomic processes and their role in human health,” Gygi said. “Casma’s unique drug discovery approach offers a compelling opportunity to capitalize on that growing knowledge to develop treatments for a range of severe diseases. I am excited to join Casma’s scientific advisory board to support this important work.”
About Casma Therapeutics
Casma Therapeutics is harnessing the natural cellular process of autophagy to open vast new target areas for drug discovery and development. Casma uses several approaches to intervene at strategic points throughout the autophagy-lysosome system to improve the cellular process of clearing out unwanted proteins, aggregates, organelles and invading pathogens. By boosting autophagy, Casma expects to be able to arrest or reverse the progression of lysosomal storage disorders, muscle disorders, inflammatory disorders and neurodegeneration, among other indications. Casma was launched in 2018 by Third Rock Ventures and is based in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit www.casmatx.com.
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