Bio:

Carl F. Ware, Ph.D. is Professor and Director of the Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases Center and Member of NCI designated Cancer Center at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. Dr. Ware is a leading immunologist internationally recognized for his scientific discoveries and advances in the study of the immune system that are leading to new therapeutics for autoimmune diseases and cancer. A third generation Southern Californian, Dr. Ware received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the University of California, Irvine, and was awarded a prestigious National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health to support his postdoctoral training in biochemistry and immunology at the University of Texas and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Ware established his research laboratory in Immunology at the University of California, Riverside, in 1981 and relocated in 1996 to San Diego, serving as founding Director of Molecular Immunology at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology.

In 2010, Dr. Ware joined SBP Discovery to translate his discoveries into new medicines fostered by the research environment at SBP. As Center Director, Dr. Ware helps build scientific collaborations with biotech and pharma companies to promote the translation of fundamental research into new therapeutics to treat autoimmune diseases and cancer. Dr. Ware actively contributes to the discovery-rich environment in the San Diego research community, serving as Professor at UC San Diego, a member of the Clinical and Translational Research Institute, the Center for Precision Immunotherapy at Moores Cancer Center, and the Executive Committee for the Center for AIDS Research. Dr. Ware serves as Director of SAB for the Arthritis National Research Foundation that funds new investigators, serves as a grant reviewer for the National Institutes of Health, and advises several biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies on innovative approaches to target discovery and drug development.

Dr. Ware is noted for his patented discoveries of TNF-related cytokines and regulatory proteins of the immune system and therapeutics targeting these cytokines. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recognizes Dr. Ware as an expert on the subject of the “TNF Superfamily”. Being awarded the prestigious MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health allowed him to develop new approaches to drug development. Dr. Ware’s discoveries in immunology have led to the development of two protein-based drugs currently in clinical trials for the treatment of autoimmune diseases–a human monoclonal antibody (AGM002) to the cytokine LIGHT now in a clinical trial (NCT03169894) for Crohn’s Disease and Colitis, and a receptor-Fc biologic (baminercept) in rheumatoid arthritis. Currently at SBP Discovery Dr. Ware has additional projects with pharma developing novel protein-based therapeutics for autoimmune diseases. In addition, his team is developing treatments for cancer using the power of immunotherapy.