PALO ALTO, USA – [May 20th, 12AM PST] – Avenue Biosciences, a transatlantic biotechnology company specializing in novel protein engineering technologies, welcomes the accomplished leader and scientist Dr. Veli-Pekka Jaakola as CTO. He brings decades of expertise in leading R&D projects and laboratory operations as well as a wealth of knowledge from biochemistry, membrane protein biology, G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), and antibody tool development.
“Veli-Pekka joins the Avenue Biosciences team at an exciting time of operational scale-up and product portfolio expansion. His expertise will enable us to more rapidly unlock the full potential of our technology, accelerating our ability to support a wide range of biologics development efforts”, comments CEO Tero-Pekka Alastalo.
“With two decades of perspective shaped by breakthroughs in GPCR structure and protein therapeutics, I see immense potential in advancing biologics through signal peptide engineering. Avenue Biosciences has discovered a completely new approach to engineering signal peptides in a field where their potential remains underutilized, and I am thrilled to be contributing to this important work. This discovery has the potential to make medicines more effective, scalable, and accessible”, says Veli-Pekka Jaakola.
Jaakola’s career includes prominent positions in academia, big pharma and biotechnology scale-ups. In the past 12 years, he has lived in Switzerland and Belgium holding various leadership roles, including Director of biochemistry at LeadXPro, Head of protein science at Confo Therapeutics and Membrane Protein lab head at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research.
With over 40 authored papers in prestigious publications such as Science and Nature, Jaakola’s academic experience will advance Avenue Biosciences’ efforts to increasingly publish scientific findings that support the broader scientific community.
Further information
CEO Tero-Pekka Alastalo, tpa@avenuebiosciences.com
Communications: Juulia Simonen, juulia.simonen@avenuebiosciences.com,+358503059018
About Avenue Biosciences
Avenue Biosciences is a biotechnology company dedicated to accelerating the discovery and development of protein biologics, so that no life-saving therapy goes unrealized because of production barriers. Headquartered in San Francisco, USA, and with laboratory operations inHelsinki, Finland, Avenue Biosciences has developed a protein engineering platform that combines organic biology and machine learning to boost protein production. The proprietary method is based on years of scientific research from the University of Helsinki, Finland. www.avenuebiosciences.com
