Tal Zaks
塔尔·扎克斯
MD, PhD
Former Chief Medical Officer, Moderna, Inc.; Venture Partner前Moderna首席医疗官；风险合伙人
👥Biography 个人简介
Tal Zaks served as Chief Medical Officer of Moderna from 2015 to 2021, overseeing clinical development of mRNA-1273 (Spikevax) and the individualized neoantigen cancer vaccine mRNA-4157. He championed the concept of 'the software of life' for mRNA medicines and was instrumental in advancing mRNA from lab curiosity to approved therapeutic platform.
🧪Research Fields 研究领域
🎓Key Contributions 主要贡献
mRNA-4157 Individualized Neoantigen Cancer Vaccine Clinical Program
As Moderna CMO, led initiation of KEYNOTE-942 in partnership with Merck — the first randomized phase 2b trial of a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine — establishing clinical trial design standards for individualized mRNA cancer vaccine evaluation.
mRNA-1273 COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Development
Oversaw the phase 1 through phase 3 clinical development and regulatory authorization of mRNA-1273 (Spikevax), the first mRNA vaccine authorized in the US, validating the LNP-mRNA platform for large-scale clinical use.
mRNA Platform Evangelism and Regulatory Strategy
Published influential perspectives establishing mRNA as a broad therapeutic modality, engaging FDA and international regulators to define regulatory frameworks for mRNA drugs and vaccines in oncology and infectious disease.
Representative Works 代表性著作
Personalized RNA mutanome vaccines mobilize poly-specific therapeutic immunity against cancer
Nature (2017)
Co-author; co-reported neoepitope mRNA vaccine approach inducing poly-specific T cell immunity in melanoma patients, foundational data supporting Moderna's mRNA-4157 program.
An mRNA Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 — Preliminary Report
New England Journal of Medicine (2020)
Senior author on phase 1 mRNA-1273 safety and immunogenicity data; established the clinical evidence base validating Moderna's LNP-mRNA platform for human use.
The mRNA-vaccine era comes of age
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery (2021)
Perspective article cataloguing the transition of mRNA vaccines from experimental to approved medicines, with implications for cancer vaccine clinical development pipelines.
🏆Awards & Recognition 奖项与荣誉
📄Data Sources 数据来源
Last updated: 2026-01-15 | All information from publicly available academic sources
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