2026년 연사
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Ruben Abagyan, PhD, Professor, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Diego
Dr. Ruben Abagyan is a Professor at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, which he joined in 2009. He received his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in molecular physics at MPTI and MSU. At the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg he developed internal coordinate mechanics and structural docking approach (ICM) for modeling and docking. He received his tenure at New York University and Courant Institute of Mathematics and continued at the Novartis Institute and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Dr. Abagyan serves on international review panels for Institutes in Switzerland, UK, EU, and Hong Kong. He received CapCure awards, Princess Diana Award and medal in Sydney, Australia, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Teacher of the Year award, and UCSD-SSPPS 'Faculty of the Year' awards. R.A. authored and co-authored 340 research papers and book chapters, with over 40,000 citations and H-index of 96. His research interests include computational structural biology, methods for structure prediction, docking screens, and cheminformatics, with a particular focus on computer-aided drug and target discovery. In addition to molecular profiles, he also studies the FDA clinical records and unexpected post-marketing side effects of therapeutics.
Phil Baran, PhD, Chair & Professor, Department of Chemistry, Scripps Research Institute
Phil Baran was born in 1977 in Denville, New Jersey. He received his BS in Chemistry from NYU in 1997, his PhD at the Scripps Research Institute in 2001, and from 2001-2003, he was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Harvard. His independent career began at Scripps in the summer of 2003. He currently holds the Darlene Shiley Chair in Chemistry. Phil has published over 200 scientific articles and has been the recipient of several ACS awards, such as the Corey (2015), Pure Chemistry (2010), Fresenius (2006), and Nobel Laureate Signature (2003), and several international distinctions, such as the Hirata Gold Medal and Mukaiyama Prize (Japan), the RSC award in Synthesis (UK), and the Sackler Prize (Israel). In 2013, he was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow; in 2015, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; in 2016, he was awarded the Blavatnik National Award; and in 2017, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, USA. He has delivered hundreds of lectures around the world and consults for numerous companies, such as Bristol-Myers Squibb (since late 2005), Boehringer-Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, DuPont and TEVA, and is a scientific advisory board member for Eisai, Abide, and AsymChem. In 2016, he was appointed as an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Chemical Society. He co-founded Sirenas Marine Discovery (2012) and Vividion Therapeutics (2016) and, in 2013, he co-authored The Portable Chemist’s Consultant, an interactive book published on the iBooks store along with his graduate class in Heterocyclic Chemistry (viewable for free by anyone on iTunes University). Outside of the lab, Phil enjoys spending time with his wife, Ana, and three young children, Lucia, Leah, and Manuel.
Brenda Bass, PhD, Distinguished Professor, Biochemistry, University of Utah
Dr. Brenda L. Bass is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Utah. She is known for her contributions in defining double-stranded RNA-mediated pathways, including the discovery of ADAR RNA editing enzymes, and models and experiments that established Dicer's role in RNA silencing. Dr. Bass obtained a B.A. in chemistry from Colorado College, a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. Bass is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2007 she served as President of the RNA Society. She has received research support from the Pew Scholars Program, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and her National Institutes of Health support includes a Director’s Pioneer Award and Transformative Research Award.
Marvin Caruthers, PhD, Distinguished Professor, University of Colorado
Professor Marvin H. Caruthers research includes nucleic acids chemistry and biochemistry. Approximately 35 years ago, the methodologies that are used today for chemically synthesizing DNA and RNA were developed in his laboratory. His laboratory has also pioneered the synthesis of many new nucleic acid analogs that have found applications in the nucleic acid diagnostic and therapeutic areas. He is the recipient of the National Academy of Sciences Award for Chemistry in Service to Society, the Prelog Medal, the Economists Award in Biotechnology, and the US National Medal of Science. He is also the recipient of The National Academy of Science Award in the Chemical Sciences, The American Chemical Society Award for Creative Invention, The Frantisek Sorm Medal-The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and The Life Time Achievement Award of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutic Society. Dr. Caruthers is an elected member of The US National Academy of Sciences, The American Academy of Arts & Sciences, The National Inventors Hall of Fame, The National Academy of Inventors, and a Corresponding Member of the German Academy of Science Gottingen. One of the co-founders of Amgen and Applied Biosystems, Dr. Caruthers remains active in the Biotechnology arena - most recently as a co-founder of Array BioPharma and miRagen Therapeutics.
Weijun Chen, PhD, Director, RNA Technologies Lead, Intellia Therapeutics
Weijun Chen is an expert in RNA Technologies/Gene Editing with over 20 years of industrial and academic experience. His areas of focus include RNA-based Therapeutics/Gene Editing platform development from research concepts to clinical development. Since joining Intellia in January 2019, Weijun has served across several roles with a focus in RNA technologies, such as RNA innovation and design, RNA manufacturing, and RNA analytical development. Currently as the Director of RNA Technologies at Intellia, Weijun is responsible for providing RNA products to support Gene Editing platform needs and has technical oversight to improve RNA for Cas9 and new editing modalities. Prior to Intellia, Weijun was an assistant professor at University of Massachusetts Medical School in the RNA Therapeutic Institute for more than 10 years. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China.
David Corey, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology, UT Southwestern
Dr. Corey graduated with a BA from Harvard in 1985 and a PhD from UC Berkeley under the direction of Dr. Peter Schultz in 1990. He has had his own laboratory at UT Southwestern since 1992 and is currently the Rusty Kelley Professor of Biomedical Science in the Department of Pharmacology.
Rakesh Dixit, PhD, DABT, CEO & President, Bionavigen Oncology, LLC and CSO, TMAB Therapeutics, Regio Biosciences
Rakesh Dixit is an accomplished executive, inventor, and scientist with over 35 years of success with top biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Medimmune - AstraZeneca. Currently, he is President and CSO of Regio Biosciences and Bionavigen, LLC. He is a Board Member of Regio Biosciences and a key member of multiple scientific advisory boards. Rakesh is also a chief adviser and consultant for more than 20 companies worldwide. His biopharmaceutical peers selected Rakesh as one of the 100 Most Inspiring People in the Pharmaceutical Industry by PharmaVOICE in 2015. Rakesh received the Most Prestigious Award of Long-Standing Contribution to ADCs by World ADC (Hanson-Wade), 2020. From 2006 to 2019, Rakesh was a Global Vice President of the Biologics R&D at Medimmune - AstraZeneca. Rakesh has unique expertise in developing biologics (e.g., monoclonal antibodies, bispecific biologics, antibody-drug conjugates, fusion proteins, peptides, gene and cell therapies, etc.) and small-molecule biopharmaceuticals. His areas of expertise include discovery, early and late preclinical development, safety assessment, DMPK, and translational sciences. Dr. Dixit conducted extensive graduate and post-graduate training in Pharmacology/Toxicology-Biochemistry with both Indian and USA institutions (e.g., Case Western Reserve University, Medical College of Ohio, University of Nebraska) and is a Diplomate and Board Certified in Toxicology from the American Board of Toxicology, Inc. since 1992.
Robert Dream, PhD, Managing Director, HDR Co. LLC
Robert Dream is an industry leader with 30+ years of experience, including 20 years of executive leadership in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. He has led projects, improved processes, helped move drug substance and drug products from R&D, clinical, regulatory licensing approvals through operational excellence strategies and leading edge technologies. He is business minded person and has an innovative knowledge and knowhow of manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, risk mitigation and management. He is experienced in therapeutic biotechnology and biological drug substance and drug products manufacturing, with extensive hands-on, senior leadership and executive experience at world-leading organizations. He wrote numerous articles for many journals and publications and lead and presented at many institutions, organizations, and conferences. He is a registered professional engineer and an active member of the ISPE and PDA. He is a member of the editorial advisory Board; Pharmaceutical Processing, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical Technology, Pharmaceutical Engineering, and the INTERPHEX Advisory Council. He is a member and Process Chair of the PDA “Aging Facilities Modernization” Team. He is the Chair of the ISPE GUIDE: “Biopharmaceutical Process Development and Manufacturing”; published 2013, ISPE “Sustainability Handbook”; Published 2015 and numerous other relevant publication to list few.
Paloma Giangrande, PhD, Senior Vice President, Discovery and Translational Biology, Orbital Therapeutics
Dr. Giangrande was until recently at Eleven Therapeutics in Cambridge, MA and an Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry at Wheaton College, Norton, MA in 1994 and her PhD in Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University, Durham, NC in 1999. Her career has been dedicated to the investigation and development of RNA-based therapeutic approaches (including RNA aptamers, siRNAs, mRNA, RNA editing) for cancer, cardiovascular disease, rare diseases, and critical illness. As a consequence, Dr. Giangrande developed a deep understanding of these technologies, diseases, and associated disease mechanisms. She is an internationally recognized expert in oligonucleotide therapeutics and delivery. Towards this end, she was the first to demonstrate that RNA ligands (aptamers) can be used to deliver therapeutic siRNAs to target cells. Her 70+ publications and 9+ patents are a testament to this body of work and her commitment to the development of novel RNA-based therapies for many diseases.
Iris Grossman, PhD, Chief Therapeutics Officer, R&D, Eleven Therapeutics US, Inc.
On the leading edge of Personalized Medicine, Big Data Analytics and BioPharmaceutical R&D for >20 years, Iris Grossman, PhD is the Chief Therapeutics Officer of Eleven Therapeutics, where she oversees the strategy and development of novel RNA-based therapeutics discovered by the company’s platform, which uniquely marries between combinatorial chemistry and A.I. to decipher the structure-activity relationship of durable, effective and safe respiratory and metabolic therapeutics. Prior to joining Eleven, Iris served in Chief Scientific Officer roles (CAMP4, Amide Technologies (acting)) and consulted for top VCs in the Boston area. Prior to that, Iris held leadership positions in, or consulted for Big Pharma (GSK, Eli Lily, Takeda and Teva - where she was VP, Head of Early-Stage Development). She specializes in leveraging multi-dimensional genomic insights and eHealth as engines of therapeutic discovery, development and lifecycle management across a wide range of modalities and therapeutic areas. Dr. Grossman serves as Chairman of the Pharma/Life Sciences SAB at BC Platforms, and as Strategic Founding Advisor at Modulight.bio, and CGRP Diagnostics. She was a pioneering Steering Committee member of Tipa (Maccabi biobank) and is an active member and strategic advisor to the 8400 Healthcare network. Iris has championed various multi-year, multi-million dollars partnerships and collaborations, as well as won multiple awards, throughout her career, including the prestigious Top 40 under 40 award (2013) by Globes - Israel’s business arena, and various recognition awards for contributions to R&D programs and cutting edge science. Dr. Grossman earned her B.Sc. in medicine at the Technion, and a Ph.D. in medicine, population genomics and pharmacogenetics from the Technion, co-mentored with the Weizmann Institute. Her post-doc fellowship in Personalized Medicine and Population Genomics was completed at Duke university. She recently completed a Harvard Business School Executive HealthTech program.
Reka Haraszti, PhD, Resident & Group Leader, Hematology & Oncology, University Hospital Tuebingen
No bio available.
Aimee Jackson, PhD, Principal, Jackson Biosciences
Aimee most recently served as the Chief Scientific Officer for Atalanta Therapeutics and has worked in the field of RNA interference and oligonucleotide therapeutics for 25 years. Aimee joined Atalanta as employee #3 and has been responsible for building and directing a fully integrated research organization to identify and develop divalent siRNAs for CNS indications. Prior to joining Atalanta, Aimee served as the Vice President of Research for miRagen Therapeutics, where she advanced 3 microRNA programs from initial concept to First-in-Human clinical trials in less than 5 years. These programs encompassed diverse therapeutic areas and comprised both microRNA mimics and inhibitors. All three programs successfully completed Phase 1 clinical trials, and two of these programs advanced to Phase 2 clinical trials. Prior to joining miRagen, she led preclinical research at Regulus Therapeutics and Merck/Rosetta, where she served as Molecular Profiling Lead for the development of siRNA-based therapeutics. Known for identifying siRNA off-target effects, she played a lead role in the identification of siRNA design and chemistry aspects for enhanced activity and specificity. Aimee is known for being passionate about cutting-edge and innovative approaches to technology and medicine to improve patients’ lives.
Sibo Jiang, PhD, Vice President, CMC Development, Sanegene Bio
Dr. Sibo Jiang is Head of CMC at SanegeneBio, leading process and analytical development, manufacturing, and CMC strategy for the company’s LEAD (Ligand and Enhancer Assisted Delivery) platform and expanding siRNA pipeline. Under his CMC leadership, Sanegene has achieved four IND clearances across autoimmune and cardiometabolic indications, with lead programs now in Phase II. Previously, Dr. Jiang headed Process Development at Nitto Denko Avecia’s Cincinnati site, advancing oligonucleotide API programs from preclinical through late-stage and commercial phases. He earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Georgia State University. With more than 15 years of experience spanning research, CDMO operations, and drug development, he brings deep expertise in process and analytical development, scale-up, validation, and CMC regulatory strategy.
Edo Kon, PhD, Director of Business Development, RiboX Therapeutics
Edo Kon is the Director of Business Development at RiboX Therapeutics, where he leverages his extensive background in biotechnology and strategic planning to identify emerging trends and novel therapeutic opportunities. Before this, he served as the Principal Scientist of Lipid Nanoparticle (LNP) Science at RiboX Therapeutics. He founded and led the LNP research teams to develop novel formulations and strategies for circular RNA delivery. His past experience includes leading projects to develop mRNA-LNPs as cancer nanomedicines and innovative vaccines against lethal antibiotic-resistant bacteria. He is the author of multiple high-impact manuscripts that focus on RNA delivery. He holds a PhD and an MBA from Tel Aviv University.
Adrian Krainer, PhD, St Giles Foundation Professor, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, CSHL Cancer Center
No bio available.
Arthur Krieg, MD, Founder, President and Acting CEO/CSO, Zola Therapeutics
Art Krieg, MD, is currently an adjunct Professor in the UMass Chan Medical School RNA Therapeutics Institute and serves on the scientific advisory boards of several companies developing oligonucleotide therapeutics. Art founded Zola Therapeutics in 2023, and serves as CEO with the goal of developing a new generation of TLR7/8/9 oligonucleotide agonists for cancer immunotherapy, and small molecule antagonists for the treatment of SLE and other autoimmune diseases. Previously, Art founded Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, until its acquisition by Regeneron in 2022. Previously, Art was CSO at Sarepta until July 2014; co-founder and CEO at RaNA Therapeutics from 2011 to 2013; CSO of Pfizer’s Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Unit from 2008 to 2011; co-founder, CSO of Coley Pharmaceutical Group from 1997 to 2008, and Professor, University of Iowa College of Medicine Division of Rheumatology from 1991 to 2001. Art co-founded the first antisense journal, Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, which he edited for 16 years, and the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society, for which he recently served as President. He has published more than 250 scientific papers, and is an inventor on >50 issued US patents covering oligonucleotide technologies.
Marc Lemaitre, PhD, Oligonucleotide Therapeutics CMC/Regulatory Consultant, ML_Consult LLC
Marc Lemaître holds a degree in Organic Chemistry and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Liège, Belgium. Since 1985, Marc’s professional interests have been the study of the Nucleic Acids and therapeutics as well as diagnostic applications. Based in the USA since 2006 he worked for Glen Research, as CEO of Girindus America, a CMO with a focus on the cGMP manufacture of oligonucleotides for therapeutic applications. Marc is now working as consultant since 2013, working mostly on CMC with start-up and Pharma companies developing therapeutic oligonucleotides and peptides.
Ajit Magadum, PhD, Assistant Professor, Center for Regenerative Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Heart Institute, University of South Florida
Dr. Ajit Magadum, PhD, is a Assistant Professor, Center for Regenerative Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Heart Institute, University of South Florida.. He received his PhD from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Germany. During his postdoctoral tenure at Mount Sinai in New York, Ajit delved into the innovative realm of modified mRNA (modRNA) as a potent gene therapy tool for combating cardiovascular and metabolic diseases (CVMD). He made significant strides in designing modRNA delivery systems tailored for the cardiovascular system, employing various carriers, to ensure robust and enduring modRNA expression within cardiac tissues. Ajit's groundbreaking work unveiled a treasure trove of novel genes (6 targets), delivered as modRNA to the heart, inducing cardiomyocyte proliferation and cardiac regeneration, inhibiting cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis offering promising avenues for treating CVMD and fibrotic conditions. Ajit is celebrated for pioneering the development of cell-specific mRNA delivery platforms known as SMARTs (Specific Modified mRNA Translation System) in the context of CVD in 2016. This innovation allowed for the precise targeting of modRNA expression exclusively in cardiomyocytes or non-cardiomyocytes within the heart, opening up new horizons for cell-specific mRNA therapeutics in the realm of CVMD. He has published over 20 papers, along with the successful filing of 3 patents, which have been licensed and sublicensed to leading biotechnology companies. He won the Outstanding Research Innovation Award from Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, in 2017 for his contributions to mRNA therapeutics development for CVMD. Ajit received the esteemed ISHR-NAS Young Investigator Award (YICA, runner-up) in 2022 and the prestigious Melvin L. Marcus Early Career Investigator Award from the American Heart Association (AHA) in 2022. At present, Ajit's research endeavors continue to revolve around leveraging modRNA and cell-specific modRNA as innovative therapeutic modalities to target CVMD.
Mano Manoharan, PhD, Distinguished Scientist & Senior Vice President, Innovation Chemistry, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Muthiah Manoharan, PhD. Dr. Muthiah (Mano) Manoharan serves as a Senior Vice President of Drug Innovation, a Scientific Advisory Board Member, and a Distinguished Research Scientist at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. In 2003, he was the first chemist hired at Alnylam. He and his team pioneered the discovery and development of the chemical modifications, GalNAc conjugation chemistry, and LNP delivery platform that make RNA interference-based human therapeutics possible. This work led to the approval of four RNAi therapeutics: ONPATTRO® (patisiran, 2018), GIVLAARI® (givosiran, 2019), OXLUMO® (lumasiran, 2020) and Lequio® (inclisiran, 2020). Dr. Manoharan has had a distinguished career as a world-leading chemist in the field of oligonucleotides. He is an author of more than 225 publications (nearly 50,000 Google Scholar citations with an h-index of 101 and an i10-index of 399) and over 400 abstracts, as well as an inventor of over 250 issued U.S. patents. Prior to Alnylam, Dr. Manoharan worked in the field of antisense oligonucleotide therapeutics at Ionis (formerly Isis) Pharmaceuticals and LifeCodes Corporation (1988-1990) . Dr. Manoharan received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in chemistry at the American College, Madurai, India. He earned his Ph.D. in chemistry (with Professor Ernest L. Eliel) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and carried out post-doctoral research (with Professor John A.Gerlt) in the field of oligonucleotide chemistry at Yale University and at the University of Maryland. Dr. Manoharan is the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society (2019), the M. L. Wolfrom Award from the American Chemical Society (2007) and D. Horton Industrial Carbohydrate Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society (2021).
Terry Moore, PhD, Associate Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Illinois Chicago
Terry W. Moore is a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago. His research program focuses on designing, synthesizing, and characterizing new small molecule and peptide probes to modulate protein targets. Terry’s lab at UIC uses the tools of synthetic medicinal chemistry, peptide chemistry, drug discovery and chemical biology. He earned his PhD in chemistry under the guidance of John Katzenellenbogen at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and completed postdoctoral studies with Dennis Liotta at Emory University.
Dan Peer, PhD, Professor & Director, Laboratory of Precision Nanomedicine; Vice President for Research, Tel Aviv University
Dan Peer is a Professor and the Director of the Laboratory of Precision NanoMedicine at Tel Aviv University (TAU). He is also the Vice President for Research and Development at Tel Aviv University. From 2017 - Present, he is the Founding and Managing Director of the SPARK program of Translational Medicine at TAU. Professor Peer’s work was among the first to demonstrate systemic delivery of RNA molecules using targeted nanocarriers to the immune system and he pioneered the use of RNA interference (RNAi) in immune cells. His lab was the first to show systemic, cell specific delivery of modified mRNA in an animal to induce therapeutic gene expression of desired proteins. This has enormous implications in cancer, inflammation and infection diseases (e.g. COVID 19 mRNA vaccines). In addition, his lab was the first to show high efficiency, systemic, cell specific therapeutic genome editing in cancer. Prof. Peer has more than 150 pending and granted patents. Some of them have been licensed to several pharmaceutical companies and one is currently under registration (as a new biological drug in Inflammatory Bowel Disease). In addition, based on his work, five spin-off companies were generated aiming to bring innovative personalized medicine into clinical practice. Prof. Peer received more than 30 awards and honors and he serves on the scientific advisory board and as Board Member of more than 15 companies, and on the editorial board of more than 20 journals. In 2023 he was elected to the US National Academy of Engineers (NAE). In 2024, he was elected, Fellow, of the US National Academy of Inventors. In 2025, he was elected Fellow of the Controlled Release Society.
Bradley L. Pentelute, PhD, Professor, Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Bradley L. Pentelute, Professor of Chemistry. He is also an Associate Member, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, an Extramural Member of the MIT Koch Cancer Institute, and Member, Center for Environmental Health Sciences MIT. He received his undergraduate degree in Psychology and Chemistry from the University of Southern California, and his M.S and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Chicago with Prof. Steve Kent. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. R. John Collier at Harvard Medical School, Microbiology. His research program lies at the intersection of chemistry and biology and develops bioconjugation strategies, cytosolic delivery platforms, and rapid flow synthesis technologies to optimize the production, achieve site-specific modification, enhance stability, and modulate function of a variety of bioactive agents. His laboratory successfully modified proteins via cysteine-containing “pi-clamps” made up of a short sequence of amino acids, and delivered large biomolecules, such as various proteins and drugs, into cells via the anthrax delivery vehicle. Pentelute has also made several key contributions to automated synthesis technologies in flow. These advances includes the invention of the world's fastest polypeptide synthesizer.
Dmitry Samarsky, PhD, CSO and Board Member, GALconda Therapeutics
Dmitry Samarsky, PhD has been at the inception of RNAi technology and drug development - starting in 2001 as Director of Technology Development at Sequitur (acquired by Invitrogen) and (in 2005) as Director of Technology Development at Dharmacon (now part of GE). He then served as VP of Technology Development at RXi Pharmaceuticals, USA (2007-2011), SVP of Technology and International Business Development at RiboBio, China (2011-2016) and, most recently, as Chief Scientific Officer at Silence Therapeutics, Germany/UK (2016-2018). Dr. Samarsky has authored more than 40 scientific papers, articles, book chapters, patents and patent applications. He has been an invited speaker at more than 100 international conferences, and currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards for the OTS (Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society). Dr. Samarsky received his doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology from University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1998), followed by a postdoctoral position as an H. Arthur Smith Fellow for Cancer Research in Michael Green's lab at University of Massachusetts Medical School (1998-2001).
Qi Tang, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Dermatology & RNA Therapeutics Institute, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
Qi Tang, PhD, is a joint-postdoctoral associate in the RNA Therapeutic Institute and the Department of Dermatology at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. He received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Rhode Island, where he studied chemical biology of nucleic acid modifications and DNA repair. He then joined UMass in the laboratory of Dr. Anastasia Khvorova and the laboratory of Dr. John E. Harris as a joint-postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Tang is currently leading several projects that focus on the skin delivery of RNA interference-based therapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune skin diseases.
Elizabeth Wagner, PhD, Director of Translational Medicine, Biology, Wave Life Sciences
No bio available.
Weimin Wang, PhD, Founder & CEO, Sanegene Bio
Dr. Weimin Wang is one of the industry's leading oligonucleotide chemists with nearly 30 years of research experience in the field. Dr. Wang has been a key contributor to the RNA therapeutic industry for over 25 years, with more than 60 scientific publications and patents related to RNAi therapeutics. Before founding SanegeneBio, he served as the Executive Director of Chemistry at Dicerna Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Novo Nordisk in 2021) where his team played a crucial role in developing Dicerna's liver-targeting GalXC technology, along with extrahepatic delivery platforms. Prior to joining Dicerna, Dr. Wang was part of Merck & Co. through its acquisition of Sirna, where he developed one of the first lipid nanoparticle delivery systems for nucleic acid therapeutics. Throughout his tenure at Sirna, Merck, and Dicerna, Dr. Wang demonstrated his extensive expertise in evaluating over 500 external opportunities for nucleic acid drug discovery and delivery technology. He also managed numerous high-impact partnership collaborations with leading companies, including Eli Lilly, Roche, Novo Nordisk, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Alexion.
Jonathan Watts, PhD, Professor, RNA Therapeutics Institute, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
Jonathan K. Watts is Professor at the RNA Therapeutics Institute of UMass Chan Medical School (Worcester, MA, USA). He completed his training at Dalhousie University (BSc), McGill University (PhD) and UT Southwestern Medical Center (Postdoctoral). After establishing his independent laboratory at the University of Southampton, UK, he moved to the RNA Therapeutics Institute in 2015. He has won over 20 awards including the 2013 OTS Young Investigator Award, the 2015 Vice Chancellor’s award for teaching, and the 2018 Angel Award for ALS research. Current work in the Watts lab is focused on the optimization of ASO chemistry for use in the CNS and lung, and on the chemistry of guides and donors for genome editing. The Watts group works on both platform technology and disease applications and has contributed to the development of two drugs that have reached patients on a compassionate use basis. Jon is on the Board of Directors of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society since 2015.
Mike Webb, PhD, Founder and CEO, Mike Webb Pharma; Former Vice President, API Chemistry & Analysis, GSK
Mike received his PhD from imperial college in London. He spent most of his career at GSK and its legacy companies primarily as an analytical scientist and then becoming the Vice President of Development Chemistry and Analysis for GSK in the UK. He was heavily involved in establishing initial GSK’s oligonucleotide CMC development efforts. Mike has edited 3 books on the analysis of pharmaceuticals, including one on the analysis of oligonucleotides. Since leaving GSK in 2016, he has been consulting with Big Pharma and Biotechnology companies in the development, analysis and manufacture of therapeutic oligonucleotides from pre-clinical to marketing submission.
Weiliang (Timo) Xu, PhD, Associate Director, Business Development, Zonsen Peplib Biotech
Weiliang (Timo) is the Associate Director of Business Development at PepLib. Before joining PepLib, he was a senior scientist at a stealth-mode biotech startup in Boston and at SRI International, where he specialized in developing tissue- and cell-specific peptides for intracellular drug delivery. He earned his PhD in Chemistry from the National University of Singapore.
Timothy Yu, PhD, Associate Professor Pediatrics, Genetics & Genomics, Boston Childrens Hospital
No bio available.
Sunny Zhou, PhD, Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Northeastern University
Professor Zhou’s laboratory applies protein chemistry, analysis and engineering to biology and medicine. One program is “Hybrid Modality Engineering of Proteins”-a platform to introduce non-canonical chemical moieties and/or scaffolds into peptides and proteins to confer novel functions otherwise unavailable, such as photomedicine. The second is to devise chemo-enzymatic methodologies to characterize protein modifications, such as crosslinking, isoaspartic acid formation (asparagine deamidation) and methylations. In collaboration with biologists and clinicians alike, we also investigate their biological effects, and moreover, as critical attributes in protein pharmaceuticals. Over the past decade, Professor Zhou has been actively collaborating and consulting with biotech and pharm companies on biotherapeutics, enzymes and protein chemistry. These collaborations have led to the elucidation of product and process-related modifications (many of which were previously unknown). He also developed and now teaches a new advanced course entitled “Chemistry and Design of Protein Pharmaceuticals,” as well as workshops on antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), and training courses for scientists from industry, academia, and regulatory agencies in the US, China, and APEC economies.
