APAC’s Premier CGT Congress - Uniting Leaders, Innovation, and Quality

Siang-Chueng Koo is the Director, Innovative Medicine Regulatory Compliance at Johnson & Johnson, where she leads the quality compliance program for J&J manufacturing sites, marketing companies and distribution centers in the 14 Asia Pacific markets.  Proficient with global GMP, GCTP and GDP requirements, Siang also has a special interest on cell therapy.  Siang has 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical sector in quality compliance, supply chain, procurement and consulting. As an Asian Compliance Leader with a Lean Sigma Black Belt, Siang is skilled with driving compliance improvement programs and remediation activities.  Before joining Johnson & Johnson, she worked at the Singapore Health Authority (Health Sciences Authority HSA), GSK and Abbott.  She was a part-time lecturer at National University of Singapore, holds a Master of Health Services Management from Curtin University of Technology, Australia and a Bachelor of Science (Pharmacy)(Hons) from National University of Singapore.

Dr. Horak brings more than 20 years of experience in the global pharmaceutical industry, predominantly focused on oncology drug development, and is a board-certified medical oncologist. Prior to funding Tikva Allocell, Dr. Horak was Head of Global R&D and Chief Scientific at Tessa Therapeutics, a mid-stage cell therapy company in Singapore. For eight years, he was Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Officer at Symphogen, a clinical-stage antibody company, and President of R&D at Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Horak has also held a number of senior research leadership positions in various pharmaceutical companies as well as at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health in US. During his career, Dr. Horak has advanced multiple oncology treatments into the clinic, and has successfully led a number of FDA new drug applications. 

Dr. Kerwin Kwek Zeming is a research scientist at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) in Singapore. He holds a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from National University of Singapore with research interests in microfluidic technologies for precision cell sorting, profiling, and translational biomedical diagnostics. As a scientific innovator, Dr. Kwek has developed label-free microfluidic diagnostic tools for high-throughput, marker-free separation and single-cell cell analysis. His work has led to advances in immune cell profiling, with applications ranging from lab-on-a-chip diagnostics to neonatal sepsis screening. He has published in several leading journals, highlighting the impact of his contributions to the field.

Sheng Rong is a senior scientist at Nuevocor focusing on preclinical development of the company’s lead program. He received his PhD in Biology from MIT, where he adopted new molecular tools to improve existing preclinical models of cancer, and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at IMCB, A*STAR, where he developed new models to study epigenetic dysregulation in cancer.

Dr. Dunn has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of immunology, haematology, translational medicine and drug development. She was involved in the discovery of KappaMab, the company’s lead therapeutic antibody that targets a novel antigen called kappa myeloma antigen (KMA) found on the surface of malignant plasma cells but not on normal plasma cells. KappaMab has been used in three clinical trials, and its clinical development is ongoing. She was involved in the design, preclinical and upcoming clinical development of the chimeric antigen receptor that targets KMA (KMA.CAR T-cell).

She was a lead scientist in the discovery of the monoclonal antibody, LambdaMab, that targets lambda myeloma antigen (LMA) on malignant but not normal plasma cells. The chimeric antigen receptor that targets LMA (LMA.CAR T-cell) is in preclinical development.

A seasoned biopharmaceutical leader with over 20 years of experience spanning clinical research, medical affairs, and strategic drug development across CRO’s and Pharma/Biotech’s. Recognized for leading Regional Medical Affairs teams, delivering key pivotal clinical trials, driving regulatory approvals, and launching breakthrough therapies in Oncology and Neurology across the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan and Australia. In recent years my focus has been on delivering life changing therapies such as CAR T and making them accessible in the South Asian regions. On a personal note, I am an avid Bike rider and Badminton player having won several competitions.

Dr Paula Lam serves as the Chief Scientific Officer at BioCell Innovations Pte Ltd., a Singapore based start-up company dedicated to advancing cell and gene therapies for patients-in-need. She earned her PhD from University of Leeds in UK majoring in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, and did her postdoctoral trainings at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Tennessee, USA) as well as Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, USA) before returning to Singapore to lead a research team at the National Cancer Center, focusing on the development of novel viral and cell-based vectors for targeted therapies against cancer. Building on her extensive experience, she now leads a team focused on developing CAR constructs and refining closed-system manufacturing processes to enhance the efficiency and safety of cell-based therapies.

Sacha is a cell biologist with over 18 years of experience in academia and the biotech/pharmaceutical industry, specializing in cell therapy development. She holds a PhD in Pharmacology from Monash University, with postdoctoral training in Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University, and was a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at Weill Cornell Medical College.​

Sacha has led the development of cell therapy platform technologies across multiple startups and played a key role in bringing cell therapies to market. Her work spans target validation, process development, GMP readiness, technology transfer, and commercialization, bringing a strong translational focus to the advancement of cell-based therapies.​

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Dr Rathjen is a highly experienced and respected leader in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries within Australia and internationally, and has achieved in excess of $800 million in deals including partnerships with Merck & Co., J&J, Abbott (AbbVie), Celgene, Nycomed (Takeda) and Merck KGaA. An immunologist by training, Dr Rathjen has extensive R&D experience in the areas of infection and immunity, inflammation, oncology, and neuroscience, covering multiple treatment modalities.

As well as heading up Carina Biotech, Dr Rathjen is currently a member of the Australian Medical Research Future Fund Advisory Board, the Million Minds Mental Health Research Mission Expert Panel, the Stem Cell Therapies Mission Expert Panel and the Federal Government’s Biomedical Translation Fund Committee.

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Ryuichi Morishita, M.D., Ph.D., graduated Osaka University Medical School in 1987, and received Ph. D. from Osaka University in 1991. After following postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine, he served as an Assistant Professor, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Osaka University Medical School from 1994 to 1998. Then, from 1998 to 2003, he was Associate Professor, Division of Gene Therapy Science, Osaka University Medical School. Then, he became Professor & Chairman of Division of Clinical Gene Therapy, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University Medical School from 2003 to present.

Yen Choo is Associate Professor of Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKC Medicine), a joint medical school of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Imperial College London.

He is also Executive Director of co11ab@Novena, a BioMedtech incubator established jointly between NTU, the National Healthcare Group (HNG) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

Prof. Choo serves on the board of the Advanced Cell Therapy and Research Institute, Singapore (ACTRIS), a GMP facility established for process development and manufacturing of cell-based therapeutics.

In addition to his academic career, he is a serial entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in biotechnology companies developing advanced therapies.

His research, inventions and companies have been recognised by numerous prizes including The Queen’s Award in Enterprise for Innovation.

He holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge, and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology together with Nobel laureate Aaron Klug.

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Dr. Lu-En Wai is an accomplished immunologist with over 15 years of expertise in immunology research, specializing in cellular immunotherapy, cancer, and Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) immunopathogenesis. She holds a Ph.D. in Immunology from Stanford University, earned under an A*STAR scholarship, with a focus on immune cell interactions in liver transplantation and cancer. Dr. Wai has made significant contributions at research institutions including the Singapore Immunology Network and Duke-NUS, where she investigated metastatic tumour microenvironment and HBV immunopathogenesis. Currently, as Senior Director of Research and Development at Lion TCR, she leads initiatives in T cell receptor (TCR) immunotherapy and diagnostic technologies aimed at combating viral infections and viral-related cancers. She is passionate about translating cutting-edge research into practical, clinically effective therapies.

Founder member of Zumutor Biologics. Designed and directed scientific, research, and technological operations to achieve overall R&D missions of Zumutor. My goal is to build a resilient scientific team at Zumutor, implementation of translational research and empower them to achieve height of their career.

A visionary, seasoned, and dynamic professional with extensive scientific, regulatory, and clinical expertise in developing biologic therapies within the field of immuno-oncology. I am dedicated to driving corporate growth and innovation by translating goals and objectives into actionable strategies that support Zumutor's mission of advancing a novel immuno-oncology biotherapeutic pipeline.

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Dr Supannikar (Fai) Tawinwung is an Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Physiology at Chulalongkorn University and the co-founder of Cellmidi, a biotech spin-off focused on innovative CAR T cell therapies. Dr. Tawinwung has led the development of Thailand’s first GMP-compliant CAR T cell manufacturing platform and the country’s first-in-human trials in lymphoma, and pediatric brain tumors. Her research centers on engineering CAR T cells to overcome immunosuppressive environments in solid tumors. With a passion for translating science into accessible therapies, she bridges academic and entrepreneurial efforts to expand the reach of next-generation immunotherapies in Southeast Asia.