SAN DIEGO AND HONG KONG – January 17, 2019 – aTyr Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: LIFE), a biotherapeutics company engaged in the discovery and development of innovative medicines based on novel immunological pathways, today recognized the collaboration between its Hong Kong subsidiary, Pangu BioPharma (Pangu) and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) for contributions leading to the discovery of aTyr’s lead clinical candidate, ATYR1923, which is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1b/2a study in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. In a joint press conference, aTyr leadership, together with HKUST, recognized researchers from both organizations for their seminal basic and translational research leading to the discovery of extracellular signaling functions of tRNA synthetases.

HKUST researchers with support from Pangu were instrumental in discovering a splice variant of histidyl-tRNA synthetase (HARS) that liberates the smaller, active immuno-modulatory (iMod) domain from the full-length tRNA synthetase and has been shown to modulate the immune system. Read More... 

HKUST Chair Professor of the Division of Life Science and project coordinator of the Pangu collaboration Prof. ZHANG Mingjie (left); Co-founder and Director of aTyr Pharma and Senior Visiting Fellow at HKUST’s Institute for Advanced Study Prof. Paul SCHIMMEL (middle) and President and CEO of aTyr Dr. Sanjay SHUKLA (right) introduce how aTyr1923 can modulate interstitial lung disease.

A group photo of Prof. ZHANG Mingjie (back first left), Prof. Paul SCHIMMEL (back middle) and Dr. Sanjay SHUKLA (back first right) with members from the HKUST/Pangu research team.