Dr Yangbing Zhao

Dr. Yangbing Zhao is the Director of the T Cell Engineering Laboratory (TCEL), Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at the University of Pennsylvania. He received an MD and PhD in Immunology from the Third Medical University in Chongqing, China. From 1996 – 2000, he was a visiting scientist at The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, where he studied tolerance induction through genetically engineered T cells for allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. For the next two years he was a research associate at Duke University Medical Center, where he worked on RNA transfected dendritic cell vaccines against tumors. In 2003, he joined Dr. Steven Rosenberg’s group as a senior research fellow at the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute, where his research work directly led to clinical trials of treating cancer patients with TCR or CAR engineered T cells against NY-ESO-1, Her2/Neu, CD19 or VEGFR. He joined the faculty of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2009 as the Director of TCEL.  His Laboratory’s research and development work has led to multiple clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors with genetically engineered T cells against mesothelioma, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer and glioblastoma. 

Andrew Allen

Bob Valamehr, PhD MBA,

Dr Bijal Shah

Matthew Hewitt

Jason Fierings

Blythe Sather

Robert Tighe

Neil Sheppard

Joern-Peter Halle

Peter is leading the Translational Innovation Platform Immuno-Oncology with global responsibility for the research, discovery, and translational aspects of Merck KGaA’s IO portfolio. As the global head for External Innovation he oversees the search & evaluation of external opportunities in all therapeutic areas ranging from academic collaborations to clinical assets. He is also responsible for innovation initiatives of the healthcare business and a member of the investment committee of Merck Venture, Merck KGaA’s corporate VC. He started his carrier in Merck KGaA 12 years ago as a member of the corporate development. Prior to joining Merck KGaA, he co-founded a biotech company focusing on R&D in dermatology where he was responsible for IP, bioinformatics, and technology development and served as a Chief Business Officer.