SAN DIEGO, May 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — aTyr Pharma, a biotherapeutics company engaged in the discovery and development of innovative medicines based on novel biological pathways, today announced the promotion of Leslie Nangle, Ph.D., to Vice President, Research. Dr. Nangle will serve as a member of the company’s executive leadership team, managing research and scientific operations. Dr. Nangle has served in scientific research roles at aTyr since joining the company in 2007, including most recently as Senior Director and Head of Research.
“Dr. Nangle has been an integral part of our team and we are delighted to have her lead aTyr’s research efforts,” said Sanjay S. Shukla, M.D., M.S., President and Chief Executive Officer of aTyr. “Dr. Nangle has dedicated her career to tRNA synthetase biology and the pathways they regulate, having studied under Dr. Paul Schimmel, aTyr’s Co-Founder. With her long-standing knowledge and experience in research and discovery related to this novel biology, including leading the company’s development work in Neuropilin-2 receptor biology, she is uniquely positioned to continue the exciting work that we have ongoing related to aTy’s mission to translate novel biological pathways into transformative medicines for patients.”
“I am thrilled to advance my scientific career at aTyr by leading this incredibly talented research team,” said Dr. Nangle. “I look forward to continuing the groundbreaking discovery and translational work elucidating these novel pathways that we have identified, each representing previously unexploited therapeutic intervention points. Our approach aims to target these extracellular signaling pathways related to tRNA synthetases with the most effective drug modality, focusing on monoclonal antibodies and targeted biologics. I believe aTyr’s biology platform represents a unique opportunity to develop potential new innovative therapeutics that can make a lasting impact in diseases with high unmet medical need.”
Dr. Nangle has over 20 years of experience in research dedicated to extracellular tRNA synthetases. Throughout her tenure at aTyr, she has co-developed and implemented the company’s discovery platform to generate an intellectual property estate of over 300 potential therapeutically relevant proteins and has overseen research leading to the discovery of a splice variant of histidyl-tRNA synthetase that has been shown to modulate the immune system, providing the basis of aTyr’s lead program, ATYR1923. Prior to joining aTyr, Dr. Nangle received a Ph.D. in Macromolecular Cellular Structure and Chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, studying the emerging linkage between mutations in tRNA synthetases and inherited neuropathies under the mentorship of Dr. Paul Schimmel, who co-founded aTyr in 2005. Dr. Nangle received a bachelor of science in biology from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She is co-author or co-inventor of over 75 publications and issued or pending U.S. patents.
About aTyr
aTyr is a biotherapeutics company engaged in the discovery and development of innovative medicines based on novel biological pathways. aTyr’s research and development efforts are concentrated on a newly discovered area of biology, the extracellular functionality and signaling pathways of tRNA synthetases. aTyr has built a global intellectual property estate directed to a potential pipeline of protein compositions derived from 20 tRNA synthetase genes and their extracellular targets. aTyr’s primary focus is ATYR1923, a clinical-stage product candidate which binds to the Neuropilin-2 receptor and is designed to down-regulate immune engagement in inflammatory lung diseases. For more information, please visit http://www.atyrpharma.com.
Contact:
Ashlee Dunston
Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
adunston@atyrpharma.com