TORONTO, and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 27, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc. (TSX: PMN) (OTCQB: ARFXF), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of antibody therapeutics targeting toxic oligomers implicated in the development of neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the appointment of Dr. David Wishart, Distinguished University Professor in the Departments of Biological Sciences and Computing Science at the University of Alberta, as Chief Physics Officer at ProMIS. Dr. Wishart has been one of the world’s most highly cited scientists for each of the past seven years and brings more than three decades in protein folding and misfolding research to ProMIS, creating industry-leading depth in this area of therapeutic development for neurodegenerative and other diseases.

“Over the past half year as a member of the ProMIS scientific advisory board (SAB) I have participated in the ProMIS weekly R&D meetings and have come to appreciate the outstanding quality of the ProMIS scientific program and team led by Dr. Neil Cashman. With my appointment as Chief Physics Officer I now look forward to offering my experience and expertise in the field of protein misfolding to the ProMIS team, and in particular to continued expansion of the ProMIS technology platform which is uniquely capable of identifying the sequence and shape (conformation) of novel binding targets on misfolded proteins implicated in the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS.”

“ProMIS has leveraged its industry leading technology platform to create a portfolio of antibody, intrabody and vaccine candidates that are highly selective for the misfolded protein aggregates driving pathogenesis,” stated Dr. Neil Cashman, ProMIS Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). “As Chief Physics Officer, Dr. Wishart will play a pivotal role to further develop and expand the application of our proprietary platform to the biology of additional misfolded protein diseases. I would also like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Dr. Steven Plotkin for his outstanding prior service to the company as the ProMIS Chief Physics Officer since its inception.”

“ProMIS’s unique capability is our unrivalled antibody discovery platform, and Dr. Wishart has already added immeasurably to that capability,” said Executive Chairman Eugene Williams. “IBM’s quantum computing group predicted last year that within five years (i.e., by 2025) quantum computing will enable ‘developing novel biologic products based on protein folding predictions.’   ProMIS has already demonstrated that capability for years, in part by focusing on the narrower problem of predicting conformational epitopes exposed only on pathogenic, mis-folded proteins, but also by collaborating with extraordinarily talented scientists like Dr. Wishart and his team.”