How mRNA technology could revolutionise therapeutics

About the speakers

Dr Rebecca Boohaker, Director of Oncology at Southern Research

Boohaker is the study director for the oncology department. She designs, oversees, executes and interprets all cancer-related in vivo studies to evaluate potential cancer treatments, including cancer-fighting viruses and other agents that might help combat the disease. Trained primarily as a molecular biologist, Boohaker’s graduate work at the University of Central Florida resulted in a targeted peptide therapy to combat triple negative breast cancer. Since joining Southern Research, her recent work has focused on chemo-resistant colorectal cancers, as well as pancreatic cancers, which are aggressive and highly resistant to treatment. Boohaker received a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a doctorate in biomedical sciences from the University of Central Florida. Her postdoctoral work at Southern Research focused on cancer biology and DNA damage repair.

Fusataka Koide, Senior Director of Business Development at Southern Research

Koide joined Southern Research’s infectious disease program in 2007. He has 18 years of experience in research and programme leadership, and he specialises in animal studies to evaluate novel vaccines and therapeutics for emerging infectious diseases including dengue, Zika, and yellow fever. In his previous experience, he worked at Nabi Pharmaceuticals, where he was involved in the research and development of a vaccine for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). He previously worked Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he worked on studies related to newly developed cancer vaccines and also was involved in more than 10 phase I and phase II clinical trials. He is currently directing multiple dengue and Zika vaccine pre-clinical and clinical programmes for commercial and government clients. His most recent research interests focus on the animal model development for Zika virus infection. Koide received his master’s degree in immunology and microbiology at the New York Medical College.