Previously, Antonella was Group Leader at IRBM, where she focused her research interest in the field of diagnosis and prevention of chronic infectious diseases. Antonella conducted post‐doctoral studies in immunology at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGBMC) in Strasbourg, France. She received her degree in Biology and a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Rome, La Sapienza.

Antonella has strong research experience in the field of gene delivery and immunological analysis in preclinical and clinical settings.

Antonella has authored several scientific publications on subjects including peptide phage display technology, immunology, viral infections and vaccines in leading journals such as Nature Medicine and New England Journal of Medicine.

Stefano was one of founders and the Director of Viral Vector Department at Okairos Srl. Previously, Stefano was Senior Research Fellow at IRBM, where he contributed to drug discovery programs on the hepatitis B and C viruses; and to the adenovirus vector development for therapeutic gene transfer and gene-based vaccination.

Stefano has strong research experience in the field of viral vectors for gene delivery and expertise in good manufacturing process (GMP) production and quality assessment.

Stefano has overseen and directed manufacturing campaigns of numerous GMP clinical trial materials, and is responsible for the GMP Facility at ReiThera. He has published articles in leading journals such as New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Medicine on viral and infection and vaccines.

Alessandra became part of the Okairos team in 2009 and served as Director of the Respiratory Infection Vaccine Unit. She led the preclinical development of genetic vaccines for RSV and flu.

Prior to Okairos, she was a scientist at IRBM / Merck, which she joined in 1990, working first in hepatitis C infection and immunity, before becoming a group leader in Oncology. She contributed to the development of the chimpanzee adenovirus technology as a vaccine vector platform, and to the development of several monoclonal antibodies against infectious diseases and cancer.

In the past, Alessandra carried out research at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, working in the field of cell-cycle regulatory genes.

She published several articles in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals on viral infection and vaccines.

Alessandra received her degree in Biology and a PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Rome, La Sapienza.

Stefania was previously a Senior Scientist at IRBM / Merck and Okairos, where she built strong expertise in molecular and cellular biology and gene-based vaccines. She was a key contributor to the development and clinical validation of the chimpanzee adenovirus technology as a vaccine vector platform for a number of infectious diseases, with particular focus on the characterization of cellular and humoral immune response in preclinical animal models and in human clinical samples.

She also has experience in the design and monitoring of toxicology studies.

Stefania received her degree in Biotechnology at the University of Rome, La Sapienza.

During her 20-year career in biopharmaceutical environment, she co-authored several publications in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals.

Virginia has a degree in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and she is senior researcher with over ten years of research experience in the discovery and development of preventive and therapeutic vaccines against chronic infectious human diseases.

Her career has included four years at CEINGE – Biotecnologie Avanzate in Naples, Italy, where she was involved in following projects:

“Isolation and characterization of new adenoviruses”

“Identification of specific antibodies against human membranes proteins”.

Her unit’s results have supported preclinical and clinical research in infectious diseases and contributed to several publications in this field.

Virginia joined the vectorology team of ReiThera Srl in 2007. Currently, she is the Qualified Person and Quality Assurance Manager of the ReiThera facility, where she is responsible for testing and release of biological investigational medicinal products and for the GMP quality system.

Loredana is a biologist with a strong background in biochemistry. She received her degree in Biology and a PhD in Industrial Biotechnology at the University of Naples, Federico II.

She has been working as a scientist in the biopharmaceutical industry since 2004, developing upstream and downstream processes for viral vector productions.

Currently, she is the Head of Manufacturing at Reithera’s GMP Facility. She has extensive experience in manufacturing operations conducted in compliance with Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP).

She leads the production team devoted to the development and manufacturing of investigational viral vaccines for Phase I and Phase II clinical trials.

Due to the recent Ebola outbreak, Loredana has been responsible for the manufacturing of the Ebola vaccine currently employed in clinical trials in Africa and in Europe.