Seppo Ylä-Herttuala

Dr. Seppo Yla-Herttuala, MD, PhD, is a world leader in viral gene therapy for cardiovascular diseases and brain and bladder cancer. His team was the first to use adenovirus-mediated gene transfer to human arteries already in 1995. Since then, he has conducted 12 phase 1-3 clinical trials in cardiovascular and cancer gene therapy. He has also been heavily involved in angiogenesis research, development of new gene transfer vectors and led large scale manufacturing process development of gene therapy products. He is the originator of the “cloud concept” of ncRNAs around promoters and the concept of “epigenetherapy”. He has always focused his attention on common chronic diseases and major disease indications. He is the past President of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (2010-2012) and has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Therapy (2015-2020). Currently, he is the head of the National Virus Vector Laboratory in the University of Eastern Finland (EU EATRIS infrastructure for vector production). He is the founder of Ark Therapeutics Ltd (currently Finvector Oy) where he and his colleagues developed gene therapy drug for bladder cancer which was approved by FDA in December 2022.