Newport Beach, Calif., July 6, 2023 -- jCyte Inc., a biotech company dedicated to improving the lives of partents with rare degenerative retinal diseases, announced the addition of inherited retinal disease experts Mark Pennesi, MD, PhD, and Paul Sieving, MD, PhD, to its scientific advisory board. 

"We are thrilled and privileged to add Dr. Pennesi and Dr. Sieving to our Scientific Advisory Board,” said John Sholar, CEO of jCyte. “Their expertise in inherited retinal diseases and experience in drug development adds to our already impressive SAB. We look forward to their valuable insights and collaboration as we advance jCyte’s allogeneic cell therapy treatment for retinitis pigmentosa."

Dr. Mark Pennesi is the Kenneth C. Swan Endowed Professorship in Ophthalmology and Molecular and Medical Genetics at Oregon Health & Science University, Chief of the Paul H. Casey Ophthalmic Genetics Division at the Casey Eye Institute, and a respected leader in development of novel therapies for inherited retinal dystrophies. He is recipient of the ARVO/Alcon Early Career Clinician-Scientist Research Award, Alcon Young Investigator Award, FFB career development award, RPB career development award, and FFB enhanced career development award. He serves as principle or co-investigator on numerous inherited retinal dystrophy clinical trials evaluating therapies for a variety of disorders including rod-cone dystrophies, Leber Congenital Amaurosis, Stargardt disease, achromatopsia, and choroideremia.

Dr. Paul Sieving, MD, PhD is the Neil and MJ Kelly Professor of Ophthalmology at UC Davis School of Medicine and Founding Director of its Center for Ocular Regenerative Therapy. Dr. Sieving is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine and the German National Academy of Sciences. He is the immediate past-Director of the National Eye Institute (NEI), a position he held for 18 years. At NEI he launched the “Audacious Goals Initiative in Regenerative Medicine,” a national translational program to understand the biology of cell regeneration and to develop therapeutic technologies to replace photoreceptors and retinal ganglion cells lost from disease.

Dr. Sieving is internationally known for seminal genetic, mechanistic, and translational studies of inherited retinal diseases, including retinitis pigmentosa and Stargardt disease. He developed the first human therapy trial for RP patients with Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor (CNTF) in 2005 and he initiated the first human gene therapy trial for patients with X-linked retinoschisis, with trial results published in 2018.

About jCyte, Inc.

jCyte, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotech company focused on developing its first-in-class regenerative cell therapy, jCell, for retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and other retinal degenerative diseases. The Company is pioneering a new era of regenerative therapies to address the significant unmet medical needs of patients suffering from a broad set of retinal degenerative conditions. For more information, visit www.jcyte.com.

Contacts

jCyte, Inc.
Victor Chao
Vice President Commercial Operations and Strategy
Media@jcyte.com