Breanna S. Vollmar, PhD

Leading a group focused on protein engineering strategies to target complex biology for oncology, cancer immunotherapy, immunology and cardiometabolic diseases Biologics lead for a portfolio of next generation ADCs for oncology, from concept through preclinical development enabling first in human clinical trials Early target validation for new targets within oncology Lead AI/ML strategies to enable biologics discovery for challenging targets Due diligence of external opportunities for licensing and asset acquisition, resulting in billion dollar acquisition

Served as molecule lead for design of cytokine & chemokine receptor agonists using native & engineered ligand-Fc fusions and targeted bispecific antibody formats as novel cancer immunotherapies, including molecule design using MOE, optimization of expression & purification, and biophysical characterization of lead candidates using LC/MS, SEC-MALS, analytical SEC and SPR.

Designed, implemented & optimized application of site-specific conjugated PEG to antibodies to modulate ocular biodistribution for targets with ocular toxicity. Assembly, purification and characterization of novel, complex bispecific antibodies for in vitro evaluation through cyno safety studies across multiple oncology targets, utilizing multi-dimensional chromatography methods to separate mis-paired species and LC/MS to troubleshoot production challenges. Developed and led strategies for preclinical development of novel cytotoxic payloads for site-specific ADCs (Vollmar et al 2021) and explored mechanisms underlying site-specific conjugation (Vollmar et al 2017) using biochemical assays & computational PyMOL methods, leading to identification of fundamental principles for site selection for engineered cysteines on antibodies presented at PEGS Boston 2017. Led technology transfer of novel antibody drug conjugate candidates from research to early development: established relationship with development teams to ensure speedy conjugation process development for manufacturing, served as a point of contact between research and process development teams, aided troubleshooting process development, guidance for assay development & scientific rationale for regulatory impact

Design, conjugation & purification of 100+ antibody drug conjugates utilizing different attachment chemistries to a broad range of cytotoxic agents for in vitro, in vivo and toxicology studies in rat & cyno, from milligram to gram scales. Led & managed a large cross-functional team for troubleshooting conjugation, purification & analysis of ADCs bringing together conjugation protein biochemists and synthetic chemists to increase efficiency of screening novel payloads and attachment chemistries

Used single particle cryo-electron microscopy to understand how large protein complexes assemble either as found in nature with the heterogeneous oligomers of alphaBcrystallin (PNAS 2011) or computationally designed protein scaffolds (Science 2012). Used single particle cryo-EM to investigate how viral IRES sequences manipulate the ribosome leading to novel insights that specific viral IRES sequences manipulate ribosomal conformations to initiate translation of viral RNA (NSMB 2013).

Department of Biochemistry

Structural insights into the cytotoxic mechanism of antimicrobial peptides using solid-state NMR and correlation with profile of antimicrobial activity in cell-based assays

Prepared carbon fiber samples for mechanical and chemical quality control tests

Thesis Title: Investigating the structure of macromolecular complexes and membrane proteins using transmission electron microscopy PhD Advisor: Tamir Gonen, PhD HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus, Ashburn VA

BSc Degree with Biochemistry Emphasis Graduated with Summa Cum Laude honors

Graduated with Summa Cum Laude honors