PITTSBURGH, PA, May 25, 2022 — BlueSphere Bio, a T-cell receptor (TCR) T-cell therapy company developing a powerful TCR discovery platform and novel therapeutic candidates for patients with hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, today announced that Sawa Ito, M.D., Ph.D., was selected to provide an oral presentation during the 2022 Joint ASTCT + EBMT Basic and Translational Scientific retreat. The retreat is a select gathering limited to 100 attendees focused on basic and translation biology in the field.
The presentation will highlight the capabilities of the company’s TCXpress™ platform and its ability to rapidly clone TCRs against specific targets from single T cells. This work enabled the discovery of BlueSphere’s first clinical candidate, a TCR T-cell therapy directed against the minor histocompatibility antigen (miHA) HA-1. The company anticipates filing its first IND by the end of 2022. The TCXpress™ platform has also enabled the discovery of four new TCRs reactive against other relevant miHAs, in addition to HA-1. BlueSphere plans to announce details on these other targets later this year.
Title: High Throughput Cloning Reveals Diverse Properties of anti-HA-1 T Cell Receptors
Presenter: Dr. Sawa Ito, hematologist/oncologist at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology-Oncology and Department of Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Time: 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. MT
About TCXpress™
TCXpress™ is a proprietary high-throughput and efficient T-cell receptor (TCR) capture, expression and functional screening platform capable of processing thousands of single T cells directly into functionally expressed TCRs within a matter of days, thereby creating extensive libraries without the need for sequencing or TCR gene synthesis.
About BlueSphere Bio
BlueSphere Bio is the first translational sciences stand-alone company formed by UPMC Enterprises, the innovation, commercialization and venture capital arm of the Pittsburgh-based health system. The company was founded upon the unique, advanced TCR discovery platform – TCXpress™, designed to isolate and functionally characterize TCRs with speed and efficiency. BlueSphere anticipates filing its first IND application in 2022 for a novel TCR T-cell therapy for patients with high-risk leukemias, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and myeloid dysplastic syndrome (MDS) in the context of
allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Concurrent with its program for hematologic cancers, BlueSphere is deploying TCXpress™ and NEOXpress™, a proprietary patient-specific neoantigen discovery platform, to target patient-specific neoantigens, and anticipates additional virtual patient data from multiple solid tumor types over the next year.
Company Contact
Kim Jaffe
Vice President, Business Development & Operations
+1- 609-306-7042
kjaffe@bluespherebio.com
Media Contact
Andrew Mielach
LifeSci Communications
+1-646-876-5868
amielach@lifescicomms.com
