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Specifica represents the easiest, fastest and
most economical route to establishing or expanding
an antibody discovery platform in house.
O U R M I S S I O N
Our mission is to make Specifica the leader in human antibody engineering. Using our innovative discovery technology platform, we seek to deliver high affinity human antibody library solutions that can support the efforts to solve the world’s medical challenges.
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Company Overview
Specifica specializes in delivering precisely configured, unique libraries of tractable antibodies under simple, exclusive and semi-exclusive business terms. Specifica will work with you to create an antibody library to your specifications: scFv or Fab; phage or yeast; natural, synthetic or hybrid; all V genes, or a selected subset. We offer our premium antibody libraries with exclusive selection methodologies and required protocols and vectors, honed under the most rigorous laboratory standards. Simply put: Specifica represents the easiest, fastest and most economical route to establishing or expanding an antibody discovery platform in house to obtain the results you seek.
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Extraordinary genetic diversity validated by next-generation sequencing distinguishes our natural and synthetic human antibody libraries. Assured quality, and the inherent tractability of our antibodies expedite your path to product commercialization.
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For outsourced client solutions, we provide custom antibody discovery, humanization and affinity maturation services, producing highly specific antibodies to hundreds of targets.
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Our collaborative business model is streamlined to identify and deliver the exact solutions you seek at the right price, with no downstream royalty payments, thereby ensuring that your profit calculations remain intact. Equally important, there are no cookie-cutter solutions at Specifica. We specialize in you, our client, and in what you are ultimately looking for, both in the deliverables you require and in the kind of partnership you prefer.
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Specifica’s scientific operations team is headed by Andrew Bradbury, MD, PhD, a leading researcher in antibody engineering. The Specifica team possesses decades of experience in antibody engineering, standardization and development, phage and yeast display and next generation sequencing. Our business team is led by Ken Sharples, a 35-year biotech lawyer and executive with deep experience in recombinant antibodies and immuno-oncology.
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Practical experience in both laboratory and commercial settings has shaped our product and service offerings - and even the way we do business with you - to ensure that each client receives a custom solution that satisfies all key stakeholders.
TRACTABLE: Easy to control. Tractable antibodies perform predictably and as desired throughout the development process.
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Specifica's Team
KEN SHARPLES / CO-FOUNDER AND CEO
Ken Sharples is one of our founders and a member of our Board of Directors, and serves as our President and Chief Executive Officer. Ken has worked in biotech and biopharma for over 30 years. His experience includes executive leadership positions with responsibility for strategic planning, business operations and legal affairs. Before co-founding Specifica, Ken served as Director, COO and General Counsel for BioN2, a Mars Inc. subsidiary; and earlier as General Counsel and Secretary for L1 AgroSciences, a VC-funded start-up. Ken began his career in the lab, and then worked as a patent and transactional attorney for 25 years in New York City, Silicon Valley and London. During his tenure as an attorney, Ken was involved in representing numerous start-up and emerging biopharma companies, in some cases serving strategic and leadership roles. Ken holds a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in New York and an A.B in Biology from Colby College in Maine.
ANDREW BRADBURY / CO-FOUNDER AND CSO
Andrew Bradbury is one of our founders, a member of our Board of Directors, and serves as our Chief Scientific Officer. Andrew has almost 30 years of experience in the field of recombinant antibodies and display technologies. Throughout his career, he has developed and employed novel technologies, including the use of lox recombination to dramatically increase antibody library diversity. Andrew is a vocal proponent for the use of sequenced recombinant antibodies in research to improve reproducibility. He has frequently served as an expert witness in antibody patent cases involving some of the world’s best selling antibody drugs. Andrew has published over 130 peer-reviewed papers and is the inventor on numerous patents and patent applications. Andrew holds a PhD from Cambridge University, where he studied under Nobel Laureate Cesar Milstein, the inventor of monoclonal antibodies, and also holds an MB BS (medical degree) from the University of London as well as a BA and MA from Oxford University.
HANS LUNDIN / CFO
Hans Ludin serves as our Chief Financial Officer. Hans has over 15 years of experience in venture capital, portfolio management, entrepreneurial finance and private equity deal structuring. He currently also serves as the CFO for Point B Capital in Seattle. Hans previously built a track record of investing and operating experience as the CFO for Integra Ventures, and as an interim executive for MediQuest and Clear Medical. He was also part of a founding management team for an agricultural biotechnology company that raised over $14 million of venture capital. He has been involved in managing or investing in over 40 companies and over 60 investment rounds, and has also worked on more than 10 sales and liquidity events. He currently serves on the board of directors for Wellpartner which is a rapidly growing specialty pharmacy. Hans holds an MBA from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a B.S. in management from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
FORTUNATO FERRARA / VP DISCOVERY SERVICES
Fortunato Ferrara serves as our Vice President of Discovery Services. He brings a decade of experience in recombinant antibody engineering and molecular immunology, including 7 years of antibody discovery experience with phage and yeast antibody display platforms. Before joining Specifica, Fortunato was an Assistant Research Professor in Experimental Therapeutics at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of our co-founder Andrew Bradbury, at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Fortunato has co-authored over 25 peer-reviewed scientific publications, and is the co-inventor on several patents and patent applications. He holds a PhD in Molecular Medicine and a B.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of Trieste, Italy.
SARA D'ANGELO / VP LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT
Sara D’Angelo serves as our Vice President of Library Development. She holds a PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Eastern Piedmont and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Trieste, Italy. Over the last 8 years she has authored 17 publications in the field of Library design, display technologies, recombinant antibodies and high-throughput screenings methods. Before joining Specifica, she was Research Assistant Professor in Experimental Therapeutics at the University of New Mexico and Associate Member of the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her long-time collaboration with Andrew Bradbury, our co-founder and CSO, dates back to 2009 when she joined his laboratory as a post-doctoral fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, first, and as Senior Scientist at the New Mexico Consortium.
M. FRANK ERASMUS / POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER
M. Frank Erasmus is a postdoctoral research scientist. Frank is a Ruth L. Kirschstein research fellow with the National Cancer Institute for his work involving the pre-B cell receptor in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He brings over 8 years of experience in the development and characterization of therapeutic antibodies in the academic and industry environments. Within industry, he worked as an analytical chemist to characterize antibody-based products in a cGMP/GMP facility. As a predoctoral trainee at the Spatiotemporal Modeling Center of New Mexico and Los Alamos National Labs, he incorporated both experimental and computational approaches to develop antibody-based products for treatment in leukemia. Frank is a co-inventor of a patented antibody therapy that he recently adapted for use as a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Science (University of New Mexico), an M.S. in Molecular & Cell Biology (San Diego State) and a B.S. in Molecular Biology (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo).
Nestled into the foothills of the
Sangre de Christo mountains, Santa Fe
is truly the City Different.
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Where We Work
Our business offices are located in downtown Santa Fe, the oldest capital in the US, and our laboratories are located in the NMC Biolabs in Los Alamos.
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NMC Biological Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico
The NMC Biological Laboratory and Greenhouse supports cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional initiatives in Plant Biology and Biomedical Technology and Engineering. University faculty and researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory and across the world collaborate in our laboratory on global challenges in food security, medicine and sustainable energy. NMC’s plant biology and biomedical technology initiatives are uniquely positioned at the frontier of a fertile research area with a tremendous potential return.
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Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico’s capital, sits in the Sangre de Cristo foothills. It’s renowned for its Pueblo-style architecture and as a creative arts hotbed. Founded as a Spanish colony in 1610, it has at its heart the traditional Plaza. The surrounding historic district’s crooked streets wind past adobe landmarks including the Palace of the Governors, now home to the New Mexico History Museum.
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LEARN MORE
LEARN MORE
Our laboratory at NMC Biolabs in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
