Participant Profile: Sigilon Therapeutics

It was the discovery of novel biomaterials called Afibromers™ that prompted the founding of Sigilon Therapeutics. When cells are enclosed in Afibromer™ coated capsules, they are invisible to the immune system and do not trigger fibrosis—the scarring response that the body uses to isolate foreign bodies and which is responsible for nutrient deprivation and cell necrosis. The company’s proprietary cells are engineered to secrete therapeutic proteins and, in combination with the Afibromer™ technology, these implanted cells are hidden from the immune system. As a result, levels of the missing protein in the body can be restored for long periods of time following a single intervention.

Sigilon’s cell-driven therapeutics are designed to have advantages over traditional biologic therapies, including the restoration of protein levels at a constant rate, years of therapy without need for re-dosing, safe and reversible therapeutic modality, the delivery of proteins for previously untreatable diseases and more. These advantages can provide significant clinical outcome benefits and free patients from therapies that disrupt their quality of life.

Lauren Barney earned her PhD in chemical engineering from UMass Amherst, where she used biomaterial models to study cancer metastasis. With this foundation, Lauren joined Sigilon Therapeutics to optimize the process of cell encapsulation within Sigilon’s novel Afibromer™ technology, to ultimately create effective and durable living therapeutics.

Rich received a B.S. in chemistry from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and completed his graduate work at Indiana University and the University of Texas at Austin. These efforts resulting in the total synthesis of a neodollabellane diterpene, and the formal synthesis of a welwitindolinone alkaloid. Rich has worked at both large and small companies on diverse projects, and he was on the project team that invented Tarceva®.

Dr. Guillaume Carmona is responsible for leading the Sigilon bleeding disorders therapeutic platform. Guillaume joined Sigilon Therapeutics after his postdoctoral training at MIT. He holds a M.S. degree in cell biology from the university of Grenoble and received a Ph.D. in life sciences from the Goethe university of Frankfurt.

Janet received her B.Sc and M.Sc. from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where she studied Microbiology and Immunology. After spending several years in a biotech company specializing in preclinical pharmacology, Janet joined Sigilon in 2017 and leads the preclinical development efforts in various programs.