ProQR Appoints Yi-Tao Yu, Ph.D., to Its Scientific Advisory Board


LEIDEN, the Netherlands, May 23, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ProQR Therapeutics N.V. (Nasdaq:PRQR), a company dedicated to changing lives through the creation of transformative RNA medicines for the treatment of severe genetic rare diseases, today announced the appointment of Dr. Yi-Tao Yu to the company's scientific advisory board.

"Dr. Yu is a pioneer of targeted RNA editing to correct protein translation defects caused by premature termination codons,” said Daniel de Boer, chief executive officer of ProQR. "We welcome Dr. Yu to our scientific advisory board, where his expertise will help guide and inform our development of therapies for rare genetic diseases based on novel RNA editing technologies including our Axiomer® technology."

Dr. Yu is a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. His research focuses on understanding the role of post-transcriptional RNA editing in regulating cellular processes, such as telomere regeneration, pre-mRNA splicing and protein coding capacity of mRNAs. He is the author of over 70 peer-reviewed scientific articles, and he has served as a member or reviewer in a number of scientific, government and patient organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Gilbert Family Foundation and the RNA Society. Dr. Yu received his Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University and conducted his postdoctoral studies at Yale University School of Medicine.

"Targeted RNA editing technology has the potential to develop transformative therapies for genetic conditions," said Dr. Yu. "I look forward to working with ProQR as they continue to develop new therapeutics for patients with rare diseases that do not currently have treatment options."

About Axiomer® Technology Platform

ProQR is pioneering a next-generation RNA technology called Axiomer®, which could potentially yield a new class of medicines for genetic diseases. Axiomer® “Editing Oligonucleotides”, or EONs, mediate single nucleotide changes to RNA in a highly specific and targeted way using molecular machinery that is present in human cells. The Axiomer® EONs are designed to recruit an endogenously expressed RNA editing system called ADAR, which it can direct to the change of an Adenosine (A) to an Inosine (I) in the RNA – an Inosine is translated as a Guanosine (G).

About ProQR

ProQR Therapeutics is dedicated to changing lives through the creation of transformative RNA medicines for the treatment of severe genetic rare diseases such as Leber’s congenital amaurosis 10, dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa and cystic fibrosis. Based on our unique proprietary RNA repair platform technologies we are growing our pipeline with patients and loved ones in mind.
*Since 2012*

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ProQR Therapeutics N.V.:
Smital Shah
Chief Financial Officer
T: +1 415 231 6431 
ir@proqr.com