Luigi Aurisicchio, Ph D, Master in “Regulatory Affairs”

Luigi Aurisicchio is currently Founder, Chief Executive and Scientific Officer at Evvivax srl and at Takis srl, two Biotech companies operating in the Castel Romano Scientific Park, Rome. In addition, he is President at Vitares and Group Leader at BIOGEM Research Institute.

As a fellow at Stazione Zoologica “Anton Dohrn” in Naples he characterized molecular events in thyroid development and tumorigenesis. In 1997, he joined IRBM/Merck focusing on the development of gene therapy approaches for the cure of viral hepatitis. Such activities will lead to the characterization of a variety of gene delivery methods that include recombinant Adenovirus vectors (Ad) and DNA electroporation (DNA-EP). These efforts will serve as basis for the Cancer vaccine project leveraging on the experience gained in gene delivery systems for cancer immunotherapy applications. Subsequently, he contributed to the approval and development of Cancer Vaccine program in Merck, being Research Group Leader from 2004 to 2009 and leading from conception to the bedside 5 candidates for clinical development.

At the end of 2009 he founded Takis Biotech. He currently leads a group of 22 scientists/technicians and coordinates research and regulatory activities aiming to the generation of Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines, Generation of Therapeutic Antibodies, identification of novel Tumor Associated Antigens and early biomarkers, Immunomonitoring, Tumor tissue banking and novel vaccine and antibody delivery systems. In June 2016, he founded Evvivax (Engineered Veterinary Vectored Immunotherapy and Vaccines), a company spin off from Takis, dedicated to Veterinary Immunotherapy. He is also President of Vitares (Veterinary Immunotherapy and Translational Research), a no-profit association aiming at bringing together Veterinary and Human Immune-Oncology and providing education on novel therapies.

Dr. Aurisicchio has trained several PhD students from Italian Universities (Rome, Perugia, Pisa, Catanzaro) as well as Summer Students from other Institutions (Univ. Sheffield, San Diego, Georgia). His research interests include the discovery, characterization and engineering of novel tumor associated antigens for cancer vaccines, but also intratumoral delivery of siRNAs and development of Oncology pre-clinical models. He has published >80 papers in peer reviewed International Journals, one book chapter and is author of 8 patents.