Kling Biotherapeutics Strengthens Leadership Team to Advance Pipeline Using its Proprietary Primary B-Cell Selection and Evolution Platform
- Alessandra Micaela Villa appointed Director of Platform Development
- Rob Roovers appointed Director of Preclinical Development
Amsterdam, NLD – 10 December 2024 – Kling Biotherapeutics (“Kling” or “the Company”), a biotech company developing antibody-based drugs for cancer and infectious diseases, today announces the appointments of Alessandra Micaela Villa as Director of Platform Development and Rob Roovers as Director of Preclinical Development, as it strengthens its leadership team to progress its pipeline across cancer and infectious diseases.
Alessandra joins from Molecular Partners, a clinical-stage biotech company developing a new class of custom-built protein drugs known as DARPins. Rob was previously head of preclinical development at LAVA Therapeutics, a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company focused on developing its proprietary Gammabody ® platform of bispecific gamma delta T cell engagers.
Michael Koslowski, Chief Executive Officer at Kling Biotherapeutics, said: “Alessandra and Rob’s appointments come at a pivotal time of growth and development for Kling. By utilizing our groundbreaking commercially validated primary B-cell selection and evolution platform to identify therapeutic antibodies from B-cells of ‘exceptional responders’, we are laser-focused on developing best-in-class therapeutics for cancer and infectious diseases.”
Prior to Molecular Partners, Alessandra led the Antibody Research and Phage Display Technology to design and develop anti-cancer immunocytokines from R&D into IND-enabling studies. Alessandra has a PhD in the Generation and Engineering of Therapeutic Antibodies for Tumour Targeting from ETH-Zürich and holds an MSc in Industrial Biotechnology from Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca.
Before his time at LAVA Therapeutics, Rob worked at Merus, where he co-developed Merus’ bispecifics, of which two are on the verge of being registered drugs. He has a PhD in Antibody Engineering and Development in Oncology from the University of Maastricht, after which he completed his postdoctoral studies at the Dutch Cancer Institute and Utrecht University. Rob holds an MSc in Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology and Immunology from the Radboud University in Nijmegen.
