Luis Branco
Managing Director & Co-Founder, Zalgen Labs, LLC
- Role
- Managing Director & Co-founder at Zalgen
- Location
- Germantown, MD, US
- LinkedIn followers
- 500 followers
About Luis Branco
Luis M. Branco, Ph.D, has extensive expertise in multiple facets of research and…
Experience
Managing Director & Co-founder
Aug 2013 — Present · Germantown, MD, US
Zalgen has core competency in the development of multiple platforms for generation of high quality recombinant proteins from difficult-to-express genes. Our proven approaches are supported by the successful development of first-to-field-use rapid diagnostic tests for Lassa hemorrhagic fever (LHF) by a consortium of academic, institutional, and biotechnology entities, led by one of our founders, Dr. Robert F. Garry (http://tulane.edu/som/cancer/robert-garry.cfm). These diagnostics are revolutionizing the understanding of epidemiological, immunological, and basic research notions in LHF, thus contributing to dramatic improvements in the management and successful outcome of this viral disease. Through the use of these proven expression platforms we have developed effective methods for production of Lassa virus-like particles (VLP), which are empty and non-infectious virions containing all the immunologically relevant viral proteins in quasi-native conformation. Lassa VLP are being tested as possible next generation vaccine platforms for LHF, and have shown efficacy in preliminary in vivo studies. This VLP technology has broad applications in vaccine and diagnostic platform development for a wide array of enveloped viruses. These two programs have potentiated the development of first-in-class immunotherapeutics for prophylaxis and treatment of LHF. The first three fully human monoclonal antibodies, administered in single or cocktail formats have demonstrated remarkable efficacy in relevant animal models in Biosafety Level-4 (BSL-4) settings. Zalgen Labs, Tulane University, and the University of Texas Medical Branch were recently awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to support the pre-clinical development of human monoclonal antibody cocktails as a first-in-class prophylactic and post-exposure treatment for LHF.
Skills
- Biotechnology
- Animal Models
- Science
- Biochemistry
- In Vivo
- Immunotherapeutics
- Elisa
- Lifesciences
- Monoclonal Antibodies
- Immunology
- Assay Development
- Infectious Diseases
- Pharmaceutical Industry
- Life Sciences
- Molecular Biology
- International Logistics
- Immunodiagnostics
- Cell Culture
- Antibodies
- Vaccines
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