The Innovation and Translation team manages ABL’s portfolio of government contracts that drive the transformation of ideas to novel clinical products that prevent and treat infectious disease. The services the Innovation team provides include early discovery of suitable manufacturing process that can be transferred to a cGMP CMO, cell line development, analytical assay development, assessment of immunogenicity, and/or efficacy in animals, as well as management of outsourced cGMP manufacturing or GLP safety/toxicology testing. The Innovation team also provides translational research services to academic and biotech partners.
Dr. Timothy Fouts, who joined ABL in 2016, is the Chief Scientific Officer and head of the Innovation and Translation team. Dr. Fouts is an inventor and biotech entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience leading discovery and pre-clinical development (up to Phase I/II) of vaccines and therapeutics against infectious diseases. Core scientific expertise includes discovery and development of vaccine products targeting sexually transmitted viruses and enteric pathogens with a particular interest in mucosal vaccines as well as vaginally and rectally applied microbicides and other anti-infective molecules. Prior to joining ABL, Dr. Fouts was one of the founding scientists at Profectus BioSciences. There, he served as Senior Director of Virology and led a team of scientists in the discovery and preclinical development a products including vaccines, small molecule and Ab based antiviral therapies and microbicides. One of the products, a vaccine for HIV, completed Phase I clinical trials. He also developed a therapeutic vaccine for HPV, and preventative vaccines for HSV, Influenza, and Henipavirus. He also served as the Vice President of Development at Rel-MD, Inc. in Baltimore, Maryland, where he directed the discovery and preclinical development of the small molecule Rel inhibitors as anti-cancer agents. Prior to Profectus BioSciences, Dr. Fouts was an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland. Dr. Fouts received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Maryland at Baltimore, and completed his post-doctoral fellowship at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Rockefeller University.
