Prof. Dr. Inge Marie Svane has 25 years of research experience in cancer immunology and immunotherapy, and holds a PhD in basic cancer immunology and a professorship in clinical cancer immunotherapy. She has pioneered the field of cancer immunotherapy in Denmark, building up CCIT, a translational research center with a leading position in Europe. Her focus of expertise is T-cell-based adoptive cell therapy and other cellular therapies, cancer vaccines, and immune regulation. Since 2001, she has initiated 18 phase I, II, and III immunotherapeutic trials as a sponsor. Furthermore, she is a national principal/investigator on numerous international clinical trials in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry, primarily within the area of immunotherapy. She frequently serves internationally as a reviewer of scientific papers, applications, and awards.
Dr. Marco Donia (M.D.) is a Clinical Research Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen. He received his M.D. at the University of Catania, Italy, in 2008, and completed a sub-specialty training in Medical Oncology through a partnership between the University of Catania and the Department of Oncology, Herlev Hospital (June 2014). He obtained one additional board certification in Clinical Oncology in Denmark in 2017. In addition, he obtained a Ph.D. in Cancer Immunotherapy (Methods to Improve Adoptive T cell Therapy with Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes) at the University of Copenhagen. He has authored over 70 articles, including original manuscripts published in leading journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Annals of Oncology, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, and the European Journal of Cancer. He was awarded the Junior Researcher Prize in 2017 by the Danish Cancer Society, the Sapere Aude Award in 2018 by the Independent Research Council Denmark, and the Lundbeck Fellowship in 2019. His major interests are in the development of novel immune therapeutic strategies for the treatment of anti-PD-1/PD-L1-resistant cancer. He has extensive experience in the research and development of cellular therapies. He has been a clinical investigator in several phase I, II, and III trials in solid tumors, and particularly metastatic melanoma.
