TCNJ

39 Class Notes SPRING 2025 which gave him a taste of innovative startups and entrepreneurship. He built a skill that would prove crucial to forming his own business: how to identify a medical need in the market- place. "That's where innovation lies," he says. Case in point: After becoming a father in 2012, Mane recognized the health benefits of breast milk, often referred to as liquid gold. Naturally packed with the immunological and nutritional components to help infants thrive, breast milk had long been recognized as an abundant source of antibodies that anecdotally were said to protect from or help heal conditions such as skin rashes to eye infections. Mane wondered, what if these antibodies could do more? "I knew about all these conditions of people that don't have antibodies, like the boy in the bubble," Mane says. "If antibodies could be extracted from milk and then made into purified therapeutic compounds and then delivered to patients who can't make antibodies, could that correct the deficit?" And that's when he combined his science background with his business acumen. For seven years, Mane has worked to develop breast milk-based biologics to help manage immunodefi- ciencies like the one the boy in the bubble had. Today, Lactiga's mucosal- targeted secretory IgA program, which focuses on enhancing immunity for immunodeficient patients through a novel nasal spray, has earned Orphan Drug and Rare Pediatric Disease designations from the FDA, and was awarded a highly (cont. next page) As good as gold Viraj Mane's Lactiga innovates for immunity. FACING PAGE PETER MURPHY; THIS PAGE COURTESY OF VIRAJ MANE A n article in his mom's Time magazine about the "boy in the bubble" inspired Viraj Mane '00 to become a scientist. Mane, a middle- schooler in suburban New Jersey at the time, specifically recalls that the boy had a depressed immune system, forcing him to live his life in a sterile plastic "bubble." Mane was struck by the article's suggestion that emerging gene thera- pies promised to improve — if not save — the lives of immunodeficient patients. And he wanted to be a part of it. Following his parents' mantra to "always do something to help," Mane set out on a path that led him to the formation of his brainchild, Lactiga, an award-winning company that develops novel biologics to treat immune disorders. "There are a few things I'm above average at, like just a short list," Mane jokes. "But one of them is curiosity. And that kind of mindset lends itself very clearly to the sciences." Drawn to TCNJ's undergraduate biology program and particularly inspired by the mentorship of Professor Steve Klug, Mane thrived in the School of Science. He then went on to earn a PhD in human genetics from Baylor College of Medicine and subsequently completed two post- doctoral fellowships at the Food and Drug Administration and the University of Maryland spanning immunology, virology, drug delivery, and nanotechnology. Despite his academic success, Mane says he wasn't built "to do only one thing for 20 years." So he jumped at an opportunity in portfolio manage- ment for medical countermeasures, Viraj Mane '00 and daughter Arya. Becoming a father spurred Mane to think out of the box. "There are a few things I'm above average at, like just a short list," Mane jokes. "But one of them is curiosity."

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