David Benjamin

About David Benjamin

I am currently a senior scientist Takeda in Global Biologics working on antibody discovery and development. Prior to Takeda, I worked at Dragonfly Therapeutics to develop bispecific NK cell engagers. Before joining Dragonfly, I was the Chief Science Officer at Synlife, young startup working on novel liposomal formulations to treat acute poisonings. In that role, I managed Synlife\'s research operations and performed key proof-of-concept experiments to de-risk Synlife\'s core technologies. I also helped to design Synlife\'s research strategy, craft Synlife\'s pitch deck, and perform investor outreach in close collaboration our CEO. During my PhD work, I pioneered the use of zebrafish (both adults and embryos) in the Hynes lab as a tool to image the metastatic site in real time in a living animal using confocal microscopy. I also studied the role of the oncogene YAP during metastasis. I discovered that over-expressing YAP causes tumor cells to migrate within the vasculature following arrest in narrow vessels. While control cells remained trapped in these vessels, YAP cells migrated through them to disseminate more widely throughout the animal (including to the brain).Other projects during my PhD work were to develop adult zebrafish as an intravital imaging system to study the metastatic site (Benjamin et al. BMC Cancer 17, 660-671.) as well as studying the interactions between tumor cells and neutrophils during tumor cell extravasation in collaboration with the Kamm lab.(Chen et al. PNAS 115, 70••••27).I have extensive experience in assay design (cell-based and biochemical), molecular cloning (Gibson), protein expression and purification, lentiviral vectors, mammalian and primary cell tissue culture, and multi-color flow cytometry (FACS). I am also experienced in protein analysis techniques such as western blots, immunoprecipitation (IP), immunohistochemistry (IHC), and immunofluorescence (IF). I also have experience in RNA extraction, qPCR, RNAi, and CRISPR. I have some experience in murine cancer models and mouse handling.

Experience

1. Senior Scientist Biologics Lead - Global Biologics

   Takeda

   Jul 2024 — Present · Cambridge, MA, US

   Led the biologics discovery efforts for a novel fibrosis programEstablished pooled CAR screening capabilitiesDesigned antibody (mAB, bispecifics, etc) and CAR sequences for multiple programsGenerated stable over-expression and KO cell lines for functional assays

Education

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  PhD, Cell and Molecular Biology

  2011 — 2018

• UCLA

  BS (Honors), Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics

  2007 — 2011

Skills

• Transfection
• Zebrafish in Vivo Models
• Confocal Microscopy
• Cell Culture
• Pcr
• Immunofluorescence
• Tissue Culture
• Elisa
• Intravital Microscopy
• Flow Cytometry
• Data Analysis
• Rt-Pcr
• Protein Expression
• Western Blotting
• Matlab
• Molecular Cloning
• Molecular Biology
• Fluorescence Microscopy
• Immunoprecipitation
• Imagej
• Cell Biology
• Immunohistochemistry
• Qpcr