The Institute for Protein Innovation Welcomes Esteemed Industry Leader Kenneth Fasman, Ph.D., as President and CEO

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Institute for Protein Innovation (IPI), a nonprofit research organization that advances protein science to accelerate biomedical research and improve human health, today announced the appointment of Kenneth Fasman, Ph.D., as President and CEO. Dr. Fasman comes to IPI from the Jackson Laboratory (JAX), where he served as Senior Vice President for Research.

The IPI Board of Trustees recognized that Dr. Fasman’s unique experience in the academic, industry and not-for-profit sectors would help the Institute fulfill its mission and ambition. The IPI aims to provide protein-based research resources and tools, advance protein science through investigator-led research, and increase the education of life scientists. Specifically, Dr. Fasman will lead the IPI in:

• Scaling IPI’s recombinant synthetic antibody platform to broadly serve scientific communities through antibody collaboration and distribution.

• Implement a sustainable model of independent research led by IPI faculty and fellows that enhances the platform and applies protein tools and methods to understand human biology and disease more deeply.

• Development of an education program to promote and disseminate the forefront of protein science.

“There aren’t many institutions aiming to be both a world-class academic research organization and a sustainable, not-for-profit provider of resources, tools, and services to the life science community” , said Dr. Fasman.I can bring my experience to improving the creative partnership between these two components. Our goal is to have the same impact on protein science that institutions like the Broad or Sanger institutes have had for genomics. »

A leader in collaborative scientific research and technology platform management for biomedical research, Dr. Fasman led strategy and performance for informatics R&D and drug development at AstraZeneca and served as Chief Scientific Officer at the Adelson Medical Research Foundation before joining JAX in 2015. Dr. Fasman holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a BSE in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Princeton University.

His arrival at IPI comes at a fortuitous time of growth for the organization. The Institute was founded in 2017 by Harvard Medical School professors Timothy Springer, Ph.D., and Andrew Kruse, Ph.D., and launched through the philanthropy of Dr. Springer.

“Over the past two years, IPI has optimized its technology and more clearly targeted its antibody platform to serve scientific communities in areas like neuroscience, where traditional antibodies are lacking,” said Rob Meijers, Ph. D., IPI’s acting executive director and director of the antibody platform. “On behalf of the IPI and its Board of Directors, I welcome Ken to lead us into the next chapter, expanding our faculty and preparing us for the distribution of our antibodies.”

IPI strengthens its board of directors

To further steer IPI toward development and expansion, IPI appointed Samantha Singer, MBA, Chair of the Board of Directors and elected Stephen Blacklow, MD, Ph.D., as a new Board Member.

Ms. Singer is an experienced biotechnology leader with more than two decades of expertise in company formation, business development and operations. She is currently President and CEO of Abata Therapeutics and is a former board member of 5:01 Special Acquisition Corp. Previously, Ms. Singer was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Third Rock Ventures, specializing in business building across the firm’s portfolio. Previously, she served as Chief Operating Officer of the Broad Institute and Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Chief of Staff at Biogen Inc. Ms. Singer holds a master’s degree in molecular biology from Rockefeller University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

“The most important factors in building a biotech, whether non-profit or for-profit, are having a compelling mission, having great people behind it, and creating an environment where they can thrive and achieve the vision,” Ms. Singer says.”The IPI has this mission. He has Tim Springer’s vision. Now he has Ken’s talent and experience as a top notch executive. I’m delighted to be part of this team.”

Dr. Blacklow is Gustavus Adolphus Pfeiffer Professor and Chair of the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Department of Cancer Biology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Blacklow is a recipient of the National Cancer Institute’s prestigious Outstanding Investigator Award and was elected to the Association of American Physicians in 2018. Dr. Blacklow holds an MD and Ph.D. in Bioorganic Chemistry from Harvard University, completed residency in Clinical Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and did postdoctoral research at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

“I believe in the purpose of the IPI and its mission,” says Dr. Blacklow. “Going far beyond providing a repertoire of antibodies to the scientific community, IPI is poised to be uniquely innovative and creative in the field of protein science. »

Save this date

To mark its progress and share its vision for the next phase of development, the IPI is pleased to announce that it will host its first symposium. The event, titled “IPI Surfacing,” will be an in-person scientific meeting with presentations and discussions from eminent scientists from around the world, including Christopher Garcia, Ph.D., of Stanford University, Yvonne Jones, Ph. .D., from the University of Oxford, Andreas Plückthun, Ph.D., from the University of Zurich and Junichi Takagi, Ph.D., from the University of Osaka. The symposium will be held at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts on June 15, 2023. Additional details about the event will be shared in the coming months.

About the IPI

The Institute for Protein Innovation (IPI) is at the forefront of a new approach to scientific discovery and collaboration. As a not-for-profit research institute, we provide universities and industry with synthetic antibodies and deep protein expertise, enabling researchers to unlock biology’s most elusive mysteries. Our mission is to advance protein science to accelerate research and improve human health.