Rob is currently Senior Scientist at Etcembly, where he leads the protein engineering pipeline in biologics development. After completing his PhD in structural biology at the University of St Andrews, Rob spent six years studying TCR-ligand interactions using various biochemical assays coupled with protein modelling to design TCR drugs with improved efficacy. At Etcembly, Rob leverages his expertise in structural biology and protein design to complement AI-led prediction of novel TCR therapeutics.
Etcembly is the first company to leverage generative AI to discover and engineer a T cell receptor (TCR) to picomolar affinity. We formatted our lead PRAME targeting molecule, ETC-101, into a trispecific T cell engager and demonstrated that ETC-101 specifically redirected T cell killing of PRAME-positive cancer cells only, while demonstrating a promising safety profile with no detectable off-target effects. Our data highlights the efficacy of ETC-101 as a novel drug candidate for the treatment of a wide range of PRAME-positive malignancies.