Charles Reed

Charles

Reed

Department of Natural and Applied Science

Assistant Professor of Biology

Bernardine Hall / O'Pake Science Center

145

610-796-5117

Charles.Reed@alvernia.edu

Biography

I am a structural biologist and protein engineer with over 20 years of experience in recombinant therapeutic proteins, cell and gene therapies, vaccine development, and cancer immunotherapies. My background includes an appointment to research assistant professor at Thomas Jefferson University and leadership roles as a senior director in several biotechnology companies, leading teams of protein engineers and information scientists. I am now a university educator as well as an independent biotechnology consultant focusing on protein design. I hold multiple patents in molecular biology, protein engineering, and antibody design and am co-inventor of INO-3107, a therapeutic vaccine developed to treat recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP), a rare HPV-related disease. The vaccine is now in the final stages of clinical testing before FDA approval with a BLA expected in 2025.

Education

Courses Taught

Research Interests

My professional life in the biotechnology industry has routinely involved the rational design of proteins with enhanced, refocused, or novel functionalities. Using molecular mechanics methods to build protein models and interrogate them chemically, I have generated molecules with desired functions as assay reagents, for therapeutic indications, for controlling transcription, and for controlling protein-protein interactions. Building on molecular models to guide design, rationally mutated proteins can be built and tested in assays using cell lines with engineered reporter genes such as GFP or luciferase. The construction of the reporter cell line itself can also be a molecular biology research project for students. This generalized approach represents an effective paradigm to get multiple students working together on a project. The engineering of murine or human cytokines and growth factors represents a relevant and useful system with multiple sensitive cell lines available, pre-existing reporter cell lines, well-developed assay protocols, and a wealth of literature to provide students with a knowledge base. The work can also proceed beyond point mutational approaches and touch on synthetic biology applications and approaches. Engineered cytokines are used in the clinic today and will see further used as immunotherapy applications continue to see success in multiple diseases. Exploration of transcriptional and protein-protein interaction switches represents another viable research area where undergraduate students could be involved and make real contributions. This kind of work has direct application to safety switches in CAR-T therapies today. One simple application of these switchable proteins is cell suicide switches. Exploration and design of cell suicide switches represents a readily assayable system where student work would translate into experience valuable in multiple therapeutic spaces.

Honors & Awards

Professional Experience

• Independent Protein Design Consultant (2015-current)
• Senior Director of Protein Design, NexImmune Inc. (2021-2023)
• Senior Director of Protein Engineering, Inovio Pharmaceuticals (2017-2019, 2020-2021)
• Multiple roles culminating in Senior Director of Protein Engineering, Intrexon Corp. (2007-2015)

Co-Inventor of INO-3107, a therapeutic vaccine to treat RRP, subject of BLA in 2025 through Inovio Pharmaceuticals.

Granted Patents

1. Vaccines For Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis and Methods of Using the Same. Ramos S, Walters J, Yan J, Slager A, Reed C, Broderick K. US11744885B2 (granted 2023-09-23).
2. Immunogenic Compositions Against Sars-Cov-2 Variants and Their Methods of Use. Reed C, Ramos S, Smith T, Yang M, Kalia R, Broderick K. US20220339280A1 (pending).
3. Optimized Nucleic Acid Antibody Constructs, Weiner D, Guibinga G, Cooch N, Reed C. US12054537B2 (granted 2024-08-06).
4. Novel Nicotine Degrading Enzyme Variants. Kalnik MW, Thisted T, Stone E, Reed CC, Rodnick-Smith M. US20200224176A1 (granted 2023-03-07).
5. Vectors Conditionally Expressing Therapeutic Proteins, Host Cells Comprising the Vectors, And Uses Thereof. Roeth J, Reed C, Cuthbertson B, Chada S, Fogler W. US20180002719A1 (granted 2020-03-10).
6. Polynucleotides Encoding Therapeutic Inhibitors Of PAI-1, Reed T, Peterson R, Reed C, Sopczynski J, Merenick B, Carson J, Keaty C, Tashev E. US8828686B2 (granted 2014-09-09).