ALACHUA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lacerta Therapeutics, a preclinical-stage gene therapy company, announces an expansion in the executive leadership team: Kenneth Warrington, Jr., PhD, co-founder of Lacerta, has joined as the company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and Darin Falk, PhD, former Vice President of Gene Therapy Programs at Lacerta, will now serve as the company’s Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Both Warrington and Falk represent significant additions to CEO Edgar Rodriguez-Lebron’s executive team, and further illustrate Lacerta’s commitment to developing a constellation of gene-based therapies.
“Ken and Darin have been an integral part of our growth and direction as a company, and we are thrilled to utilize their expertise and leadership in our continued advancement,” stated Edgar Rodriguez-Lebron, PhD, Lacerta’s President and CEO.
Dr. Warrington trained in Molecular Genetics & Microbiology in the laboratory of Dr. Nicholas Muzyczka with a focus on basic AAV virology, capsid engineering, and vector production platforms and then was a founding faculty member in the Pediatrics’ Division of Cellular & Molecular Therapy at the University of Florida College of Medicine, where his NIH-funded laboratory continued to focus on rational and combinatorial engineering of the AAV capsid. He played a critical role in securing Lacerta’s initial Series A investment and established laboratory operations with tech transfer of proprietary platform technologies at the University of Florida’s Sid Martin Incubator. Dr. Warrington is an expert in biologics CMC manufacturing and has decades of broad expertise across the advanced therapy product development continuum, from discovery through GMP-compliant manufacturing in support of IND-enabling preclinical and early-stage clinical programs. Since his transition into industry in 2008, he has held senior technical operation and business development roles for global contract testing and manufacturing organizations, including Meridian Life Science, SGS Life Science, InVentiv Health Clinical, WuXi Apptec, Genscript Probio and Biostem Life Sciences. Dr. Warrington holds a PhD in Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics from the University of Florida.
As CTO, Ken will oversee all strategy and direction of Lacerta’s therapeutic programs by exploiting the company’s proprietary capsid technology and scalable manufacturing platform.
"I am excited to join an already stellar company and develop revolutionary discoveries in gene-based therapies,” said Dr. Warrington.
Dr. Falk brings 20 years of experience in therapeutic development spanning across academic and industry settings with 15 years of direct expertise in gene therapy. Since joining Lacerta in 2018, he has rapidly expanded and increased his contributions within the company. Darin has been instrumental in the advancement of Lacerta's therapeutic pipeline and achievement of milestones associated with the company’s external partnerships.
Prior to joining Lacerta, he held a primary appointment in the Department of Pediatrics – Powell Gene Therapy Center and secondary appointments in the Departments of Neuroscience and Physical Therapy at the University of Florida. During this time, research interests were centered on the development of therapies for metabolic, neuromuscular, and neurodegenerative diseases, enhancing the scalability of AAV production, and strategies to enable re-administration of AAV vectors. These activities were supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, Muscular Dystrophy Association and Children’s Miracle Network. He is an inventor on multiple patents in the AAV gene therapy space, several of which have been licensed within the industry and received his PhD in Physiology from the University of Florida.
“Truly a pleasure to see the rapid growth and advancement of Lacerta’s technology and therapeutic pipeline. Lacerta has an outstanding team with extensive expertise and is well-equipped to deliver novel therapeutic options for patient success,” said Dr. Falk.
As CSO, Darin is tasked with executing the key aspects of the company’s proprietary pre-clinical programs.
About Lacerta Therapeutics
Lacerta Therapeutics, Inc. is focused on exploiting our proprietary capsid technology and scalable manufacturing platform to advance AAV-based therapies via three primary approaches: gene replacement, gene modulation and novel vectorization of antibodies.
