Cambridge, MA-based Yumanity Therapeutics has named Brigitte Robertson to the role of chief medical officer. Most recently, she was the therapeutic area head of neuroscience global clinical development at Shire, which was then acquired by Takeda (NYSE: [[ticker:TAK]]). Robertson also held roles at Sunovion Pharmaceuticals in clinical development and experimental medicine, and GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: [[ticker:GSK]]) in the Center for Excellence in Drug Discovery.
Yumanity’s proprietary discovery platform uses yeast, modified to carry human genes, and human neurons to identify genes and other markers of neurodegenerative diseases. Its lead program corrects α-synuclein-associated toxicity, which is linked to Parkinson’s disease. The company in 2016 raised $45 million in a Series A financing led by Fidelity Management & Research.