Librarian to the Antibodies

15 December 2008 – New Zealand-born CEO of German biotech firm MorphoSys engineer, Dr Simon Moroney is in charge of a different sort of library, an amazing archive containing some 12 billion human antibodies. The Human Combinatorial Antibody Library (HuCAL) forms the basis for a new type of medicine targeting autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and cancer. Included in Time’s 2008 ‘Tech Pioneers’ list, Moroney worked on the first generation of anti-cancer antibody conjugates and has lectured at Harvard University. In 2002, Moroney was recognised by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany with the German Cross of the Order of Merit — the highest order of merit ever granted a foreign national — for his services to the biotechnology industry.