Carisma Therapeutics Announces Appointment Of Michael Klichinsky, PharmD, PhD, As Chief Scientific Officer

- Klichinsky, co-founder of Carisma Therapeutics, co-invented the company's proprietary and first-of-its-kind engineered macrophage platform

PHILADELPHIA, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Carisma Therapeutics Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative immunotherapies, has appointed Michael Klichinsky, PharmD, PhD, to the role of Chief Scientific Officer. Klichinsky co-founded the company in 2016 following his foundational work at the University of Pennsylvania that led to the development of Carisma's chimeric antigen receptor macrophage (CAR-M) technology.

"The entire Carisma team is thrilled and honored to have Mike assume the role of Chief Scientific Officer on behalf of the company and to continue driving our novel cell therapy technology," shared Steven Kelly, President and Chief Executive Officer of Carisma. "Working alongside Mike for nearly five years, I continue to be impressed by his expertise and passion for the work that we do – and am confident that through his leadership of our organization's research efforts, we will continue to see the benefits and impact of his thoughtful and critical approach to engineered cell therapies unfold."

Michael Klichinsky, PharmD, PhD, received his PhD in Pharmacology from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he conducted his thesis work under the co-mentorship of Saar Gill, MD, PhD, and Carl June, MD – leading to the co-invention of engineered macrophages and the first-in-human CAR-M therapy CT-0508.

"I am thrilled to continue building upon the pioneering research Carisma is conducting with our engineered macrophage technology," reflected Michael. "This is an exciting time for the science, as we expand our platform into engineering monocytes and iPSC derived myeloid cells. Additionally, we are excited to advance our work on the in vivo reprogramming of myeloid cells through our collaboration with Moderna."

Editor's Note: Carisma has licensed certain Penn-owned intellectual property from the University of Pennsylvania, and Penn's Perelman School of Medicine receives sponsored research and clinical trial funding from the company. Penn, Dr. Gill and Dr. June may also be entitled to receive additional financial benefits from technologies licensed and optioned to Carisma in the future. In addition, Penn and Dr. Gill are each co-founders of the company and as such hold equity interests in Carisma.

About Carisma Therapeutics
Carisma is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing a differentiated and proprietary cell therapy platform focused on engineered macrophages, cells that play a crucial role in both the innate and adaptive immune response. The first applications of the platform, developed in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, are autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-macrophages for the treatment of solid tumors. Carisma is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA.

For more information, please visit www.carismatx.com

Carisma Media Contact:
Julia Stern
(763) 350-5223
[email protected] 

SOURCE Carisma Therapeutics Inc.