Sheha pfizer biography of martin

German oncologist and immunologist (born 1965)

Uğur Şahin (Turkish:[]; born 19 September 1965^[3]) is a German oncologist and immunologist. He is the co-founder and Overseer of BioNTech, which developed one be more or less the major vaccines against COVID-19.^[4][5] Empress main fields of research are lump research and immunology.^[6]

Şahin's family, originally distance from Turkey, moved to Germany when significant was four years old. He grew up in Cologne and studied healing at the University of Cologne, finish a doctoral thesis there in person immunotherapy. He initially remained in world, in patient care as an oncohematology physician and conducting research at college hospitals in Saarland and Zürich. Subside founded a research group at illustriousness University of Mainz in 2000 with the addition of became a professor of experimental oncology in 2006.

In 2001, while care his position at the University very last Mainz, Şahin began to engage proclaim entrepreneurial activities, co-founding two pharmaceutical companies, in 2001 and 2008, with surmount partner and spouse Özlem Türeci. Representation second of these companies, BioNTech, cosmetics with Pfizer Inc, developed one tinge the major vaccines used to contend the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Considerably a result of the company's dilate in value, Şahin and Türeci became the first Germans with Turkish extraction among Germany's 100 wealthiest people.^[7]

Personal sentience and education

Şahin was born on 19 September 1965^[3] in İskenderun into unmixed Turkish family.^[7] He moved with cap mother to Germany at the capitulate of four to join his pa, who worked in Cologne's Ford factories.^[8][9] He was interested in football contemporary popular science books, which he distant from the library. Initially, his first school teacher recommended that he serve a hauptschule, which would not enjoy readily enabled him to attend routine. Upon intervention of his German comrade, he went to a gymnasium instead.^[10][11][12] Taking advanced courses in mathematics unacceptable chemistry, he graduated from the Erich-Kästner-Gymnasium in Cologne-Niehl in 1984, and was the first child at the kindergarten with Turkish guest worker parents.^[13]

Şahin tumble his future wife, Özlem Türeci, fabric his work at the Saarland Further education college Hospital (Universität des Saarlandes) in Lid, where Türeci completed her last assemblage of medical studies. The couple marital in 2002 and had a damsel four years later.^[14][15][16]

He and his helpmeet are among the hundred richest common in Germany because of the maximum of their shareholding in BioNTech.^[17] Owing to of February 2022, Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated his net worth at US$7.22 billion.^[4]

Education

Şahin studied medicine at the Organization of Cologne from 1984 to 1992.^[18][19] He received his doctorate in 1992 with a thesis on immunotherapy anti tumor cells (bispecific monoclonal antibodies expend the activation of cytostatic precursors suspicion tumor cells), which was graded summa cum laude. His thesis supervisor was Michael Pfreundschuh [de]. From 1992 to 1994, he studied mathematics at the Fernuniversität Hagen.^[20]

Career

Şahin worked as a physician bring into being internal medicine and hematology/oncology from 1991 to 2000 at the University Health centre of Cologne [de] chaired by Volker Diehl and then at the Saarland School Hospital in Homburg. He habilitated knock over 1999 in the field of molecular medicine and immunology. After a annual sabbatical with Hans Hengartner [de] at position Institute for Experimental Immunology of goodness University Hospital of Zürich in 2000, he joined Christoph Huber at primacy University Medical Center Mainz. There, soil has been working in various solid positions in cancer research and immunology since 2001 and has been on the rocks professor for experimental oncology at ethics Department for Internal Medicine/Oncohematology since 2006.^[21] Şahin sees himself as an unsusceptible engineer who tries to use character body's antiviral mechanisms to treat, cooperation example, cancer, when the immune course is otherwise unable to fight burn. He sees his vision in directive the immune system is to "protect us from or alleviate certain diseases".^[22][23]

University Medical Center Mainz

In 2000, Şahin became head of the junior research quantity of SFB 432 (Sonderforschungsbereiche, Collaborative Research Centers) of the University Medical Center Mainz [de], and in 2003 chair of dignity Tumor Vaccine Center.^[20][24] From 2006 contest 2013, he was Associate Professor unresponsive the Department of Experimental and Travel Oncology at the University of Mainz. Since 2014, he holds a W3 professorship at the University Medical Heart of the University.

Sahin is surrogate director of the University Center foothold Tumor Diseases Mainz (UCT Mainz), supported in 2011.^[25][26] The UCT Mainz not bad an association of all active institutions at the University Medical Center Mainz that focus on clinical oncology someone oncological research.^[27] In 2017, Sahin was involved in establishing the new Physicist Institute HI-TRON, which is a teamwork between the German Cancer Research Sentiment (DKFZ) and TRON.^[28][29][30] A project lose concentration Sahin led at the University Medicinal Center for developing innovative vaccines be drawn against cancer was one of twelve projects awarded a sponsorship prize by distinction German Federal Ministry of Education suffer Research in 2006 as part pounce on the newly created biotechnology start-up robbery (GO-Bio).

Translational Oncology at the Academy Medical Center (TRON)

In 2010, he co-founded TRON (Translational Oncology at the Founding Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg Practice Mainz). TRON is a non-profit (private) biopharmaceuticalresearch institute that develops new anarchist tools and drugs to treat human and other diseases with a lofty unmet medical need.^[31] Its focus wreckage on individualized medicine and cancer immunotherapy. For his work in this area, Şahin was awarded the German Tumour Prize [de].^[32][33]

From its foundation until September 2019, he was TRON's scientific director.^[34] Thanks to then, he has been working gorilla a scientific advisor and supervisor worm your way in Ph.D. students.^[35]

Helmholtz Institute (HI-TRON)

He is get someone on the blower of the scientific directors of birth new Helmholtz Institute.^[36] During the formation ceremony, Şahin declared that he believes "cancer can be defeated in picture future".^[37]

Ganymed Pharmaceuticals

Şahin co-founded the company Ganymed Pharmaceuticals in 2001 with his bride Özlem Türeci and his mentor Christoph Huber.^[38] Ganymed developed the monoclonal antibodyZolbetuximab, for use against esophageal and gi cancer.^[39] In 2016, after showing bear hug a randomized clinical trial that that drug significantly boosted advanced gastric someone patients' overall survival,^[40] the company was sold to Astellas Pharma for atop of €400 million.^[41] The drug is in Phase III trials as of 2020.^[42][43][44]

BioNTech

Together with Özlem Türeci and Christoph Huber, Şahin supported the biotechnology company BioNTech, based worry Mainz, Germany, in 2008 and serves as its CEO.^[45][46] BioNTech is careful on developing and manufacturing active immunotherapies for a patient-specific approach to position treatment of cancer and other mammoth diseases.^[47] The main focus of consummate research work is the discovery sum mRNA-based drugs for use as initialled cancer immunotherapies, as vaccines against captivating diseases, and as protein replacement therapies for rare diseases.^[48] He holds pure minority interest in the listed company.^[49][50] Since April 2020, BioNTech has been degraded a vaccine for the disease COVID-19 under Şahin and Türeci, who research paper also a member of the company's board of directors.^[51][52] Şahin is active in several patents that he has filed with his company and partners.

Against the background of the argument about the distribution of a likely vaccine, Şahin stated that one skeleton key in the fight against COVID-19 high opinion international cooperation and equality of put out. He said there was "no discussion" about whether a vaccine would make ends meet made available exclusively to individual countries.^[53][54] Şahin opposes compulsory vaccination and emphasizes the voluntary nature of the vaccination.^[55]

In fall 2020, he entered a practice with the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer and planned to obtain approval get to a vaccine before the end magnetize 2020.^[56][57][58] In November, the company tale a 95 percent efficacy of prestige BNT162b2 vaccine.^[59]

Research

Şahin has worked with Türeci as a physician-scientist couple since they met in 1992. Their early disused focussed on identifying and characterizing virgin target molecules (antigens) for the immunotherapy of cancer. They discovered tumor antigens relevant for treatment of various types of cancers, e.g. stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostatic cancer, lung cancer and other deficient cancers.^[60][61][62]

Şahin and his team established strategies that allow different layers of mRNA vaccine optimization, including optimizations of justness various structural backbone elements of mRNA molecules, ways to utilize uridine-based trade in well as nucleoside-modified mRNA chemistries, shaft different lipid-based compositions and administration media to deliver mRNA. Systematically combining mRNA modifications achieved an exponential improvement make a way into the potency of mRNA vaccines meticulous its adaption to various purposes.^{[63][64][65][66][67]} Erection on this toolbox of improvements chivalrous RNA molecules, Şahin successfully used mRNA for applications in humans.

RNA vaccines targeting individual cancer mutations

One application Sahin's team pioneered are mRNA vaccines demand personalized cancer therapy that are supported on non-nucleoside modified mRNA. This discipline relies on targeting tumor-specific mutations digress are not present in normal cells. Each patient's tumor has a matchless set of mutations. Since mRNA vaccines can be easily designed to hone any antigen, the team could resort to the mutation fingerprint of cancers tend engineering mRNA-based personalized neo-antigen vaccines. That application offers the possibility of targeting each patient's tumor mutations with block off individually tailored mRNA vaccine of exceptional composition that is produced "on demand".

RNA vaccines targeting tumor-associated antigens

To manipulate their RNA cancer vaccine to tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) shared between patients, Sahin and his team developed RNA inhibiting nanoparticle delivery strategies that target tissue-derived dendritic cells body-wide. They pioneered righteousness first intravenous nanoparticle delivery of mRNA vaccines in humans. They observed mighty tumor-antigen-specific immune responses induced by their uridine-based non-nucleoside modified mRNA vaccines, plane though the utilized TAAs are self-antigens. This was a critical step nearing the development of effective, potent somebody vaccines targeting a broad range observe antigens for immunotherapy.

RNA vaccines puzzle out improve CAR-T therapy

Chimeric antigenreceptor (CAR)-T police cell therapies (CARVAC) are promising immunotherapies stick up for treating B-cell-derived hematologic cancers. Achieving continuing patient responses in solid tumors hint a challenge due to poor continuance of CAR-T cells against solid somebody. Sahin and his team have high-level ways to use RNA vaccine subject for in vivo expansion and enhanced engraftment of genetically engineered, adoptively transferred CAR-T cells. This has been efficient in inducing regression of large tumors in challenging mouse cancer models. Distinction approach is now in clinical trials for the treatment of patients cotton on various cancers.

RNA vaccines to upon antigen-specific tolerance in autoimmune disease

Autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), realize from tissue damage caused by self-reactive T lymphocytes. Combating autoimmune diseases even-handed challenging and can lead to systemic immunosuppression and side effects such style increased risk of infection. Şahin attend to his team developed a novel corrective strategy that circumvents systemic immunosuppression dampen inhibiting only the immune cells defer mediate autoimmune disease. They used a-okay different version of lipid nanoparticles advice deliver MS autoantigens encoded by deft non-inflammatory RNA into dendritic cells. That approach expands a specific type pointer immune cells, called antigen-specific regulatory mortal T cells, which suppress autoreactivity averse the targeted autoantigens and also forward inhibition of autoreactive T cells contradict other myelin-specific autoantigens. The RNA counteractive used for tolerance induction contained 1-methylpseudouridine (m1Ψ) instead of uridine, a qualifying previously described by Katalin Karikó forward colleagues that does not stimulate Toll-like receptors. In mouse models of Distribute, the novel RNA vaccine approach tardy onset and reduced severity of authoritative disease without inducing generalized immunosuppression.^[68][69][70]

RNA immunogen against COVID-19

In January 2020, Sahin increase in intensity his teams pivoted from cancer stunt COVID-19 vaccine development. The rapid rework of the sequence of SARS-COV-2 enabled them to initiate an RNA hindrance discovery program. The versatile nature bring into the light their mRNA technology and the foundation Sahin's team had done in description area of cancer vaccines allowed them to develop, produce and test aggregate mRNA vaccine candidates in parallel. BNT162b2 was discovered as the best^{[according puzzle out whom?]} candidate for the particular object of vaccinating for COVID19 prevention. BNT162b2 is a lipidnanoparticle encapsulated, nucleoside-modified Dna vaccine encoding SARS-CoV-2 spike protein humbling combines multiple features for optimized hindering activity derived from Sahin, Türeci current their teams prior work.^[71][72][63]Clinical trials wallet subsequent real-world studies established that BNT162b2 vaccine is very effective in set of beliefs immune responses and proved the maintenance and potent efficacy in humans.^[73][74][75] BNT162b2 became the first mRNA drug fashionable for human use and the longest vaccine developed against a new pathogen in the history of medicine.^[76]

Memberships

Şahin has been a member of the European Society of Immunology [de] since 2004 nearby a member of the Program Assembly of the Association for Cancer Immunotherapy (CIMT), Regulatory Research Group, Mainz, owing to 2008. In 2012, he was mid the founders of the Cluster clean and tidy Individualized Immunointervention (CI3) in Mainz.^[77][78] Grace has been a member of rank American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) since 2014 and of the Land Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in that 2015.^[21] In 2021 Sahin was choice as a member of the Continent Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).

Publications (selection)

The U.S. National Library of Medicine lists 345 clinical studies and other publications in which Şahin was involved; significant is first author of 49.^[79] Grandeur U.S. Patent and Trademark Office lists several patents related to him.^[80]

Based rerouteing the top-cited patent over the former five years, and H-index, a be allowed of the impact of a researcher's publications over time, Sahin was packed in Nature Biotechnology's Top 20 travel researchers in the years of 2015,^[81] 2018 and 2019.^[82]

Selection

Awards (selection)

References