Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
After witnessing the promise of cell therapy become a reality for many patients while working at Kite Pharma, I understand the importance of pushing the boundaries of science and medicine to bring new solutions to patients living with few options. With rigorous standards, open and critical communication, and the passion to bring revolutionary molecular medicine to patients, incredible developments can be made. I am committed to developing new options for patients in the immunotherapy space. I previously worked at Capstan Therapeutics, leading a team that is engineering novel payloads and targeted delivery systems to enable precise in vivo engineering of cells to benefit patients across multiple disease categories. Prior to Capstan, I worked at Kite Pharma in Santa Monica working on developing novel CAR-T and TCR therapies for treating cancers. My team led efforts to discover novel antibodies to be used in chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) and to detect them. We were focused on building a high throughput CAR discovery platform incorporating automated liquid handling and data processing solutions. Prior to joining Kite, I performed post doctoral research in Pamela Bjorkman's lab at Caltech to apply structure-based computational methods to engineer antibodies targeting the HIV-1 envelope protein, gp120. I did my PhD research in David Eisenberg's lab at UCLA, where I was working to understand the principles underlying amyloid fibril formation as observed in diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Using atomic structures and protein design techniques, we developed peptide inhibitors preventing amyloid fibril formation. You can see a list of my patents and publications here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5S7q8mAAAAAJ&hl=en Most publications can be found on Pubmed as well with the following search: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=sievers+sa%5BAuthor%5D Previous activities: Cal lightweight crew, Cal Wind Ensemble (bassoon), UCLA Triathlon and Cycling, Caltech Wind Orchestra (bassoon) and Caltech Clarinet Choir (bass clarinet)
We are developing tools for precision in vivo delivery of bio molecules to benefit patients across multiple disease categories.
I used x-ray crystallography to structurally characterize anti-HIV antibodies, and used protein engineering techniques to improve the breadth, potency, and pharmacokinetic properties of a few specific antibodies. Skills and Techniques: X-ray crystallography Protein engineering Cloning Mutagenesis Automated liquid handling ELISA
I was investigating the structural properties of proteins that form amyloid fibrils and kinetics of fibril formation. Using this information, we computationally designed and characterized peptide-based inhibitors of tau fibril formation.