Mike (Przemyslaw) Sapieha
Professor, Université de Montréal - Chief Scientist, UNITY Biotechnology - Founder and Scientific Director, SemaThera
Mike (Przemyslaw) Sapieha is the Chief Scientist at UNITY Biotechnology as well as Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of SemaThera. In addition, he is the Université de Montréal Endowed Chair in translational vision research, Canada Research Chair in retinal cell biology and director of the Neurovascular Eye Disease Lab at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital Research Centre. His team made fundamental discoveries in retinal vascular diseases, identifying and exploiting non-genetic mechanisms and novel druggable pathways for diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration, two major causes of blindness in the Western world. This work lead to the development of therapeutic inhibitors of semaphorins and senolytic drugs that are currently in clinical trials for retinal vasculopathies.