IFM Therapeutics Appoints Michael Cooke, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer

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Jan 07, 2020, 06:30 ET

BOSTON, Jan. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- IFM Therapeutics (IFM), a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies that modulate novel targets in the innate immune system, today announced the appointment of Michael Cooke, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer. In his role, Dr. Cooke will work with IFM's leadership and board to guide overall scientific and research strategy, partnerships and capabilities.

"At IFM Therapeutics, we have assembled a world-class team of scientists with deep experience translating scientific discovery into transformative therapies that target the innate immune system," said Dr. H. Martin Seidel, Chief Executive Officer of IFM. "Mike's extensive experience in leading R&D teams at all stages of drug development, combined with his deep passion for delivering scientific breakthroughs in areas of high unmet medical need, make him the perfect fit for IFM. His two-plus decades of expertise in the fields of immunology, innate and adaptive immunity and their applications to autoimmune disease, inflammation and immuno-oncology will be a tremendous asset to our team."

Dr. Cooke joins IFM from Magenta Therapeutics where he most recently served as Chief Scientific Officer, leading an organization responsible for developing curative medicines for hematologic malignancy, genetic diseases and autoimmune disease through advances in bone marrow transplantation.

Prior to Magenta, Dr. Cooke was a founding scientist at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, where he held several positions including Executive Director of Immunology. There, he facilitated the development of an innovative portfolio of therapeutic discovery programs for autoimmunity, inflammation, immuno-oncology and bone marrow transplantation. He previously served as Director of Functional Genomics at SyStemix in the area of hematopoietic stem cell biology.

"I am impressed by IFM's track record and am excited to take on this opportunity to discover and develop small molecule immunotherapies against novel targets in the innate immune system," said Dr. Cooke. "I believe the innate immune system provides a deep pool of validated targets for the next wave of immunomodulatory therapies and look forward to applying my experience to IFM's ground-breaking efforts in this area."

Dr. Cooke earned a B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Washington. He completed postdoctoral research on the molecular basis of B cell tolerance with Dr. Christopher Goodnow at Stanford University. He is a co-author on over 60 peer-reviewed publications and is a co-inventor on over 20 patents and patent applications.

About IFM Therapeutics, LLC

IFM Therapeutics (IFM) is an independent, privately-held biopharmaceutical company based in Boston, Massachusetts. IFM's team has discovered and developed small molecules that modulate novel targets in the innate immune system as next-generation therapies for cancer, autoimmunity, and inflammatory disorders. IFM places each program (or set of related programs) in its own dedicated, independently financed, R&D-focused subsidiary company, which is supported by the common infrastructure, management team and resources of the IFM enterprise. For more information on IFM and its model, please visit https://www.ifmthera.com.

SOURCE IFM Therapeutics