New senior appointments for Tessara Therapeutics

Australian biotechnology company Tessara Therapeutics has announced a series of advisory board appointments.

The company is developing synthetic human brain micro-tissues as drug screening and neuro-regenerative medicine platforms.

Its RealBrain micro-tissue technology is currently in development. The company said that as a more physiologically relevant and reproducible model of healthy and diseased brain tissues, the biopharmaceutical industry can utilise these models to discover and develop better drugs to treat neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr Jan Lichtenberg joined Tessara in April 2022, bringing a wealth of experience and global sector insights to his role as an industry advisor for Tessara’s drug screening platform.

Currently the CEO of InSphero and Syndya Therapeutics, Dr Lichtenberg is considered a global pioneer in developing and commercialising 3D cell-based technologies and an architect of the 3D Cell Culture industry.

The company said Dr Lichtenberg will be instrumental in guiding its go-to-market strategy in partnership with multi-national Contract Research Organisations and pharmaceutical companies involved in the discovery and preclinical validation of new drug candidates for neurological diseases.

Tessara has also added further industry expertise to its advisory board with the appointment of Dr Damien Bates as a regenerative medicine industry advisor.

Dr Bates has a proven track record in successfully executing preclinical development programs to IND/IDE, clinical trials to product approval and post-marketing medical support for approved and cleared products, and FDA, EMA, PMDA and SwissMedic negotiation and approvals.

Tessara’s CEO Dr Christos Papadimitriou said, “Dr Lichtenberg and Dr Bates bring a wealth of complementary expertise and knowledge to Tessara and our leadership, we are delighted to welcome them to the team.

“It is an exciting period for the Company as we ramp up our commercialisation efforts, bringing us ever closer to achieving our vision of realising a world in which we can protect, restore, and rebuild the brain.”

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