Emeryville, Calif. Berkeley Lights, Inc. (BLI), a leader in digital cell biology, announced today that Michel Sadelain, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed a member of its Strategic Scientific Advisory Board (SSAB).  Dr. Sadelain joins other renowned experts with deep domain knowledge and insight on the SSAB and provides a strategic resource as BLI continues to expand in the areas of cell therapy development and manufacturing.

“Dr. Sadelain has made foundational contributions to CAR T cell therapy, from developing strategies for CAR T cell survival to optimizing their therapeutic potency. It is our pleasure to welcome Dr. Sadelain onto Berkeley Lights’ Strategic Scientific Advisory Board,” said James E. Rothman, Ph.D., Sterling Professor and Chair of Cell Biology, Yale University; head of the SSAB. “His deep expertise in immunology, cell engineering, and genomics will be invaluable as Berkeley Lights continues to pursue its goals of making cell therapy scalable and accessible.”

Dr. Sadelain is founding director of the Center for Cell Engineering and head of the Gene Transfer and Gene Expression Laboratory at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), where he holds the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair. He is also a member of MSK’s department of medicine and immunology program. Since joining MSK as an assistant member in 1994, Dr. Sadelain has made major contributions to the concept, preclinical optimization and clinical implementation of CAR therapy to treat cancer, as well as the development of stem cell therapies for blood disorders. Dr. Sadelain joins James Rothman, Ph.D., Igor Khandros, Ph.D., Richard Lerner, M.D., Peter Ehrenheim, and Stephen Minger, Ph.D. on the BLI SSAB.

Dr. Sadelain remarked, “Cell therapies have the potential to revolutionize treatment for many diseases including cancer, infectious and autoimmune disorders. Yet, development of these therapies is often time- and labor-intensive, costly, and limited in scale. Berkeley Lights appeals to me as both a scientist and physician working to advance more efficient and cost-effective methods for development and deployment of promising new therapies for patients. I am excited to join the SSAB and help advise BLI in its research and commercial activities as it strives to realize the full potential of its innovative technology.”

Dr. Sadelain is also a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society of Hematology, and the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, where he served on the board of directors and as president, and is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He received his M.D. from the University of Paris, France, his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta, Canada, and trained at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT before joining MSK.

“The depth and breadth of knowledge Dr. Sadelain brings to the SSAB with his leadership position in the development of CAR-T therapies will make him a valuable contributor as we continue to build additional cell therapy development and manufacturing solutions,” said Eric Hobbs, Ph.D., chief executive officer of BLI. “Our light speed digital cell biology holds the promise of accelerating the pace of discovery, development and manufacturing so improved therapeutics can be delivered to patients faster.”

About Berkeley Lights

Berkeley Lights, Inc. (BLI) is a digital cell biology company that develops and commercializes platforms for the acceleration of discovery, development, and delivery of cell-based products and therapies.

At the intersection of biology, technology, and information, our platforms automate the manipulation, analysis, and selection of individual cells, creating ultimate scalability and deep cell insights. The Beacon platform* is ideally suited for cell line development, antibody discovery (including direct B-cell workflows), gene editing, and antibody engineering workflows. Each workflow provides a 100-fold increase in insights, 10 times faster, at a fraction of the cost.

* For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.