History

TTI was founded in 1996 as Transplantation Technologies Inc. (TTI) by five research scientists and six research institutions located in Toronto and London, Ontario. As the name implies, the company’s research was focused on transplantation, with a specific emphasis on xenotransplantation. In the late 1990’s, TTI expanded its research base to include CD200 and the field of immune regulation.

In late 2002, Dr. Niclas Stiernholm was hired as full-time CEO, and shortly thereafter the company closed its first round of financing. An experienced team of scientists and executives was assembled, and TTI rapidly grew from a small, academic-based entity to a stand-alone biopharmaceutical company operating in a dedicated 10,000 sq. ft. laboratory facility.

With an increasing focus in areas of immunology outside transplantation, the company changed its name in May 2003 to Trillium Therapeutics Inc. and remains known as TTI. The trillium (T. grandiflorum) is the provincial flower of Ontario, and was chosen to symbolically honour the company’s Ontario roots.