Revolutionizing Delivery to

About Us

Rethinking what’s possible in cancer therapy

Vivere is developing next-generation cancer therapies aimed at activating the immune system to selectively detect and destroy cancer cells in cold tumors that otherwise remain hidden to the body’s natural defenses. Our name Vivere (pronounced VEE-veh-ray) means “to live” and reflects our mission to develop life-saving treatments for patients by applying innovative engineering approaches to solve complex human biology challenges.

 

Our vision is to leverage our platform to unmask cold tumors to the immune system through improved delivery of targeted, safe, and effective therapies. Our team’s combination of engineering, immunology, and translational expertise paired with experience in building successful therapeutics companies gives us the tools to tackle problems others have deemed intractable. At Vivere, we believe progress in oncology requires more than incremental advances. It requires bold engineering, collaborative science, and an unwavering focus on making transformative breakthroughs for patients.

Our Science

Empowering the patients’ own immune systems to fight off cancer

Leveraging technology developed at UC Berkeley, Vivere’s team of scientists uses a proprietary bioengineering platform to design safe, targeted and more effective cancer-fighting therapies that deliver treatment more efficiently to where it’s needed most. This platform is based on over 25 years of academic and industry research and will enable the development of products capable of breaking through the immunological tolerance of tumors.

 

By breaking down barriers between modern medicine and human biology, Vivere’s goal is to provide breakthrough treatments to some of the most challenging cancers and diseases for which there are few effective solutions.

Our Team

Vivere was founded by a team of leading scientists and entrepreneurs who have spent their careers advancing breakthroughs in gene therapy, viral vector engineering, and immuno-oncology. Drawing on decades of innovation and experience, Vivere’s team combines cutting-edge research with proven success translating discoveries into clinical-stage medicines.

Leadership

Melissa Kotterman, Ph.D.

CEO

Adam Schieferecke, Ph.D.

Co-founder;
Head of Research

Hyuncheol Lee, D.V.M., Ph.D.

Co-founder;
Head of Nonclinical Development

David Schaffer, Ph.D.

Co-founder;
President

John Dueber, Ph.D.

Co-founder;
Scientific Advisor

Wanichaya Noiwangklang, M.S.

Co-founder;
Head of Operations

Board of Directors

Gary Yeung, MBA

Chairman

David Schaffer, Ph.D.

Co-founder;
President

Melissa Kotterman, Ph.D.

CEO

Scientific Advisory Board

Phung Gip, Ph.D.

Sr. Director, Head of Translational Medicine at Nkarta

David Raulet, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at University of California, Berkeley

Mark Selby, Ph.D.

Vice President, Research at LTZ Therapeutics

John Bell, Ph.D.

Professor of Medicine at Ottawa Health Research Institute

Matthew Spear, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer / Chief Development Officer at Denovo Biopharma

Jennifer Low, M.D.

CEO & Founder, Wield Therapeutics

Investors & Grant Support

News

June 13, 2022

Vivere Oncotherapies Announces $10M Funding to Develop Targeted Therapies for Cold Tumor Cancers

Contact

Vivere is based at UC Berkeley’s Bakar Bio Labs, a state-of-the-art, life science-focused incubator at the center of the San Francisco Bay Area’s biotechnology community.

2630 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, California 94720
info@viveretx.com

Vivere is an early-stage life sciences company driving the next generation of solid cancer treatment. If you are passionate about contributing to the next transformative breakthroughs in oncology, please send your CV to jobs@viveretx.com

We do not accept unsolicited resumes from agencies or other third parties and will not pay fees associated with such resumes.

Leverage our cutting-edge technology platform to enable new therapeutic development or synergize with your modality of choice.
Partner with us on the next generation of cancer therapies.
Let’s talk

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Melissa Kotterman, Ph.D.

CEO

Dr. Melissa Kotterman is the CEO of Vivere Oncotherapies. She previously co-founded 4D Molecular Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FDMT), where she served as Vice President of Discovery & Engineering. As part of the founding management team, she helped to raise $3.5M in grant funding, $175M in private financing, and $220M via IPO. Through her leadership, 4DMT advanced five AAV gene therapy programs involving novel, engineered capsids from scientific concept to first-in-human clinical trials. Dr. Kotterman also co-founded Ignite Immunotherapy (acquired by Pfizer), a biotech company developing oncolytic virus therapies for cancer. Most recently, she was Chief Scientific Officer at Iris Medicine, an early-stage biotech focused on neurodegenerative diseases. Prior to becoming CEO of Vivere, Dr. Kotterman served on the Scientific Advisory Board for Vivere for over two years. She has co-authored over 20 patents, publications and presentations relating to the discovery and development of gene therapy products. Dr. Kotterman earned her B.S. in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon and her Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UC Berkeley, where she was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow.

Adam Schieferecke, Ph.D.

Co-founder;
Head of Research

Dr. Adam Schieferecke co-founded and leads discovery research at Vivere. He is a gene therapy innovator with 12 years of experience in molecular, cellular, and evolutionary virology and cancer biology. Dr. Schieferecke earned B.S./M.S. degrees at Kansas State University, completed a research fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, and received his Ph.D. and postdoctoral training at UC Berkeley. At Berkeley, he spearheaded the development of Vivere’s proprietary CRISPR-based engineering platform for oncolytic virotherapies. He has co-authored more than a dozen publications and patents and has been recognized by national awards including the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and a young investigator award from the National Cancer Institute.

Hyuncheol Lee, D.V.M., Ph.D.

Co-founder;
Head of Nonclinical Development

Dr. Hyuncheol Lee co-founded and leads nonclinical development at Vivere. He is a veterinarian and immunologist with more than 15 years of experience in immunology, molecular virology, cell line and viral vector engineering, and preclinical oncology. Dr. Lee trained in clinical veterinary medicine and earned a Ph.D. in Preventive Veterinary Medicine, and has over 30 patents, presentations and publications published in journals such as Nature Immunology. As a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, Dr. Lee established preclinical processes and manufacturing for large-genome viral vectors, shaping the preclinical development and translational research of Vivere’s platform.

David Schaffer, Ph.D.

Co-founder;
President

Dr. David Schaffer is the Hubbard Howe Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Bioengineering, and Molecular & Cell Biology at UC Berkeley. He has pioneered the application of engineering principles to optimize gene and stem cell therapies, work that includes developing the concept of applying directed evolution to engineer targeted and efficient viral gene therapy vectors. This research has led to more than 250 publications, over 50 issued patents, and technologies used in >10 human clinical trials. He is a co-founder of seven companies based on his research, including 4D Molecular Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FDMT), Ignite Immunotherapies (acquired by Pfizer), Rewrite (acquired by Intellia), and Vivere. In addition, Dr. Schaffer is the Director of QB3, the Bakar Labs, and the Bakar Fellows Program. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors. Dr. Schaffer received his B.S. from Stanford, Ph.D. from MIT, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute before joining Berkeley’s faculty in 1999.

John Dueber, Ph.D.

Co-founder;
Scientific Advisor

Dr. John Dueber is the Lester John and Lynne D. Lloyd Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley, where he has led a research program in cellular engineering and synthetic biology for more than 15 years. His lab develops technologies for introducing designable, modular control over living cells, including the work on viral vector engineering that underpins Vivere’s platform. He has received numerous awards, including the DOE Early Career, NSF CAREER, and Bakar Fellow distinctions. Dr. Dueber previously served as Senior Director of Synthetic Biology at Novome Biotechnologies, where he led a Genentech collaboration on engineered commensal bacteria for gastrointestinal disease. At UC Berkeley, he also serves as Associate Chair of Bioengineering and Co-Chair of the Agilent Biodesign Program. Dr. Dueber earned his B.S. at the University of Delaware, Ph.D. at UCSF under Wendell Lim, and trained as a QB3 Distinguished Fellow under Jay Keasling.

Wanichaya Noiwangklang, M.S.

Co-founder;
Head of Operations

Wanichaya Noiwangklang brings more than 25 years of experience in project and program management, laboratory operations, HR, and finance to Vivere. She is currently the Director of Workforce Development and co-lead of the Innovation Discovery program at QB3, and a co-founder and former Head of Operations at Axent Biosciences, where she oversaw cross-functional business operations and team development. At Vivere, she manages organizational infrastructure, ensuring alignment between scientific innovation and business execution.

Gary Yeung, M.B.A.

Chairman

Gary Yeung is the founder and managing director of YK Bioventures. Throughout his 30-year career in life sciences, Gary has served as a life science investor, executive, co-founder, board member, and advisor, with extensive experience in forming and building biotech companies and developing novel therapies. He has raised over $600M in funding and co-founded a venture capital firm and two biotech startups. In his current VC role, he has invested in over 20 private life science companies. He also built multiple biotech companies with three (Erasca, Guardant Health, and Annexon) that achieved IPOs. He also led organizations that engaged in the filing of 42 INDs and launched multiple FDA-approved treatments at Genentech. He is also a former strategy consultant and operational leader at McKinsey & Company and General Electric (GE). Gary earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and his M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

David Schaffer, Ph.D.

Co-founder;
President

Dr. David Schaffer is the Hubbard Howe Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Bioengineering, and Molecular & Cell Biology at UC Berkeley. He has pioneered the application of engineering principles to optimize gene and stem cell therapies, work that includes developing the concept of applying directed evolution to engineer targeted and efficient viral gene therapy vectors. This research has led to more than 250 publications, over 50 issued patents, and technologies used in >10 human clinical trials. He is a co-founder of seven companies based on his research, including 4D Molecular Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FDMT), Ignite Immunotherapies (acquired by Pfizer), Rewrite (acquired by Intellia), and Vivere. In addition, Dr. Schaffer is the Director of QB3, the Bakar Labs, and the Bakar Fellows Program. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors. Dr. Schaffer received his B.S. from Stanford, Ph.D. from MIT, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute before joining Berkeley’s faculty in 1999.

Melissa Kotterman, Ph.D.

CEO

Dr. Melissa Kotterman is the CEO of Vivere Oncotherapies. She previously co-founded 4D Molecular Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FDMT), where she served as Vice President of Discovery & Engineering. As part of the founding management team, she helped to raise $3.5M in grant funding, $175M in private financing, and $220M via IPO. Through her leadership, 4DMT advanced five AAV gene therapy programs involving novel, engineered capsids from scientific concept to first-in-human clinical trials. Dr. Kotterman also co-founded Ignite Immunotherapy (acquired by Pfizer), a biotech company developing oncolytic virus therapies for cancer. Most recently, she was Chief Scientific Officer at Iris Medicine, an early-stage biotech focused on neurodegenerative diseases. Prior to becoming CEO of Vivere, Dr. Kotterman served on the Scientific Advisory Board for Vivere for over two years. She has co-authored over 20 patents, publications and presentations relating to the discovery and development of gene therapy products. Dr. Kotterman earned her B.S. in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon and her Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UC Berkeley, where she was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow.