Hélène Asnagli

Hélène Asnagli has over 15 years of experience in international biotech companies, dedicated to development of new therapies in autoimmune diseases. Prior to joining Step Pharma she spent 10 years with TxCell in Sophia Antipolis, France where she was responsible for non-clinical pharmacology and toxicology studies to support FIM and PhII/PhIII clinical programs. Hélène has significant experience in establishing and running in vivo models relevant to MS, RA, IBD, uveitis, psoriasis and bullous pemphigoid. Prior to this she was Head of Laboratory in the Immunopharmacology department of Serono, in Ivrea, Italy developing in vitro and in vivo models to support antibodies and small-molecules programs.

Hélène obtained her PhD in Immunology from the Centre of Immunology in Marseille, France in 1998 followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, USA. This work focused on T cell differentiation at the cellular and molecular levels. She then spent several years working in start-up companies in Canada and France, developing cell-based therapies for autoimmune diseases.