Tuesday, January 16, 2024 9:00 am - 5:45 pm | Wednesday, January 17, 2024 11:05 am - 2:00 pm
TS6A: Introduction to Multispecific Antibodies
Detailed Agenda
Introduction to Multispecific Antibodies will be organized as an informative and practical guide to getting up to speed on critical aspects of bispecific antibody therapeutics. Topics will include historical successes, failures, and lessons learned. Specific practical instruction will span mechanisms of action, engineering, developability, regulatory considerations, and translational guidelines. Perspectives on the ideal implementation of multispecifics as targeted and immunomodulatory approaches will be discussed.
G. Jonah Rainey, PhD, Senior Director, Protein Engineering, Eli Lilly and Company
Topics to be Covered:
- A brief history of bispecific antibodies: 60 years of progress with critical advances and key pioneers
- Bispecific applications and powerful mechanisms-of-action
- Engineering bispecific antibodies:100 formats and counting
- Bispecific-specific considerations in preclinical development and regulatory landscape
- Developability, manufacturing, and analytical considerations
- Clinical experience, translation, and regulatory approval
- Current trends and future opportunities in regulating immune checkpoints, cell-based therapies, and personalized approaches
INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES:
G. Jonah Rainey, PhD, Senior Director, Protein Engineering, Eli Lilly and Company
Jonah Rainey holds a PhD in Biochemistry from Tufts University and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin and the Salk Institute. He has engaged in discovery, research, and development of bispecific antibodies for more than 15 years. He is an inventor on several patents describing novel bispecific platforms and current clinical candidates that exploit these platforms as well as an author on almost 30 publications. Jonah contributed to research and early development leading to multiple clinical candidates from Phase I and through approved products and led many advanced preclinical programs in oncology, infectious disease, autoimmunity, and other therapeutic areas. Previous industry experience includes MacroGenics, MedImmune/AZ, Oriole Biotech, Gritstone Oncology, and Alivamab Discovery Services. Currently, Jonah is a Senior Director in Protein Science at Eli Lilly & Co.
TS7A: Introduction to Antibody Engineering
Detailed Agenda
In this training seminar, students will learn about antibody basics, including structure, genetics, and the generation of diversity, as well as the generation of potential therapeutic antibodies. This latter part will include antibody humanization, affinity and specificity maturation, display technologies, creation of naïve libraries, and antibody characterization. The seminar will be fully interactive with students providing ample opportunities to discuss technology with instructors.
Andrew R.M. Bradbury, MD, PhD, CSO, Specifica, Inc., a Q2 Solutions Company
James D. Marks, MD, PhD, Professor and Vice Chairman, Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); Chief of Performance Excellence, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG)
Antibody Background
- Structure
- Genes
- Generation of Diversity (recombination, somatic hypermutations)
Antibody Humanization
- Closest human gene approach
- Minimal modification approach
- Veneering
Display Technologies Overview
- Phage
- Yeast
- Combining phage and yeast display
- Ribosome
- Others
Generation of Naïve Antibody Libraries
- Natural libraries (methods, quality control)
- Synthetic libraries (including strategies for generation diversity)
Affinity Maturation
- Error-prone PCR
- Chain shuffling
- CDR-targeted mutations
Next-Generation Sequencing in Antibody Engineering
- Platforms: advantages and disadvantages
- Error rates and why they are important
- Naïve library diversity analysis
- Selection analysis
Antibody Characterization and Developability
- Expression
- Specificity
- Aggregation
- Solubility
INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES:
Andrew R.M. Bradbury, MD, PhD, CSO, Specifica, Inc., a Q2 Solutions Company
Andrew Bradbury is Chief Scientific Officer of Specifica. He trained in medicine at the universities of Oxford and London and received his PhD from the university of Cambridge at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology under the guidance of Nobel Laureate, Cesar Milstein. He has worked in the fields of phage and yeast display, library generation, antibody engineering and Next Generation Sequencing for over thirty years. He was a Group Leader at Los Alamos National Laboratory before founding Specifica. Specifica's mission is to enable companies developing therapeutic antibodies with the world’s best antibody discovery platform.
James D. Marks, MD, PhD, Professor and Vice Chairman, Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); Chief of Performance Excellence, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG)
Dr. Marks is Professor and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Chief of Performance Excellence at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG). Dr. Marks received his medical degree from UCSF where he also completed residencies in Internal Medicine and Anesthesia and a fellowship in Critical Care Medicine. He received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. Dr. Marks is an internationally recognized pioneer in the field of antibody engineering, has had constant federal funding for 27 years and has authored more than 200 publications and 100 patents. In recognition of these scholarly achievements, he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. As an entrepreneur, he has co-founded four biotechnology companies and currently serves on three biotechnology corporate boards.
TS8A: Introduction to Machine Learning for Biologics Design
Detailed Agenda
This course offers an introduction to concepts, strategies, and machine learning methods used for biologics design. It includes presentations and demonstrations of the methods used in the field, covering techniques such as triaging sequences, modulating affinity, and designing antibody libraries, along with increasing manufacturability. The course is directed at scientists new to the field and protein engineers wanting an introduction to how machine learning can aid in guiding biologics design.
Christopher R. Corbeil, PhD, Research Officer, Human Health Therapeutics, National Research Council Canada
Francis Gaudreault, PhD, Research Officer, Human Health Therapeutics, National Research Council Canada
Seminar Highlights:
- Basics of machine learning and where it fits into drug discovery
- Machine learning: a historical view of its application in the field of drug discovery
- How machine learning revolutionized homology modeling
- Applying machine learning to structure-based biologics design
- Guiding the design of display libraries using machine learning
INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES:
Christopher R. Corbeil, PhD, Research Officer, Human Health Therapeutics, National Research Council Canada
Dr. Christopher Corbeil is a research officer at the National Research Council Canada (NRC) who specializes in the development and application of computational tools for biotherapeutic design and optimization. He is also an associate member of the McGill Biochemistry Department and teaches classes in Structure-Based Drug Design at McGill University. After receiving his PhD from McGill University, he joined the NRC as a Research Associate investigating the basics of protein-binding affinity. Following his time at the NRC he joined Chemical Computing Group as a research scientist developing tools for protein design, structure prediction, and binding affinity prediction. He then decided to leave private industry and rejoin NRC with a focus on antibody engineering. Dr. Corbeil has authored over 30 scientific articles and is the main developer of multiple software programs.
Francis Gaudreault, PhD, Research Officer, Human Health Therapeutics, National Research Council Canada
Francis obtained his PhD in Biochemistry from University of Sherbrooke in 2015, during which he developed a molecular docking program for docking small molecules to flexible protein or RNA targets. While doing his PhD studies, Francis co-founded a successful IT company for automating the management of scientific conferences. Francis joined the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada in 2016, where he has taken part in and led various efforts in the discovery and engineering of antibodies or other biologics. In such efforts are included the structure prediction of antibodies alone or in complex, the affinity assessment of antibody-antigen complexes, and the detection of antibody developability issues. Francis is leading the technical efforts in using artificial intelligence for antibody discovery.
TS9A: Advanced Purification of Engineered Biologics and Research Protein Tools
Detailed Agenda
Nominating engineered biologics lead drug candidates for treating diseases with complex metabolic pathways is a challenging endeavor. This is attributable to a plethora of Achilles heels along the production process for these molecules. The production pitfalls of engineered biologics include immunogenicity, toxicity, poor manufacturability, low potency, long production cycle-time, the high cost of production, and labor intensity. Screening out these detrimental attributes requires production, purification, and characterizing thousands of molecules through a battery of robust low protein consumptive HT-assays. This course presents two high-throughput (HT) “plug-and-play” single-cycle protein purification strategies. From crude cell cultures with cells, the first strategy delivers ample high-quality proteins at low cycle time, cost, and labor intensity for lead nomination. Parallel to the above strategy is a second high-HT pneumatic purification strategy for biologics or tagged protein panels from filtered cell cultures.
John K. Kawooya, PhD, Private Consultant of Robotics-Plate-Based-Ultra-HT Biologics Purification
Learning points:
- Surface chemistry of proteins and their behaviors in aqueous buffers
- Protein-monodispersing elements for “sticky” proteins and clearance of low abundance product degrading and destabilizing impurities
- Protein aggregates and aggregate clearance strategies
- Old semi-automated robots for 24/96-format HT-panel protein purification
- A novel hybrid HT-magnetic bead/resin-based purification robot for 6(x50ml), 24(x4ml), and 96(x1ml) formats
- Side products clearance from biologics using purification promoting mutations
- Protein purification tags and traceless engineering/purification tags for generating mutation-free bispecific molecules
- High-speed HT-low protein consumptive analytics for protein panels
Who should attend?
Although this course is directed towards protein purification experts in the fields of biologics and proteomics, biologics engineers and experienced scientists in general protein purification will find it very useful.
INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES:
John K. Kawooya, PhD, Private Consultant of Robotics-Plate-Based-Ultra-HT Biologics Purification
Director, Biologics Optimization, Discovery Research, Amgen, Inc.; PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Postdoctoral at the University of Chicago and University of Arizona, Tucson; Visiting Scientist, University of Rio de Janeiro; over 20 years of industrial experience in column protein purification and high-throughput magnetic protein purification technologies.
Thursday, January 18, 2024 8:30 am - 4:15 pm | Friday, January 19, 2024 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
TS6B: Biomanufacturing 101: An Overview on Animal Cell Culture Technology from Cell Line Development to Scale-Up Strategies
Detailed Agenda
During this one and a half day of presentations and discussions, we will take an in-depth look at the modern cell culture techniques from a frozen stock to bioreactor design and operations. After the completion of this seminar, the participants will have a clear understanding of the principles and techniques utilized in culturing animal cells for production of biologics, quality control of a cell culture laboratory and avoiding batch failure, cell line development and clone selection with optimized nutrients for increased productivity and the scale-up strategies for both suspension and anchorage dependent cells. utilizing stirred tank bioreactors, hollowfiber bioreactors and microcarrier cell culture technology.
Kamal A. Rashid, PhD, President, International Biotechnology Associates
Training Seminar Outline:
- Historical development and progress of animal cell culture technology
- Animal cells as factories for production of biopharmaceutical products
- Understanding the cell cycle at the molecular level and how it will impact cell productivity
- Expression systems and transfection assays
- Cell Line development, clone selection, cell line characterization and cell line banking.
- The importance of nutrients and media design for specific cells and clones
- Understanding scale-up issues in bioprocessing and how to scale-up your process with detailed description of hollow fiber, microcarrier and stirred-tank bioreactor systems
Who Should Attend: This training seminar is very useful for life scientists and engineers who are either new graduates looking for employment in the biomanufacturing industry or employees of the industry who want to expand their knowledge of cell culture technology and bioprocessing. Graduate students who are utilizing animal cell systems will especially benefit from the detailed description of handling cells in culture and quality control of the laboratory.
INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES:
Kamal A. Rashid, PhD, President, International Biotechnology Associates
Dr. Kamal Rashid has over forty years of academic experience in research, teaching, and workforce development efforts. During his career he has developed, directed, and implemented biotechnology/biomanufacturing training programs at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Utah State University, Penn State University and internationally. He is an expert in animal cell culture technology as has developed and taught graduate courses in cell culture techniques and scale-up strategies for more than thirty-five years. He developed, in collaboration with Penn State faculty and staff the first hands-on animal cell culture training course for the bio-based industry employees in 1989 as part of a comprehensive bioprocessing training program at Penn State University. While a faculty at Penn State, Dr. Rashid established the international biotechnology associates (IBA) in 1977 as a strategic consulting partner for companies, institutions and government agencies, helping them bring life-changing bio-based products to people around the world. Operating on a model of collaboration, Dr. Rashid assembles and leads multidisciplinary teams to support specific client initiatives. Dr. Rashid received his Ph.D. from Penn State University with superior ranking.
TS7B: Introduction to CMC for Biotech, Cell & Gene Therapy Products
Detailed Agenda
This interactive course will provide a comprehensive CMC overview of therapeutic biological products. It introduces a variety of therapeutic modalities including recombinant proteins, Mab and cell and gene therapy in the context of IMPD and IND regulatory filing. You will learn scientific, technical, and operational aspects of overall biologics CMC activities as well as quality compliance and regulatory requirements. The instructor will present common pitfalls and share the best industry practices.
Kevin Zen, PhD, Senior Director, IGM Biosciences
The chemistry manufacturing and controls (CMC) of biologics is a multidiscipline technical operation of bioprocess, analytics, dosage formulation, and cGMP manufacturing/testing for DS/DP release and stability to treat human diseases. This interactive training course will provide a comprehensive CMC overview of therapeutic biological products. It introduces a variety of therapeutic modalities including recombinant proteins, monoclonal antibodies (Mab), and cell and gene therapy (CGT) in the context of IMPD and IND regulatory filing. Attendees will learn scientific, technical, and operational aspects of overall biologics CMC activities as well as quality compliance and regulatory requirements. The instructor will present common pitfalls and share the best industry practices. Numerous real-world regulatory queries/comments from health authorities worldwide will be exemplified as case studies during the training course.
TOPICS TO BE COVERED:
1. Diverse modality of therapeutic biological products
2. Biologics CMC activities for regulatory filing (IMPD/IND)
3. Quality by design (QbD) concept, quality target product profile (QTPP), and critical quality attributes (CQA)
4. Cell line development, process development, and manufacture of biologics, CGT DS and DP
5. Current analytical technologies to characterize product variants/impurities, process impurities (e.g., HCP), and contaminants
6. Formulation development and compatibility with container closures and injection devices
7. Reference material characterization/qualification and justification of specifications for DS/DP release and ICH stability for product expiry
8. Process validation, analytical validation, and control strategy of cGMP manufacturing
9. Manufacturing process changes during product development lifecycle: CMC comparability exercise
WHO SHOULD ATTEND: The course is beneficial to individuals involved in biologics drug research/development, bioprocess development, analytical development, formulation development, quality control, quality assurance, regulatory affairs, project management, or related functional areas.
INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES:
Kevin Zen, PhD, Senior Director, IGM Biosciences
Kevin has over 20 years of broad experience in Biologics CMC, and Strategic and Technical Operations. Prior to joining IGM Biosciences, he held various positions in biologics CMC disciplines at Allergan, AnaptysBio, AstraZeneca, Becton Dickinson, and Catalent Biopharma Solutions. In addition to developing therapeutic biological products in-house, Kevin also had extensive experience working with external contract manufacturing organizations (CMO) and contract research organizations (CRO), including production cell line development, bioprocess development, DS/DP cGMP manufacturing, process characterization, process performance qualification (PPQ), formulation development by DoE, analytical procedure development and method validation, reference standard qualification, extended characterization, and CMC analytical comparability.
TS8B: Label-Free Biosensor Tools in Biotherapeutic Discovery: SPR, BLI & KinExA
Detailed Agenda
This training seminar will cover the main applications of commonly used commercial label-free biosensors in the interaction analysis of biologics and guidelines for best practices to generate reliable and reproducible data. We will primarily focus on Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), Biolayer Interferometry (BLI), and Kinetic Exclusion Assay (KinExA) technologies and their application in drug discovery (binding kinetics and affinity, blocking and epitope binning).
Yasmina Abdiche, PhD, Vice President, Exploratory Research, OmniAb Inc.
Vishal Kamat, PhD, Senior Director, Protein Sciences, Ampersand Biomedicines
Palaniswami (Swami) Rathanaswami, PhD, CEO, PRSwami AbDev Inc.
Day 1: Biosensor Basics & Best Practices
Chapter 1: Basics of biomolecular interaction analysis and its significance·
- Non-covalent reversible interactions
- Limitations of endpoint assays
- Introduction to binding kinetic parameters
- Clinical relevance
Chapter 2: Working principles of label-free SPR & BLI biosensors
- Optical detection principles of SPR and BLI
- Introduction to commonly used commercially available SPR and BLI biosensor platforms
Chapter 3: Best practices in SPR & BLI
- Designing binding kinetic assays on SPR & BLI platform
- Introducing the concept of analyte and ligand
- Factors affecting the results of label-free assays
- Sources of artifact & strategies to minimize them
- Data analysis & interpretation
Chapter 4: Working principles and best practices in KinExA
- Principles of solution binding affinity measurements
- Introducing the concept of titrant and constant binding partner (CBP)
- Working principles of KinExA
- KinExA assay set up and data analysis
- Understanding binding curves
- On-rate measurement in KinExA
- KinExA best Practices
Chapter 5: Advanced applications of KinExA
- Utility of reverse format KinExA
- Application in on-cell binding affinity measurements
- Enabling very high affinity (low fM) measurements
- Unique applications of KinExA
Chapter 6: Blocking assays and their significance
- Need to perform blocking assays
- Different SPR & BLI blocking assay formats—strengths & limitations
- Case study on mechanism-of-action for clinical molecule & challenges faced
Chapter 7: Epitope binning
- Pairwise antibody competition assays
- Bin definition
- Throughput
- Impact of antigen heterogeneity
- Asymmetric binnings
- Antibody displacement
Day 2: Good, Bad & Ugly
Chapter 8: Characterizing the FcRn/IgG interaction
- Analyzing a pH-sensitive interaction
- Use of complementary biosensor assay formats
- Avidity matters in extending serum half-life
Chapter 9: Complementary use of surface and solution methods in affinity determinations (Group Discussion)
- Review sources of artifacts in surface-based measurements
- Case Study: Exploring the Dynamic Range of the KinExA Method
- Review alternate methods for active concentration determination
- Literature recommendations
Chapter 10: Advanced SPR & BLI applications
- High throughput mAb screening—unpurified and purified
- Screening pH sensitive mAbs—unpurified and purified
- Case study on the discovery of 3 Bet v 1 mAb cocktail clinical molecule (REGN5713-5714-5715)
- Thermodynamic analysis of mAbs for selection of clinical molecule
Chapter 11: Evaluating Good, Bad & Ugly data from published literature (Group Discussion)
INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES:
Yasmina Abdiche, PhD, Vice President, Exploratory Research, OmniAb Inc.
Yasmina is an internationally recognized and innovative scientific leader in the field of antibody discovery and biosensors with twenty years of experience in protein engineering and biopharma. To date, she has authored over 45 peer-reviewed publications, had 25 patents granted in the therapeutic antibody space including a market-approved drug (Ajovy), presented over 50 times as an invited speaker globally, and has been involved in numerous industry-wide collaborations and scientific advisory groups. After a twelve-year career at Pfizer where she held positions of increasing responsibility from Principal Scientist to Research Fellow, more recently, Yasmina has held senior management roles at biotechnology companies and contract research organizations including Carterra (CSO), ImmunoPrecise Antibodies (CSO), ALX Oncology (Vice President Protein Science), Revelar (CSO and Co-Founder), and FairJourney Biologics (CTO). During her time as CSO at Carterra, she co-founded its antibody screening biosensor platform (the LSA) which has helped transform label-free interaction analysis in early-stage drug discovery. Yasmina has a Master's degree in Chemistry and a PhD in Biological Chemistry from Oxford University and did post-doctoral studies in biophysical interaction analysis at the University of Utah.
Vishal Kamat, PhD, Senior Director, Protein Sciences, Ampersand Biomedicines
Vishal (Vish) Kamat is an innovative and collaborative leader with 17 years of experience in the field of biotherapeutics and biophysical characterization of antibodies and proteins. He has supported the discovery and development of antibodies for 150+ targets which yielded 20 clinical drug candidates and 3 market-approved drugs - DUPIXENT, LIBTAYO, and EVKEEZA. He also has extensive experience in high throughput screening of antibodies using diverse platforms such as SPR, BLI, KinExA, Gyrolab, MSD and Luminex. His scientific excellence is evident by multiple peer-reviewed publications in high impact journals, patent approvals and IND reports. After a 12-year career at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals where he held positions of increasing responsibility from postdoctoral candidate to Sr. Staff Scientist, he worked as a Director of Antibody Characterization at Twist Biopharma and is currently working as a Senior Director of Protein Sciences at Ampersand Biomedicine. Vishal holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Drexel University and BS in Electronics Engineering from University of Mumbai.
-jpg_77a600a5-dcf5-4ace-9868-f234d69de115.jpg?Status=Master&sfvrsn=59534a7e_8)
Palaniswami (Swami) Rathanaswami, PhD, CEO, PRSwami AbDev Inc.
World’s leading expert Scientist in Antibody affinity and kinetic characterization, especially for measuring femto molar affinities of antibodies for soluble and on-cell targets. World expert in solution binding measurements and using KinExA technology. Extensive user of SPR and BLI technologies.
Experienced SME as Functional Lead for human therapeutic antibody programs and drug product development.
Dedicated career to advancing medical research to alleviate disease and make individuals lives better.
Consultant for leading biotech organizations on high throughput screening, affinity measurements and antibody drug product development.
Did extensive research, over 40 years in the fields of Endocrine Biochemistry, Molecular Endocrinology, Inflammation Immunology-Rheumatology, Human therapeutic antibody generation, engineering and characterization (including immunization, high throughput binding and functional screening and very high affinity kinetic measurements).
A key member of a team of 5 Scientists who developed SLAM technology for human therapeutic antibody generation and spun to a Canadian Biotech company – Immgenics Inc., and later acquired by Amgen.
First Scientist to generate human antibodies by Single Cell RT-PCR amplification of V genes from antibody producing single B Cells, molecular cloning and express as full antibody.
Published over 40 articles in very high impact Scientific Journals and inventor of over 20 scientific patents.
Worked for Amgen 25+ years and generated over 100 human therapeutic antibodies of which about 5 are already used as pharmaceutical drugs in market.
Invited speaker in national and international conferences, Universities and Research institutes across the globe. Chaired sessions in international conferences and seminars.
Dr. Palaniswami Rathanaswami graduated in MSc (Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine) and a PhD (Biochemistry), University of Madras, India.
TS9B: Antibody Drug Discovery: From Target to Lead
Detailed Agenda
At least 100 antibody therapies have been approved for the treatment of cancer, immune disorders, metabolic, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases, and among the top 20 bestselling prescription medicines in 2020, 14 are antibody-based. This trend will continue as about 50% of the new drugs in various stages of clinical development are antibodies. This course will review state-of-the-art concepts, methodologies, and current trends in therapeutic antibody discovery and development.
Zhiqiang An, PhD, Professor, Robert A. Welch Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry; Director, Texas Therapeutics Institute; Director, CPRIT Core for Antibody Drug Discovery; Vice President, Drug Discovery, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Topics to be covered include:
Different Sources of Antibodies
- Animals: mouse, rat, rabbit, chicken, llama, etc.
- Libraries: immune, synthetic, native, fully human, etc.
- B cells: memory B cells, plasma B cells, human, and animals
Antibody-Based Drug Modalities
- IgGs, IgA, IgM, Bites, nanobody, antibody fragments, etc.
- Naked antibody
- ADC
- Bispecific/multispecific
- CAR T
Antibody Engineering
- Affinity maturation
- Humanization
- Fc-engineering: half-life, immune effector function, etc.
Target Selection and Validation
Antibodies Targeting Complex Membrane Proteins
- GPCRs
- Ion channels
- Transporters and membrane-bound enzymes
Delivery of Antibodies Crossing the Brain-Blood Barrier (BBB)
Case Studies
INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES:
Zhiqiang An, PhD, Professor, Robert A. Welch Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry; Director, Texas Therapeutics Institute; Director, CPRIT Core for Antibody Drug Discovery; Vice President, Drug Discovery, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Dr. Zhiqiang An is Professor of Molecular Medicine, the Robert A. Welch Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry, Director of the Texas Therapeutics Institute, and Vice President of Drug Discovery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. His laboratory focuses on antibody drug resistance mechanisms, biomarkers for therapeutic antibodies, and antibody drug discovery targeting human diseases. During the last five years, more than 12 novel antibody drug leads discovered in his laboratory were licensed to eight biotechnology companies, and six (6) have advanced to clinical trials for diseases ranging from acute myeloid leukemia (IO-202), breast cancer bone metastasis (ALMB-0168), solid tumor (IO-108), spinal cord injury (ALMB-0166), COVID-19 (IGM6268), and solid tumor (PRTH-101). Previously, he served as Chief Scientific Officer at Epitomics, Inc. and was Director of Biologics Research at Merck Research Laboratories. He has authored over 200 journal articles including more than 30 papers in Nature, Science, and Cell journal series; and two books including the award-winning “Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibodies: from Bench to Clinic.” He is an elected fellow of Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB), the American Academy of Microbiology (ASM), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Dr. An received his PhD from the University of Kentucky and his postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.