Dr. Melanie Matheu
Dr. Melanie Matheu is a PhD immunologist whose expertise is on the dynamic behavior of immune cells and the translation of human immunobiology into biotechnology platforms. She holds a PhD in Immunology from the University of California, Irvine, where she was one of the first pioneers using live cell high-resolution, laser-based imaging of a variety of immune cells in living tissues to elucidate how the immune system self-organizes and makes decisions as cells respond to inflammatory disease, cancer, and viral infection.
Over the course of her doctoral and postdoctoral work at UC Irvine, VIB (Flemish Institute for Biotechnology), and UCSF, Dr. Matheu developed deep expertise in the cellular and biophysical mechanisms that govern immune responses in peripheral tissues. She has applied this scientific foundation to engineer human immune systems “in a dish,” building tissue-like 3D systems, the first to replicate the human immune response, including B cell antibody development for rapid therapeutic discovery, vaccine, and drug immunogenicity screening, providing a rapid animal-free path to developing next-generation immunotherapies.
As the founder and former CEO of Prellis Biologics, Inc and co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Lyric Bio, Dr. Matheu has led the invention and deployment of ultrafast, high-resolution laser bioprinting technologies that create microvascularized tissue scaffolds optimized for immune cell function. Her work integrates specialized laser microscopy, immunology, cell biology, and biophysics to address critical bottlenecks in producing human antibodies, including scalable in vitro generation of polyclonal immunoglobulins that could reduce dependence on plasma donation for IVIg and related therapies.
Through peer reviewed publications in leading immunology journals, invited talks (including TEDMED), and leadership of immunology driven biotech programs, Dr. Matheu is recognized as an expert in visualizing and engineering human immune responses for therapeutic applications. She is at work on her first book.