TTUHSC School of Pharmacy
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Faculty & Staff Details

Photo of Jon Weidanz, M.P.H., Ph.D. Name: Jon Weidanz, M.P.H., Ph.D.
Position: Professor and Department Chairman, Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology
Email: jon.weidanz@ttuhsc.edu
Bio Dr. Weidanz has over 20 years of experience in biotechnology research with emphasis in immunology, immunotherapy and immunodiagnostic product development, especially as these disciplines relate to oncology and the development of products to diagnose and treat cancer. He is the founder of Receptor Logic, Inc., and currently serves as its President and Chief Scientific Officer. His other duties include serving as:
1) Chairman for the Department of Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology,
2) Director for the Center for Immunotherapeutic Research and Product Development, and
3) a tenured Professor at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC).
As Center Director, he has assembled an interactive group of staff scientists to develop novel immunotherapeutics for oncology and infectious diseases and to work with companies to provide solutions for their specific needs. The Center has world-class expertise in monoclonal antibody design and generation and in bioassay development. In addition, Dr. Weidanz has published studies involving therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, vaccine potency assays, dendritic cells and T cells related to vaccine development and assessment of immune modulators. Prior to his academic appointment and Receptor Logic, Dr. Weidanz co founded and served as Principal Scientist at Sunol Molecular Corp. (now Altor Biosciences, Inc.), where he created and managed the T- Cell Receptor (TCR) technology platform, including manufacturing and preclinical testing. Several of the TCR fusion proteins are now in Phase I/IIa clinical trials. Prior to starting Sunol Molecular Corp., he worked for Baxter Diagnostics as a Research Scientist primarily responsible for the establishment of several protein expression systems involving bacteria, insect cells and mammalian cells as well as project leader for developing several immunoassays for the clinic. In addition, he has extensive experience in the development of biopharmaceutical protein platforms. He was the inventor of recombinant methods for TCR production and has applied this knowledge to conceive and develop the T-Cell Receptor mimic (TCRm) antibody platform, which offers many significant advantages over standard TCR technologies.

Education:

B.S. Biology, West Virginia University, 1985
M.P.H. Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1987
Ph.D. Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1992
Post Doc, Gene Expression/Immunology, Baxter Diagnostics, 1993

Publications:

(Selected from peer reviewed publications)


  1. Jain R, Rawat A, Verma B, Markiewski MM and Weidanz JA. (2012). Antitumor activity of a monoclonal antibody targeting MHC class I–Her2 peptide complexes. (Accepted) Journal of National Cancer Institute.

  2. Weidanz, JA and Hildebrand, WH. (2011). Expanding the Targets Available to Therapeutic Antibodies via Novel Disease-Specific Markers. International Reviews of Immunology. 30:312-327.        

  3. Weidanz, JA, Hawkins O, Verma, B and Hildebrand WH. (2011). TCR-like Biomolecules target peptide/MHC Class I complexes on the surface of infected and cancerous cells. International Reviews of Immunology. 30:328-340.

  4. Hawkins O, Verma B, Lightfoot S, McNair S, Neethling F, Caseltine S, Gupta P, Almanza O, Dooley W, Hildebrand WH and Weidanz JA. (2011). A New Breast Cancer Biomarker and Potential Therapeutic Target: HLA/Peptide Fragments of Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor. Journal of Immunology. 186(11):6607-6616.

  5. Verma B, Jain, R, Caseltine S, Rennels A, Bhattacharya R, Markiewski MM, Rawat A, Neethling F, Bickel U and Weidanz JA. (2011). TCR Mimic Monoclonal Antibodies Induce Apoptosis of Tumor Cells via Immune Effector- Independent Mechanisms. Journal of Immunology.186 (5):3265-3276.

  6. Kim S, Li L, McMurtrey CP, Hildebrand WH, Weidanz JA, Gillanders WE, Diamond MS, Hansen TH. (2010) Single-chain HLA-A2 MHC trimers that incorporate an immundominant peptide elicit protective T-cell immunity against lethal West Nile virus infection. Journal of   Immunology. 184(8):4423-30.

  7. Bhattacharya R, Xu Y, Rahman A, Couraud PO, Romero IA, Weksler BB, Weidanz JA, and Bickel U. (2010) A novel vascular targeting strategy for brain-derived endothelial cells using a TCR mimic antibody.  Journal of Cellular Physiology. 225(3):664-72.

  8. Verma B, Neethling FA, Caseltine S, Fabrizio G, Largo Duty JA, Tabaczewski P, Weidanz JA. (2010) TCR Mimic Monoclonal Antibody Targets a Specific Peptide/HLA Class I Complex and   Impedes Tumor Growth in an Orthotopic Breast Cancer Model. Journal of Immunology.   184(4):2156-2165.

  9. Verma B, Hawkins O, Neethling FA, Caseltine S, Largo S, Hildebrand WH, Weidanz JA. (2010) Direct discovery and validation of a peptide/MHC epitope expressed in primary human breast cancer cells using a TCRm monoclonal antibody with profound antitumor properties. Cancer Immunology Immunotherapy. 59(4):563-73.

  10. Hawkins O, VanGundy R, Eckerd A, Barder W, Buchli R, Weidanz JA, and Hildebrand W. (2008) Identification of breast cancer peptide epitopes presented by HLA A*0201. Journal of Proteome Research. 7(4):1445-57.

  11. Neethling FA, Ramakrishna V, Nguyen T, Woodburn T, Kelor T, and Weidanz JA. (2008) Assessing vaccine potency using TCR mimic antibodies. Vaccines. 26:3092-3102.

  12. Weidanz JA, Piazza P, Woodburn D, Nguyen T, Neethling F, Rinaldo CR, and Hildebrand WH. (2007) Development and implementation of a direct detection, quantitation and validation system for class I MHC self peptide epitopes. J Immunological Methods. 318:47-58.

  13. Wittman VP. Woodburn T, Nguyen T, Neethling F, Wright S, and Weidanz JA. (2006) Antibody targeting to class I MHC peptide epitope promotes tumor cell death. Journal of Immunology. 177(6):4187-4195.

  14. Weidanz JA, Nguyen T, Woodburn T, Neethling FA, Chiriva Internati M, Hildebrand WH, and Lustgarten J. (2006) Levels of specific peptide HLA class I complex predicts tumor cell susceptibility to CTL killing. Journal of Immunology. 177(8):5088-5097.

  15. Wahl A, Weidanz JA, and Hildebrand WH. (2006) Direct class I HLA antigen discovery to distinguish virus infected and cancerous cells. Expert Reviews in Proteomics, 6:641-652.

  16. Card KF, Price Schiavi S, Liu B, Thomson E, Nieves E, Belmont H, Wen JH, Weidanz JA, and Wong HC. (2004) A soluble single chain T-cell receptor IL 2 fusion protein retains MHC restricted peptide specificity and IL 2 bioactivity. Cancer Immunology Immunotherapy.   53:345-357.

  17. Weidanz JA, Card KF, Edwards A, Perlstein E, and Wong HC. (1998) Display of functional sc T-cell receptor molecules on the surface of bacteriophage. J Immunological Methods. 221:59-76.


Book chapters

  1. Wahl A, McMurtrey C, Hickman-Miller H, Weidanz JA, Hildebrand WH. Immune response under stress: Class I HLA presentation of host derived peptides. Volume: Heat shock proteins: potent mediators of inflammation and immunity. Eds. Asea, A. and Demaio, A. 2006. Springer Publishers, The Netherlands.

  2. Weidanz JA and Hildebrand WH. Antibodies to peptide/HLA complexes have potential application for cancer diagnosis and therapy.  In Cancer Vaccines: From Research to Clinical Practice. Eds. Bot A, Marincola FM and Obrocea M. 2011. Informa Healthcare, USA.


Patents-Issued

  1. US Patent 6,534,633 Polyspecific binding molecules and uses thereof

  2. US Patent 7,074,904 MHC complexes and uses thereof

  3. US Patent 7,456,263 P53 binding T-cell receptor molecules


Pending (Selected examples from 21)

  1. US 20070116718 Fusion proteins comprising bacteriophage coat protein and a single-chain T-cell receptor

  2. US20070092530 Antibodies as T-cell receptor mimics, methods of production and uses thereof

  3. US20070159696 Methods of assaying vaccine potency

  4. US 20060034850 Antibodies as T-cell receptor mimics, methods of production and uses thereof

  5. US20050282877 Methods of decreasing inflammation in kidney transplantation using Ang II receptor blockers

  6. US20040253632 Modulation of T-cell receptor interactions

  7. US20030171552 Polyspecific binding molecules and uses thereof

  8. US20030144474 T-cell receptor fusions and conjugates and methods thereof

  9. US20030093818 Transgenic animals comprising a humanized immune system

  10. US20020198144 MHC complexes and uses thereof

  11. US19981051640 Bispecific scTCR-sFv hybrid molecules


Provisional Patents

  1. TCR mimic antibodies as vascular targeting tools

  2. Peptide/HLA- conjugated nanoparticles with fluorophore(s) or drug(s)