Our Scientific Advisory Board
Jack Luderer, MD
Jack Luderer, MD— Dr. Luderer is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Michigan State University, assisting academic startup initiatives. He board-certified in Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology. His formal training is in chemistry (M.S.) and medicine (M.D., Northwestern). He has a long history in translational research, early proof-of-concept, and drug development across multiple therapeutic areas. While he has not developed a vaccine, he has been involved in 75+ IND filings across multiple companies (Upjohn, Pharmacia, Pfizer). He managed the medical group that developed linezolid (Zyvox) from Phase 1 through NDA approval. Linezolid was the first member of the oxazolidinone class of antibiotics and remains a mainstay for treating methicillin-resistant staphylococcus. He is a Founding Partner of the Apjohn Group, a business accelerator that invests and develops drugs and devices. He also founded the Biosciences Research & Commercialization Center, an investment fund to assist biomedical startups in Michigan.
Dr. Florian Schödel
Florian Schödel graduated in medicine at the Technical University, Munich, and earned doctorates in Transplantation Immunology and Medical Microbiology (Dr. med. Dr. med. habil.) from the University of Munich (LMU). He holds an adjunct faculty appointments at the LMU and held one at the Biodesign Center of the ASU. Florian’s research at the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry, at Scripps, WRAIR and INSERM focused on hepatitis B structure and molecular biology and on novel recombinant vaccines against multiple infectious diseases. Florian was a VP in Vaccines Clinical Research of Merck Research Laboratories. He has led the clinical teams responsible for several successful vaccine filings. He joined MRL in 1996, leading EU vaccine clinical trials and the clinical development of rotavirus, measles, mumps, varicella and rubella vaccines. As the clinical liaison to an EU joint venture (SP-MSD) he participated in the development of pediatric combination vaccines. He led clinical teams in vaccines and biologics and contributed to clinical and analytical research development.
In 2010, Florian founded Philimmune LLC, providing advice on pharmaceutical development with a focus on vaccines and biologicals. Current and past clients include GSK, Intercell, Ancora Pharmaceuticals, Variation Biologicals, Takeda International, Synthetic Genome Vaccine Institute, Gilead, Biogen, Amgen, Menarini, Sequoia, Merck & Co., Inc., VaxynEthic, Biological E, Moderna, Inc., Enumeral, and Novadigm. Florian has also served as an advisor to PATH, the BMGF, the Sabin Institute, the WHO and the Biodesign Center at ASU.
Dean Shinabarger
Dean Shinabarger received a B.S. in Biology from Emporia State University in 1982, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Louisiana State University in 1986. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Leo Parks at North Carolina State University from 1986-88, studying sterol synthesis in yeast. In addition, he completed a second fellowship from 1989-91 at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago under Dr. Ananda Chakrabarty, investigating the molecular biology and enzymology of Pseudomonas aeruginosa alginate synthesis as related to cystic fibrosis patient lung infections. Dr. Shinabarger began his industrial career at Proctor & Gamble Pharmaceuticals in 1992 in the anti-infective discovery program. After 2 years, he moved to Upjohn Pharmaceuticals in 1994 to join the discovery and development team working on the oxazolidinone class of antibacterial agents. Dr. Shinabarger’s lab elucidated the mechanism of action/resistance of Gram-positive bacteria to linezolid, and he was a member of the team that presented Zyvox successfully to the FDA advisory committee, resulting in its approval. Dr Shinabarger exited a few months after Pfizer acquired Pharmacia, and in 2004 cofounded Micromyx, a microbiology services company that conducts antibacterial and antifungal R&D. After 15 years as CEO, Dr. Shinabarger successfully negotiated the sale of Micromyx to Microbiologics in September 2019. He currently serves as an antimicrobial consultant for biotech and pharma companies.
Xinzhen Yang, MD,PhD
20+ years of research and program leadership experience with advanced expertise in virology, vaccinology, immunology and protein sciences. As an Assistant Professor of Medicine / Virology at Harvard Medical School, conducted discovery research focusing on vaccine design to HIV/AIDS. As Director, Vaccine Technology at Pfizer, Vaccine R&D, served as the Program Lead for the anti-HCMV vaccine program, performing innovative research and providing strategic and scientific leadership with global experience leading cross-functional teams.
Received a medical education and master’s degree on epidemiology at Shanghai Medical University (Now Fudan University Medical School, Shanghai, China) and awarded a PhD degree on virology at Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX). Over the years, published over 40 original research papers and produced 11 patent applications.
