Avantor® Announces New Scientific Advisory Board

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Sep 21, 2023, 08:05 ET

Board Will Accelerate Solutions for Life Sciences Customers; Includes Experts in Biologic Manufacturing Sciences and Technology, Chemistry and Gene Therapy

RADNOR, Pa., Sept. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Avantor, Inc. (NYSE: AVTR), a leading global provider of mission-critical products and services for customers in the life sciences and technology industries, today announced the creation of a new Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), which will provide strategic guidance and consult on the Company's mid- to long-term research and development efforts to deliver solutions for the life sciences industry, including biotech and pharma customers.

The SAB brings deep knowledge and experience in clinical research, academia, and industry to Avantor, and a passion for advancing science that improves health and well-being. By bringing together experts with a track record of working across innovative modalities, the SAB will enable Avantor to better serve customer needs as well as emerging opportunities and challenges facing the life sciences industry.

Ger Brophy, Ph.D. and EVP, BioPharma Production at Avantor will serve as Chair of the SAB. Initial members include: Brendan Hughes, Ph.D., Consultant and Former SVP of Global Manufacturing at Bristol Myers Squibb; Erik Sorensen, Ph.D., Arthur Allan Patchett Professor in Organic Chemistry, Princeton University; and Johannes van der Loo, Ph.D., Director, Clinical Vector Core at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

"Integral to Avantor's value proposition is our deep technical expertise and agility in delivering solutions designed for our customers' needs. Our goal is to support customers at every step of the scientific journey, and our Scientific Advisory Board will play a pivotal role in steering and accelerating our innovation priorities," said Michael Stubblefield, President and CEO, Avantor. "We are pleased to have this esteemed group of scientists collaborating with our teams to set science in motion."

"We are in a golden age of science where the pace of scientific advancement, potential of new technologies, and opportunities to improve human health are vast," said Ger Brophy, EVP, Biopharma Production and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board. "Dr. Hughes, Dr. Sorensen, and Dr. van der Loo are renowned scientists and I look forward to their partnership to advance our research and development agenda, and to expanding our Board in the future."

Avantor Scientific Advisory Board Member Bios

Brendan Hughes, Ph.D. has more than 30 years of leadership roles in the biotech and pharma industry, including Process Development, Quality and Manufacturing Operations. Most recently, he was SVP of Global Manufacturing at Bristol Myers Squibb. Previously, Dr. Hughes held leadership roles at GSK and Pfizer in the U.S. and Europe in Manufacturing Sciences and Technology, Process Development and Quality Assurance for a range of innovative medicines including biologics and vaccines. Earlier in his career, he was a member of the Biotech Expert group in the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use process, which developed several foundational Chemistry Manufacturing & Controls regulatory guidelines for biotech medicines. Dr. Hughes received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the National University of Ireland in Galway, Ireland.

Erik Sorensen, Ph.D. is the Arthur Allen Patchett Professor in Organic Chemistry at Princeton University. The Sorensen laboratory is focused on the field of complex chemical synthesis, questions about the structural origins of architecturally unique natural products and evaluating hypotheses about the chemical basis of the biological activities of natural products and non-natural molecules. In recognition of his achievements, Dr. Sorensen has received a Beckman Young Investigator Award, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the AstraZeneca Award for Excellence in Chemistry, the Lilly Grantee Award, the Pfizer Global Research Award for Excellence in Organic Chemistry, and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Unrestricted Grant in Synthetic Organic Chemistry. In addition, he has served as a Woodward Scholar at Harvard University (2001) and the Givaudan/Karrer Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Zürich (2009). In 2009, he received the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society. Dr. Sorensen obtained his Ph.D. in chemical synthesis from the University of California, San Diego.

Johannes van der Loo, Ph.D. is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Director of the Clinical Vector Core at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). His expertise includes process development and manufacturing of pre-clinical and GMP-grade adeno-associated virus (AAV) and lentiviral vectors applicable to early phase clinical trials since 2002. He was involved in the development, design, commissioning, and qualification of several cGMP facilities. In 2021, the manufacturing facility at CHOP received the 2021 Facility of the Year Honorable Mention Award by the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering. Previously, Dr. van der Loo was a founder and served as the Director of the Vector Production Facility at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. He served on the Translational Science and Product Development Committee of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (2016-2022) and Editorial Board of Molecular Therapy – Methods & Clinical Development, Translational Science (2013-2022). He continues to serve as a thought leader, scientific advisor, and consultant in several capacities. Dr. van der Loo obtained his Ph.D. in cell biology from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

About Avantor

Avantor^®, a Fortune 500 company, is a leading global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the life sciences and technology industries. Our portfolio is used in virtually every stage of the most important research, development and production activities in the industries we serve. Our global footprint enables us to serve more than 300,000 customer locations and gives us extensive access to research laboratories and scientists in more than 180 countries. We set science in motion to create a better world. For more information, visit avantorsciences.com and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

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