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Who We Are
Gail E. Sonenshein, PhD
Co-founder & President
Dr. Gail Sonenshein holds a PhD in Biology from MIT and is an internationally recognized breast cancer expert. She is currently Professor of Developmental, Molecular & Chemical Biology at Tufts University School of Medicine. Her groundbreaking work on the c-MYC oncogene and NF-κB transcription factor pathways is critical to our understanding of cancer development, progression, and resistance to treatment. It has led to the identification and validation of numerous therapeutic targets. Dr. Sonenshein has led productive laboratories at both Boston University and Tufts University, and co-founded and directed the Women’s Health Interdisciplinary Research Center at Boston University. She has extensive management, and private donor/government fund raising experience and is PI on our SBIR grants, overseeing all research.
Nora D. Mineva, PhD
Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Nora Mineva holds a PhD in Pathology from Boston University School of Medicine. She has extensive expertise in the pathology and biology of cancer. Her research experience spans histological and molecular analyses of driver pathways in multiple cancer types (breast, prostate, colon, hematopoietic), and the use of animal models to study disease and test treatments. As Chief Scientific Officer, from November 2014 to February 2023, she led our product development efforts. Dr. Mineva is a graduate of the 2017 NIH I-Corps Business Training Program and the 2018 MassConnect Entrepreneur Mentorship Program. In addition to R&D and board member responsibilities, she has been integral to our fund raising and BD efforts. In March 2023, she became CEO of Adecto Pharmaceuticals.
Stefania Pianetti, PhD
Dr. Pianetti received her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Milan. With a research interest in oncology, she did her postdoctoral training at the NIH and then at Boston University School of Medicine, where she made important contributions to our understanding of the roles of the c-MYC oncogene in immune cell malignancies and of the HER2 growth factor receptor in breast cancer. In 2016, she was recruited to Adecto as a R&D Scientist and applied her extensive expertise in cancer studies to ADAM8 biology, assuming control of in vitro and in vivo model development. Dr. Pianetti is currently Director of Preclinical and Translational Development.
Director, Preclinical and Translational Development
John Tagliamonte, MBA
Advisor - Business Strategy and Corporate Development
Mr. John Tagliamonte graduated with a BS in Molecular Biology from Tufts University and began his career as a Research Scientist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He transitioned to a career in business after receiving an MBA from Boston College. He has over 30 years of experience in executive positions with responsibility for finance, BD, commercial and business operations, strategic planning and legal functions with both established and start-up companies. He was Chief Business Officer of biopharma company Oxyrane where he played a key role in financings and strategic partnerships. Other high impact roles include VP of BD at ImmunoGen, and Director Worldwide of BD & Licensing at Johnson & Johnson. He has been responsible for licensing both therapeutic and diagnostic products in the oncology space. He was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at MassBio from 2018 to 2020 and is now CEO of Mellitus, a start-up developing diabetes detection and monitoring products.
Kathy Miller, MD
Advisor - Breast Oncology, Clinical Trial Design and Regulatory Strategy
Dr. Kathy Miller received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where she also carried out her residency in Internal Medicine. She completed a fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Miller is an internationally known expert in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. She was co-chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Breast Committee from 2014-2017, and is now co-chair of the NCI Breast Cancer Steering Committee. She is Ballvé-Lantero Professor, Associate Director for Clinical Research and Co-Director of Breast Cancer Program at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. She has extensive experience in translational clinical trials, ranging from 1st-in-human Phase I studies to Phase III trials with registration intent.
Philippe Billiald, PhD
Advisor - Therapeutic Antibody Engineering and Safety
Dr. Philippe Billiald received his PhD in Biochemistry from Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris, France). He is Professor of Biochemistry at Université Paris-Saclay. Dr. Billiald is an expert in the field of antibody structure, function and engineering. He co-founded Acticor Biotech, a clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing Glenzocimab, an antithrombotic treatment for ischemic stroke. Glenzocimab, a humanized monoclonal antibody fragmanet (fab) directed against the human platelet glycoprotein GPVI, has successfully completed Phase II trials and is now advancing to Phase III testing.
Walter Carney, PhD
Advisor - Oncology Diagnostic Regulatory Strategy and Development
Dr. Walt Carney holds a PhD in Microbiology from the Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. He gained extensive IHC experience during his nearly 20-year tenure in the Department of Pathology at the Tufts Medical Center. As President and CSO for Oncogene Science, he was responsible for the discovery, development, manufacture and commercialization of numerous IHC and blood-based tests. He was involved in the development of biomarkers for 3 drugs, Tarceva (OSI Pharma), Nexavar (Bayer) and Rencarex (Wilex) and the development, validation and FDA clearance of an immunoassay that measures levels of the soluble form of HER-2 in the serum of breast cancer patients. He has published extensively and spoken frequently on cancer biomarkers such as HER-2, EGFR and CAIX.
Ann Marshak-Rothstein, PhD
Advisor - Immunology
Dr. Ann Marshak-Rothstein holds a PhD in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania. She is Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Marshak-Rothstein is world renowned for her work in immune cell activation, longevity and function. Her pioneering work implicated Toll-like receptors, which are typically involved in the detection of bacterial and viral infections, in the development of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Her laboratory focuses on understanding the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus and advancing more effective and less debilitating treatments for cutaneous lupus and related rheumatologic diseases.
​Mathilde Romagnoli, PhD
Co-founder & Advisor - Strategic Planning & Scientific Approach
Dr. Mathilde Romagnoli holds a PhD in Haematology/Oncology from the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Nantes, France. She is an expert in the pathophysiology of cancer, including mechanisms of oncogenesis and chemoresistance and the identification of new targets for treatment. Dr. Romagnoli had a leadership role in the discovery and validation of ADAM8 for antibody-based targeting in Triple-negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). She is currently Oncology Biomarker Strategy Leader at Servier.
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