Immunotherapies for Cancer and More: Aaron Ring on The Long Run

Aaron Ring is today’s guest on The Long Run.

Aaron is an associate professor of immunobiology at Yale University for a little while longer. He’s moving his lab to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle in the summer of 2023.

Aaron Ring, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center; founder, Simcha Therapeutics, Seranova Bio, Stipple Bio

Early in his scientific career, Aaron has done some fascinating work in protein engineering and immunology. He has founded three startup companies to translate the research from his lab – Simcha Therapeutics, Seranova Bio, and Stipple Bio. Simcha is working on an engineered form of IL-18 for the treatment of cancer, while Seranova Bio is using technology to identify auto-antibodies that might point the way to new approaches to treat people with autoimmune diseases, cancer, and perhaps neurological diseases.

Timmerman Report subscribers can go back and read a startup profile I did of Simcha back in January 2022 to get the gist. The engineered IL-18 has shown comparable monotherapy efficacy in animals to PD-1 inhibitors, and it has been able to raise the bar in combination with those standard cancer therapies. SR One led a $40 million Series B financing of the company in 2022, and was joined by BVF Partners, Samsara BioCapital, Rock Springs Capital, ArrowMark Partners, and Logos Capital among others. Foresite Capital and A16Z have backed Aaron’s other ventures.

In this conversation we talked about how Aaron developed his interest in science, how he thinks about which problems to go after, and using the new tools of biology and the data they throw off to develop better therapies.

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Now, please join me and Aaron Ring on The Long Run.