Who We Are

Dr. Zanelli joined Peptimmune in 2003 as vice president of research and is a leading immunologist and HLA expert with experience in therapeutic development. Prior to Peptimmune, Dr. Zanelli was at Praecis Pharmaceuticals and Cardion AG, applying his expertise in autoimmune disease to the development of new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, Type I diabetes, and multiple sclerosis. Eric received a PhD in Immunology from the University of Aix-Marseille II, France and was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Chella David at the Mayo Clinic, MN. His work was mostly related to the identification of genes involved in antigen processing and the role of MHC Class II gene polymorphism in the predisposition to rheumatoid arthritis. From 1996 to 2001, Eric was assistant professor at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. While there, he continued his investigation of the role of MHC Class II genes in predisposition to autoimmune diseases and their value as clinical predictors of disease severity. Eric has over forty publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Uday joined Peptimmune in 2004 as senior director of quality assurance and regulatory affairs and has more than fifteen years of experience in quality systems and regulatory affairs management of biotechnology and pharmaceutical product development. Prior to his role at Peptimmune, he served as associate director of quality control at Altus Pharmaceuticals. At Altus, he was responsible for implementing the QC and QA systems in support of the biocatalysis product portfolio. In addition, he managed the quality function through the transition to clinical development of protein therapeutics for metabolic diseases. Uday was also with Biopure Corporation for seven years as senior quality control analyst. He earned his BS in Biochemistry from Suffolk University and Masters degree in Biology from Harvard University.

Kathy Collins joined Peptimmune in 2004 as a leader in Immunoassay Development, with over 20 years of experience in immunology and assay development. Before joining Peptimmune, Kathy was at BiogenIdec in Analytical Development for 8 years where she developed analytical methods for drug product characterization and release. She received her B.S. in Zoology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Michael Bock joined Peptimmune in 2008 as a research associate in the immunology/pharmacology group. Prior to Peptimmune, Michael was at NeurotechUSA for two years, as first an intern then as a full-time Bioengineer. Michael holds a BS in Biology from Providence College, where he was a research fellow of Dr. Charles R. Toth at Providence College and Dr. Wen Ming Chu at Brown University. Currently Michael is a candidate for his Masters in Business Administration at the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University.

Sarah joined Peptimmune in 2004 as a Research Associate, and has worked in the Cell Biology group and Analytical Chemistry group. She also manages all purchasing responsibilities for the company. Prior to joining Peptimmune, she was a Research Assistant in the Anesthesia Research group at Massachusetts General Hospital. She received a BS in Biology from University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Dustan is a published author and inventor, with fifteen years of academic and industrial biotechnology experience. He brings a wealth of intellectual and economic resources to intellectual asset management, with his background as a patent agent and expertise in corporate development.

Dr. Joseph Kovalchin joined Peptimmune in 2006 as a senior scientist and manages the in vivo/ex vivo preclinical pharmacology/immunology team. Dr. Kovalchin has more than ten years of in vivo model development experience, and prior to Peptimmune, he was at Antigenics, where he was responsible for in vivo model development. Joseph received a PhD in cellular/molecular biology from Kent State University and conducted graduate work and a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratories of Dr. Rajiv Chandawarkar and Dr. Pramod Srivastava at the University of Connecticut. Joseph has six publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Troy joined Peptimmune in 2004 as the Manager, Histology and Facilities. Troy has more than 15 years experience in the histology and immunohistochemistry field. Prior to Peptimmune, Troy has held positions at PharmaMar USA, Cardion Pharmaceuticals and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Troy holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Plymouth State University.

Emily joined Peptimmune as a senior research associate in 2008 with over eight years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to Peptimmune, Emily was at Alkermes and Watson Pharmaceuticals where she held senior leadership positions in QC and Analytical Research & Development departments, respectively. She was also with Elan and Bausch & Lomb Pharmaceuticals. She has worked on various projects involving method development, method improvement, and validation. Emily holds a chemistry degree from Emory University.

Mike Fratto has been managing Peptimmune's information technology assets since 2003. Mike is a founding partner of Viewpoint Security and works with numerous biotechnology companies in the Cambridge area.