Nordic Life Science 1
at Ultimovacs, an Oslo based cancer vaccine compa
ny with an office in Uppsala, Mangsbo is also an Associate Senior Lecturer at Uppsala University. Her specialty is Immunological Oncology, and her company is developing immunotherapies to halt cancer. Ultimovacs is developing a cancer vaccine, UV1, which is in clinical studies, and is working on other potential vaccines. After launching her career, Mangsbo co-founded her own company, Immuneed AB, in 2014, and last year Ultimovacs purchased Immuneed’s drug development operations, providing Ultimovacs with additional immunotherapy technology. Mangsbo remains the owner of Immuneed, along with several others, and is also a member of the board. In June, her accomplishments were recognized when she won Swedish magazine Veckans affärer’s first Entrepreneur of the Year award, as part of the magazine’s 101 Super Talents program. For Mangsbo, who earned a doctorate in clinical immunology and cancer immunotherapy, her fascination with the field was sparked by two graduate courses at McGill University in Canada, one which offered a different perspective on cancer genetics and an advanced immunology course. “The professor made us realize that how we view things in science is impacted by the description that is given to us,” Mangsbo said. “That and the advanced immunology course created an interest to dig deeper and learn more. What fascinated me was how she [the professor] described that how we voiced science would be our hypothesizeddriven research angle. For me, who was fascinated by the immune system and its complexity, I also grasped that we tend to describe immunology interactions in war terms and that this would impact our research view, and that fascinated me. Could I see it differently was the question, and would that impact how I would execute research?” Sara Mangsbo began her career in the immunoncology field as a PhD student under Professor Thomas Tötterman, with co-supervisor Professor Angelica Loskog, in the clinical immunology group at Uppsala University. The group had a strong translational research focus [research designed to improve health outcomes], she explains, and she has been pursuing immunoncology research ever since. “From our translational initiatives we have taken CD40 agonistic therapies for oncology indications into the clinic,” Mangsbo continues. The agonistic anti-CD40 antibody or CD40L carrying viruses stimulates anti-tumor immune responses. “Thomas and Angelica started off by designing an adenoviral virus carrying CD40 to be expressed in the tumor after intratumoral injections, this has now been evaluated for safety in bladder cancer and melanoma patients,” Mangsbo describes. “We have also performed a development program together with Alligator Bioscience where we jointly worked on an anti-CD40 therapy for intratumoral administration from the lab to the patient’s bedside. This has now been clinically evaluated for safety, both for an intratumoral and intravenous administration route.” 74 NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG