Vedanta Biosciences’ Silvia Caballero, Ph.D., Named as an MIT Technology Review Global Innovator Under 35
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vedanta Biosciences, a clinical-stage company developing a new category of therapies for immune-mediated diseases based on rationally-defined consortia of human microbiome-derived bacteria, today announced that a Vedanta scientific team member, Silvia Caballero, Ph.D., has been named as one of MIT Technology Review’s Global Innovators Under 35.
“Silvia is a brilliant young scientist who has made important contributions to the microbiome field by describing the role of the intestinal microbiota in providing resistance against colonization by gut pathogens, starting with her doctoral work at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to now leading Vedanta’s efforts against several multidrug-resistant organisms presenting major challenges for healthcare systems. I believe she exemplifies the story this award seeks to celebrate: an inventor who has made a meaningful scientific contribution and then kept going to find a way to translate the discovery to benefit society,” said Bernat Olle, Ph.D. co-founder and chief executive officer of Vedanta Biosciences.
Dr. Caballero leads Vedanta’s multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) decolonization program, which focuses on designing bacterial consortia to prevent infections with MDROs and other gut pathogens by eliminating them from the intestine, which is frequently colonized prior to infection. MDROs are responsible for hundreds of thousands of infections in high-risk patients in the United States and Europe each year. Vedanta’s anti-MDRO drug candidate is currently in development and represents a novel strategy that could potentially benefit patients at high risk for infection as well as potentially aid in reducing the use of antibiotics and the spread of antibiotic resistance.
Dr. Caballero earned her undergraduate degree in biological sciences from Hunter College and doctorate degree from Weill Cornell Medical College in microbiology and immunology, where she developed microbiome-based tools to identify gut bacteria responsible for fighting off MDROs. In 2018, Dr. Caballero was named Pioneer of the Year for MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 for Latin America.
About Vedanta Biosciences
Vedanta Biosciences is a clinical-stage company developing a new category of therapies for immune-mediated diseases based on rationally-defined consortia of human microbiome-derived bacteria. Vedanta Biosciences is a leader in the microbiome field with capabilities and deep expertise to discover, develop, and manufacture live bacteria drugs. These include what is believed to be the largest collection of human-gut associated bacteria, a suite of proprietary assays to select pharmacologically potent strains, vast proprietary datasets from human interventional studies, and facilities for cGMP-compliant manufacturing of rationally-defined bacterial consortia in powder form. Vedanta Biosciences' pioneering work, in collaboration with its scientific co-founders, has led to the identification of human commensal bacteria that induce a range of immune responses – including induction of regulatory T cells, CD8+ T cells, and Th17 cells, among others. These advances have been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Science (multiple), Nature (2013, 2019), Cell, and Nature Immunology. Vedanta Biosciences has harnessed these biological insights and its capabilities to generate a pipeline of programs in infectious disease, autoimmune disease, allergy, and immuno-oncology.
Vedanta Biosciences was founded by PureTech Health (LSE.PRTC). Its scientific co-founders are world-renowned experts in immunology and microbiology who have pioneered the fields of innate immunity, Th17 and regulatory T cell biology, and include Ruslan Medzhitov, Ph.D., (Yale and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)), Brett Finlay, Ph.D., (University of British Columbia and HHMI), Kenya Honda, Ph.D., (Keio University and RIKEN), Dan Littman, Ph.D., (New York University and HHMI), Alexander Rudensky, Ph.D., (Sloan Kettering and HHMI), and Jeremiah Faith, Ph.D., (Mount Sinai School of Medicine).
Investors
Allison Mead Talbot
+1 617 651 3156
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U.S. Media
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