Dr. Siber is an infectious disease trained physician with more than 40 years of experience in developing vaccines and antibody products. From 1996 to 2007, Dr. Siber served as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Wyeth Vaccines (now Pfizer) where he led the development and approval of multiple innovative childhood vaccines, including Prevenar 7 and 13, the first pneumococcal conjugate vaccines,  Rotashield, the first rotavirus diarrhea vaccine, Meningitec, the first meningococcal meningitis conjugate vaccine and FluMist, the first nasal influenza vaccine. Prior to Wyeth, Dr. Siber was Harvard Medical School Associate Professor of Medicine at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Director of the Massachusetts Public Health Biologic Laboratories where he developed multiple vaccines and immune globulins, including Respigam, the first antibody licensed for respiratory syncytial virus. Dr. Siber most recently was a Co-founder and Board Member of Affinivax which developed a 24 valent pneumococcal vaccine and was acquired by GSK in 2022. Dr. Siber currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of AdVaccine, CanSino, Clover, Everest Medicines, ILiAD, Valneva, Vaxart and Vaxxinity and has been a consultant to the NIH, EU, WHO and the Gates Foundation. Dr.Siber was member of the Board of  Trustees of the International Vaccine Institute. Dr Siber has received multiple awards including the 2016 Albert Sabin Gold Medal in vaccinology. Dr. Siber holds an MD degree from McGill University in Canada, received post‑doctoral training in Internal Medicine at Rush‑Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago and Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and training in Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Boston Children’s Hospital and Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Lu is a physician scientist and a translational vaccine researcher.   Currently he is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), USA.  Before his retirement in late 2022, he was the Director, Laboratory of Nucleic Acid Vaccines at UMMS since 1996. 

Dr. Lu was one of scientists who started the nucleic acid vaccines in early 1990s and continued to advocate the further advancement of this field in the last 3 decades.  He promoted the heterologous prime-boost vaccination concept and developed the world first polyvalent DNA/protein HIV vaccine which showed the robust and broadly cross-reactive immune responses in human clinical studies including the recently completed HVTN124 which sets a new milestone for HIV vaccine development.  

Dr. Lu is the Editor-in-Chief, Emerging Microbes and Infections (EMI), a global leading journal in emerging infections published by Nature and Taylor & Francis, respectively, in addition to editorial board memberships for Journal of Virology, Vaccine, NPJ Vaccine, and Human Vaccines & Immune Therapeutics.

Dr. Lu has been a board member for International Society for Vaccines (ISV) since 2008 and served as ISV president for the term of 2011-2013 and Chair of Board in 2022.  He has co-organized or served as Chairs for a wide range of vaccine congresses over the last two decades.  He is a Fellow of ISV and a Fellow of ACP (America College of Physicians). 

Dr. David Weiner directs a translational research laboratory at The Wistar Institute in the area of Molecular Immunology. His group is one of the pioneering research teams in establishing the field of DNA vaccines and immunotherapies. Important reports from his lab include the first DNA vaccine studied for HIV as well as for cancer immunotherapy, the early development of DNA encoded genetic adjuvants including the particularly relevant IL-12, advances in gene optimization, and advances in electroporation (EP) technologies resulting in improved gene delivery among others. His group worked with collaborators to become the first to move DNA technology into human study. His laboratory’s work helped revitalize the field through advancement of new synthetic DNA design and modification of EP delivery approaches resulting in potent immune induction as well as the first successful Phase IIb DNA efficacy study (for HPV immunotherapy) in humans. Dr. Weiner is the recipient of numerous honors including election as a fellow to both the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2011 and the International Society for Vaccines in 2012. He is the recipient of the NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award and received the Vaccine Industry Excellence Award for Best Academic Research Team in 2015 at the World Vaccine Congress. Weiner was honored with the prestigious Hilleman Lectureship in 2015 at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Grand Rounds session and received a Stone Family Award from Abramson Cancer Center for his groundbreaking work on DNA vaccines for cancer immunotherapy. In 2019, Dr. Weiner was honored with the Scientific Achievement Award from Life Sciences PA (LSPA). Dr. Weiner returned to Wistar in 2016 from his position at The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. From 1990 to 1993, Weiner held a joint position as assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at The Wistar Institute and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Weiner is a co-founder of Inovio Pharmaceuticals and is a member of the Board of Directors. Dr. Weiner graduated with a B.S. in biology from SUNY at Stony Brook, N.Y., a M.S. in biology from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. in developmental biology from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Dr. Chen has been a Professor at the State Key Lab of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Medical University since 2013. Dr. Chen received a medical degree from Shanghai Medical College in 1984. He obtained a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Chen completed his postdoctoral training at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School.  From 1997-2001, Dr. Chen served as a Senior Research Fellow at Merck Research Laboratories, where he was the first inventor of Merck's Ad5-based AIDS vaccine that entered clinical trials worldwide. Dr. Chen served as Vice President of R&D for GlaxoSmithKline in 2009-2011 and as Vice President at Sanofi Pasteur in 2012. Dr. Chen has over 200 publications in infectious diseases, vaccine research, and cancer research. His current research is focused on vaccine and antibody research on adenovirus, influenza virus, and emerging viruses. Since 2020, Dr. Chen has been working on developing user-friendly intranasal vaccines and mucosal immunity.

Dr. Yan graduated and earned his B.S. and Ph.D at Wuhan University. He continued to work as a teaching staff member in College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University until 1998. From 1998 to 2002, he worked with Prof. Michael E. Lamm as a Research Associate in Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio and conducted scientific research on mucosal immune functions of IgA in relation to virus infections. He returned to Wuhan University in autumn 2002 and joined in the newly established Modern Virology Research Center, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University as an associate professor. In 2006, he moved to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he was appointed as a professor and group leader to set up an independent research lab named Mucosal Immunity Research Group. His lab is a group member of the State Key Laboratory of Virology in China. He has continued his research on the mucosal IgA functions against virus infections and focused more on the intra-epithelial activities of IgA against viral non-surface and non-structure components, which helps to reveal novel anti-viral mechanisms of IgA antibodies. His lab demonstrated that measles virus (MV) non-surface protein such as matrix protein (M), non-structural protein such as phosphoprotein (P) specific IgA can interact with viral newly synthesized proteins during IgA transport through the viral infected epithelial cells, and inhibit viral replication intracellularly. He also extended his study in developing optimized recombinant flagellin as mucosal adjuvant for designing novel subunit mucosal vaccines. He obtains 3 patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and 4 patents issued by the State Intellectual Property Office of the PRC related to novel flagellin adjuvants as well as anti-caries vaccine and anti-RSV vaccine. His research is mostly funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.

Dr. Bin Wang is the Co-founder, Chairman of Advaccine Biotechnology Co LTD. He is also holding a distinguished professor position at the Fudan University School of Basic Medical Sciences and serves as the chairman for the Nucleic Acid Vaccines branch of the Chinese Vaccine Society. His research area is focused on the effects of therapeutic vaccination to activate T cells and the mechanism of immune regulations. He has developed novel adjuvants and recombinant vaccines, novel DNA vaccine delivery, and led to several developed vaccines being tested in human clinical trials. He received his Ph.D. from the Cincinnati Children's Hospital at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine in 1990. He completed his postdoc training in virology and immunology at the Wistar Institute in 1992 in Philadelphia. He became an instructor and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School from 1993 to 1998. He was a professor and served as the Chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology for six years at the College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University before he joined Fudan University. He was one of the very early DNA vaccine technology inventors in the 90’s and performed the first-in-human DNA vaccine trials in 1994-1996. He has been involved in several clinical trials of therapeutic vaccines against chronic HBV infections in recent years and invented a novel prophylactic RSV vaccine currently under clinical phase II testing. He has published over 160 peer-review articles and awarded 35 US and 30 Chinese patents. He serves as an editorial board member for several international journals and executive member in several professional societies.

Andrew Wong is General Manager of Shanghai Wotai Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary company of Walvax Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a public listed and leading vaccine development, and manufacturing company in China, where Andrew held a position as Director of Business Development until recently. Andrew had managed Walvax's global business activities including product global registration, sales & marketing, tech-transfer and licensing-in/out for more than 4 years till August 2024.. 

By participating in Walvax’s efforts to become a global vaccine manufacturer, between September 2015 and March 2020, Andrew managed a three collaboration projects under a combined sum of USD 8.5 million funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support the development of bivalent, nona-valent HPV vaccines and recombinant COVID-19 vaccine for developing countries. Representing Walvax, Andrew participated in the efforts with Shanghai Zerun Biotechnology Co., Ltd, a Walvax subsidiary in Shanghai, to secure grants more than USD 20 millions from CEPI to support the preclinical and clinical development of the variant recombinant COVID-19 vaccine.  Currently, Andrew leads his teams to work on Walvax’s global business expansion through licensing-in/out and international product registration and distribution.

After academic trainings from China, Canada and United States in clinical medicine, immunology, molecular biology,  and business administration with an MBA from UCLA Anderson School, Andrew Wong, MD, MBA has almost three decades’ experiences in biopharmaceutical research, business development and general management, including close to 12 years’ work experience at the world’s largest biotech company - Amgen Inc. in USA, by engaging in recombinant antibody therapeutics and anticancer small molecule drug research and development.

Prof. Ken J. Ishii, M.D., Ph.D., currently Director for Int. Vaccine Design Center, The Institute of Medical Science, the University of Tokyo, has 27 years of experience in Vaccine R&D since 1998 including 7 years as a IND reviewer at US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 15 years as a basic immunologist at Osaka University, 9 years as a vaccine adjuvant expert at National Institute (NIBIOHN), 2 years as managing director at AMED (medical funding agency), as well as Advisor for PMDA (regulatory agency), GHIT (global fund) and CEPI. He has contributed to basic research on infectious diseases and immunology, resulted in numerous books and over 250 periodical publications and 35,000 citations with H-index 84 as well as over 50 patents related to vaccine and adjuvant, and to regulation of many vaccines and guidelines for vaccine preclinical and clinical trials in Japan and US.

Dr. Frank Chia-Jung Chang obtains his Ph.D. from Life Science and Institute of Genome Science department of Taiwan Yang-Ming Medical University in 2012. He received his postdoctoral training at Molecular Biology Institute of Academia Sinica (Taiwan) and worked as visiting scholar in Frances H. Arnold’s laboratory (Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner in 2018), Chemical Engineering Department of Caltech (U.S.). He joined Reber Genetics as the supervisor of R&D Division in 2014. From 2017, Frank also works for business development and strategic layout of vaccine products (technology included).

Dr. Chang has considerable expertise in virology, microbiology, reverse vaccinology and protein engineering for industrial production. His group has successfully developed novel subunit vaccines of swine PRRSV, pan-PCV, Mycoplasma, CSFV and PEDV in Reber Genetics, furthermore, also support the study of safe vector vaccine against ASF with external partners.

Dr. Tao Zhu, Ph.D. the University of Pittsburgh

Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of CanSino Biologics Inc. 

Dr. Zhu is a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the “Healthy China Construction” professional committee of the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party. 

Dr. Zhu focuses on the research and development of biological products. He established multiple core technology platforms, including viral vector, polysaccharide protein conjugate vaccine, VLP recombinant vaccine and mRNA vaccine technology at CanSino. Multiple projects led by him have been selected as national “Major Science and Technology Projects for New Drug Creation” and “Major Science and Technology Projects for Infectious Diseases”. 

Dr. Zhu has led the team to develop a series of vaccine products, of which 6 vaccine products have been registered and marketed, another 7 vaccine products are in different stages of clinical studies. He co-developed the adenovirus vector-based Ebola virus vaccine (2018), the Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Convidecia, 2021), the Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine for Inhalation(Convidecia Air, 2022), and the Recombinant COVID-19 XBB Vaccine for Inhalation(2023), with the team of Academician Chen Wei of the Institute of Bioengineering, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, all of which have been marketed. Especially, Convidecia Air is the first developed inhalation vaccine product in the global. Menhycia, which was approved in 2021, is currently the only quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine on the market in China. Dr. Zhu also holds over 50 patents and 70 publications, including 15 papers from The Lancet publishers.

Michel De Wilde holds a PhD in Biochemistry and has a long and successful career in Vaccine Research and Development. He currently consults for the vaccine community and is member of several Scientific Advisory Boards

From  2001 till June 2013, Michel De Wilde was Senior Vice President, Research & Development, at sanofi pasteur where he drove the development and licensure  of a number of products.

From 1978 till 2000, De Wilde was at SmithKline Beecham Biologicals (now GSK Vaccines) where he held positions of increasing responsibility. He played a key role in the development of several new vaccines, most notably the recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine, as well as GSK’s Malaria vaccine.

July 2022 - current : AstriVax

CEO and Co-founder

July 2021 – July 2022: KU Leuven

Entrepreneur in Residence

June 2018 – August 2022: Oxurion

Head Regulatory Affairs

Business Development

Chief Operating Officer

March 2009 – May 2018: GSK Vaccines

Regulatory Affairs

Vaccine Development Leader

Sept 2008 – Feb 2009 – Gevers Patents

Trainee patent attorney

About

Diverse experience in the life science industry exhibiting a unique capability to merge operational execution and strategic development - implementation. Global industry experience in large pharmaceutical industry as well as into smaller biotech environment. Strong experience in development of commercial, late or early stage vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, peptides and small molecules. Regulatory affairs, drug and vaccine development expertise blended with business and corporate development. Proven track record to build up and lead diverse teams. Innovative mindset, with demonstrated ability to think beyond commonly accepted boundaries, understanding well different personalities and able to perform complex and challenging tasks and capable to distil the essence from the noise.

Dr. Xu Rong has over 20 years of experience in innovative vaccine research and development and in leading vaccine R&D teams within multinational corporations. She particularly excels in preclinical vaccine research and evaluation, the development and validation of immunological methodologies, and the CMC development of vaccine products.

Before joining Delonix, Dr. Xu held the position of Senior Vice President of Preclinical Vaccine R&D at Clover Biopharmaceuticals. Prior to that, she served as the Vice President of R&D at the Sabin Vaccine Institute in the United States, where she led the CMC development, clinical immunology assay development and validation, and non-clinical safety and efficacy studies of vaccines. Additionally, she has held several key vaccine R&D and team management roles at Profectus Biosciences, Pfizer (Wyeth), and the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute.

In 2016, Dr. Xu was honored with the Distinguished Female Scientist Award by the Westchester Association in New York, recognizing her outstanding contributions to vaccine research and development. Dr. Xu holds a Bachelor degree in Medicine from Peking University and a Ph.D. in Immunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

Biography :

n  Senior Scientist, Brain Research Centre, University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada (09.1994-07.2019)

n  Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, UBC (tenured) (09.1994-07.2019)

n  Chief Scientific Officer, Co-founder of Virogin Biotech Ltd (05.2015- present)

n  Chief Scientific Officer, CNBG-Virogin Biotech Ltd (2019- present)

Dr. Jia obtained his PhD in neurobiology from University of British Columbia (1991), MSc. Psychology (1987) from Dalhousie University in Canada, and BSc. Biology from Fudan University (1982) in China. In 2015, Dr.Jia co-founded Virogin Biotech, an oncolytic virotherapy company in Canada. He is currently the chief scientific officer of Virogin and CNBG-Virogin to develop oncolytic viruses and novel vaccines.

Jingxin Li, PhD, Professor, is working at Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Her research is focused on vaccine clinical evaluation and immunization strategy. She has participated in a lot of epidemiology investigations and a series of clinical trials of novel vaccines, including Enterovirus type 71 vaccine, recombinant human Ad5 vectored Ebola vaccine, and Covid-19 vaccines. She has got National Natural Science Outstanding Youth Founds and Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Funds for Distinguished youths, and hosted or participated in seven National Natural Science Founds or National Science and Technology Major Projects. She has published over 25 articles in medical journals on vaccine clinical studies, including Nature Med, Lancet Respir Med, Lancet Glob Health, etc.

Xia JIN，MD, PhD is currently an executive director and Chief Executive Officer of Immuno Cure BioTech Ltd., Hong Kong. He has hold a number of academic positions previously, including Professor of Fudan University Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, and its Director of Vaccine & Immunology Center; Distinguished Professor of the Chinese Academy of Science(CAS), and Deputy Director of Vaccine Research Center of the Institute Pasteur of Shanghai, and Deputy Director of CAS Molecular Virology & Immunology Key Lab. Before returning China, he has been a tenure-track Associate Professor of University of Rochester. His research focuses on the immune pathogenesis of human infectious diseases such as HIV and Dengue, and pre-clinical and clinical development of vaccines against these and other human pathogens.  He has published in 140 papers in peer-reviewed journals such as Science，J. Exp. Med.，J. Clin. Inv.，Nat. Commn., J Virol., Vaccine etc..

Dr. Alameh is an Assistant Professor at Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania and the Children Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and the co-director of the Engineered mRNA and Targeted Nanomedicine Core at the Penn RNA Institute for RNA Innovation.

Dr. Alameh obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 2017 from Polytechnique Montreal under the supervision of Dr. Michael D. Buschmann and joined the laboratory of the now Nobel laureate Dr. Drew Weissman. Dr. Alameh explored the development of a novel lipid nanoparticle (LNPs) based adjuvant platform and developed potent mRNA-based vaccines against various pathogens including Clostridium difficile.

His research program lies at the interface of nanotechnology, material science, engineering, and medicine to develop prophylactic and therapeutic nucleic acid-based delivery platforms and optimize their manufacturing. His team studies, and model Structure-Activity Relationships of material for improved delivery systems, and nucleic acid-based vaccines. 

Dr. Liu Yuanqing graduated from Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University and was a surgeon at Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital. He completed his PhD in Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium and was one of the pioneers on myeloid-derived suppressors in tumors. He was previously a senior research lead at Sanofi Pasteur French headquarter, where he contributed to various vaccine projects, including cancer vaccines, vaccines against infectious diseases, pediatric vaccines, adjuvants, etc. Dr. Liu is an industry veteran with extensive experience in the development of innovative vaccines for international market. He was a member of the EU Innovative Medicine Initiative. Since 2021, he has been the Chief Scientific Officer of Immorna Biotechnology. He is based in Shanghai where Immorna has established a high-standard R&D site aiming to accelerate the development of mRNA vaccines and drugs in China.

Igor Smolenov is the Chief Development Officer of Arcturus Therapeutics. Dr. Smolenov is an infectious disease physician dedicated to the clinical development of novel vaccines, with a proven record of accomplishment in both small biotechnology and large pharmaceutical companies. He contributed to the successful development and licensure of several innovative vaccines.

Before joining Arcturus, Dr. Smolenov was the Executive Vice President at Clover Pharmaceuticals, where he built a robust team able to rapidly generate pivotal clinical data leading to adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine authorization. Prior to that, Dr Smolenov served as Therapeutic Area Head, leading the development of several seasonal influenza vaccines in Seqirus (CSL), and Head of Clinical Development in Moderna Therapeutics, leading the initiation of the first clinical trials of mRNA vaccines in humans. At Novartis Vaccines, Dr. Smolenov contributed to the development and global licensure of meningococcal vaccines (Menveo, Bexsero, and MenABCWY) and the overall commercial success of the meningococcal vaccines franchise.

Igor Smolenov graduated from Volgograd State Medical University, Russia, and holds MD, Ph.D., and Doctor of Science (Habilitation) degrees from this university. Before starting his career in the industry, he passed multiple academic steps from junior researcher to professor and head of the Allergy/immunology department of the university. He is the author of more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals in clinical pharmacology and vaccine development.

Dr. Raman Rao joined as the Chief Executive Officer at Hilleman Laboratories in February 2020. Dr. Rao has more than two decades of experience in research and development, manufacturing and commercialisation of vaccines for infectious diseases in global pharma and biotech companies. Prior to joining Hilleman Laboratories, Dr. Rao served as the Vice President of Global Product Operations with Takeda, Singapore, where he enhanced the global product portfolio while successfully leading an international team across Japan, Singapore and the United States. The teams worked in the areas of dengue, norovirus, zika, polio and other vaccines.

Dr. Rao started his career in 2002 with Shantha Biotechnics Limited, part of Sanofi Aventis Group in India, in Clinical Research and Scientific Affairs. He holds a MD in Medical Microbiology from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research.

He plans to carry forward Dr. Maurice Hilleman’s legacy for providing effective solutions for global health, especially those impacting low- and middle-income countries.

Dr. Raman Rao joined as the Chief Executive Officer at Hilleman Laboratories in February 2020. Dr. Rao has more than two decades of experience in research and development, manufacturing and commercialisation of vaccines for infectious diseases in global pharma and biotech companies. Prior to joining Hilleman Laboratories, Dr. Rao served as the Vice President of Global Product Operations with Takeda, Singapore, where he enhanced the global product portfolio while successfully leading an international team across Japan, Singapore and the United States. The teams worked in the areas of dengue, norovirus, zika, polio and other vaccines.

Dr. Rao started his career in 2002 with Shantha Biotechnics Limited, part of Sanofi Aventis Group in India, in Clinical Research and Scientific Affairs. He holds a MD in Medical Microbiology from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research.

He plans to carry forward Dr. Maurice Hilleman’s legacy for providing effective solutions for global health, especially those impacting low- and middle-income countries.

Graduated from Peking University School of Medicine, and National School of Development at Peking University, Jeffrey Zhang has deep insights in the fields of vaccines, while having extensive experience in business management, strategy and investment. He has successively served as the head of Pfizer’s New Business Development in China, General Manager of Emerging Business Department of GSK China/Vice President of Emerging Market Strategy, as well as the Vice President of Strategy of WuXi/Vice President of WuXi Vaccine Business.

Professor Liang is dedicated to the development of large molecular drugs in the field of recombinant protein. He has been engaged in the research of drug action mechanism-related structural biology and physicochemical analysis for many years, leading the development of multiple innovative monoclonal antibody drugs and subunit vaccines. Through the transformation of achievements and cooperation with enterprises, he has promoted the approval of clinical trials or market launch by the US FDA and China NMPA.

Heinrich Haas， Department of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz Mainz, Germany. Ph.D. in the group of Prof. Dr. Helmuth Möhwald at Johannes-Gutenberg Universität Mainz. Researched lipid membranes and organized bio-molecular systems. In pharmaceutical industry (Munich Biotech, Medigene, BioNTech) developed different types of nanoparticle products to clinical stage. Focus on advanced approaches for nanoparticle development and control.

Dr. Hoon Sang Lee is a medical doctor and a global health expert, and currently the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of the RIGHT Foundation (Research Investment for Global Health Technology Foundation) and an adjunct professor at Yonsei University School of Public Health in Korea. Dr. Lee is also a member of Health Sector Advisory Committee of KOICA and a founding member of the Board for Korea Society of Global Health. Previously, he has worked as a health adviser for KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) for bilateral health projects in various countries of Africa and Asia. Prior to KOICA, Dr. Lee worked as a medical officer at Korea CDC, managing national hepatitis B and measles immunization programme, and was involved in North Korea health programme for immunization support. Dr. Lee studied Economics and Public Policy at University of Chicago, received MD and PhD from Yonsei University School of Medicine and received MPH from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Dr. Xinling Wang received her Ph.D. degree in 2021 and was then engaged in postdoctoral research at Fudan University. In October 2023, she as a Young Investigator (eq. to an Associate Professor) joined the Shanghai Institute of Major Infectious Diseases and Biosafety, Fudan University and master's supervisor. Her research focuses on the entry mechanism and prevention/treatment strategies of emerging viruses. In the past five years, she as the first or co-first author has published 18 papers in Cell Research (IF=44.1), Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy (IF=39.1, x3), Cell Discovery (IF=33.5), Trends in immunology (IF=16.8) and other SCI journals. She as a co-inventor has participated in 4 patent applications, one of which was successfully licensed by a company. As a PI, she has obtained the Youth Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and as a project-leader in 2023 Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan, and as a key researcher in two National Science and Technology Major Projects

Professor Xu focuses on the pathogenesis of respiratory RNA viruses (influenza, coronavirus) and the development of antiviral drugs and vaccines. More than 40 SCI papers have been published in internationally influential academic journals such as Science Translational Medicine, Cell Research, PNAS, Nature Communications, Protein & Cell, and PLoS Pathogens, cited more than 3300 times (including 5 ESI high-cited papers). The research results have been selected as a highlight or cover story by Science, Cell Research, Protein & Cell, Journal of Virology, and the China Science Foundation.

The group made a series of progress in the mechanism of respiratory virus co-infection and broad-spectrum vaccine or drug candidates, promoted one antiviral drug into multinational clinical trials, and transformed a universal vaccine to deal with antigen drift. The above research results provide candidate strategies for epidemic prevention and control.

Mr. Jian Dong has 35 years’ experience in biopharma manufacturing, quality management and facility construction.

Joining WuXi Biologics in 2014, he is CEO of WuXi Vaccines and SVP of WuXi Biologics, previously SVP and Head of Global Manufacturing and Head of Global Engineering of WuXi Biologics responsible for the management and R&D of biological drug clinical and commercial manufacturing and construction of production facilities.

Mr. Dong has led team passing China’s first FDA PLI and EMA GMP inspection and obtaining approval of WuXi Biologics DS and DP manufacturing facilities as well as the design, construction, validation and delivery of various R&D centers and manufacturing sites of WuXi Biologics worldwide.

Before WuXi Biologics, he was Deputy Chief Engineer in Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products, Senior Process Engineer in Eli Lilly & Co., U.S., VP of Manufacturing and VP of Quality in Shanghai Celgen Biopharma, Deputy General Manager in UBPL and Shanghai United Cell Biotechnology, Unilab’s subsidiary. During his tenure in China before joining WuXi Biologics, he made significant contribution to the approval of one NDA, four BLA and four GMP licenses, including the technical transfer of MSD’s recombinant hepatitis B vaccine to China.

Haifei Zhang, PhD, DABT, Associate Professor

Senior Director, Inhalation& International Toxicology, JOINN Laboratories (Suzhou) Inc.

Committee member of Chinese Safety Pharmcology Society

Committee member of Chinese inhalational toxicology Society

PhD in Pharmacology and MS in Toxicology.

Got Diplomate of American Board of Toxicology in 2016. Set up a comprehensive platform for inhalation toxicology & safety pharmacology, in vitro and in vivo cardiovascular and respiratory pharmacology studies. Conducted toxicity, safety pharmacology and pharmacodynamic studies for over 200 IND to NMPA or FDA. Participated in key new drug research projects of the 12th national five-year plan and 13th national five-year plan and got 3 patents.

Dr. Xu Gelin, senior  expert of  Wuhan Institute of Biological Products (WIBP), experienced on vaccine development for nearly 40 years. 

Dr. Tan is responsible for drug discovery, preclinical development, translation research and external collaboration in China. Dr. Tan got his Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from UT Health Science Center San Antonio and received his Postdoctoral training with Dr. Michael Karin at UC San Diego. Dr. Tan worked in Pfizer and Novartis for 9 years, specialized in drug discovery and translational research, bridging preclinical research to early clinical trials. Dr. Tan worked at Biosion Biotech and Coherent Biopharma before he joined Clover. Dr. Tan was selected as Jiangsu Innovation and Entrepreneur Talent and Suzhou Innovation and Entrepreneur Leading Talent.

Beijing special expert, Beijing COVID-19 prevention and technology talent, Beijing Normal University adjunct professor, Tsinghua University doctor, Oregon State University postdoctoral. Dr. Sun Le studied under Professor G. Sato, a member of the American Academy of Sciences, scientific Advisor to President Nixon, inventor of monoclonal antibody drugs, and Professor Zhao Nanming, former Dean of the School of Life Sciences and Medicine of Tsinghua University. Formerly Director of production and scientific research at Upstate/Merck USA; Founded A&G Pharmaceuticals in the United States in 2000 and served as President. Having undertaken a number of major national and Beijing science and technology projects, Jingtiancheng, as a key enterprise in Beijing's infectious disease emergency prevention and control platform, has played an important role in the fight against rabies, hand-foot-mouth EV71, avian influenza H1N1/H7N9, new Pornia virus, Norovirus, Ebola virus and novel coronavirus. Established a huge library of infectious disease pathogens antibodies, including pneumonia 18, HPV9, meningitis 4, DPT, rabies, Bunya Virus, EV71, CA16, HBV, HCV, HEV, HIV, IPV, rubella virus, RSV, RAV,JEV mouse mab thousands of species. In this outbreak, Dr. Sun Le was supported by the Major COVID-19 Emergency Project of the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Gates Foundation COVID-19 Emergency Project respectively.

Doctor of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics - Chongqing Medical University

Master of Drug Delivery - Aston University, UK

Bachelor of Clinical Medicine - Chongqing Medical University

Practicing Physician

Member of the Standardization Committee of the China Association for Vaccines

Member of the Professional Committee of the Chinna Safety Pharmacology

Vice Chairman of the Chongqing Laboratory Animal Technology Association

Dr.LIU Yan has extensive experience in the R&D of new drugs, especially in the field of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in clinical research of new drugs.

Prof. Yuelong Shu

Director, Institute of Pathogen Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College. He is a member of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. He was selected as the first batch of ‘National Science and Technology Innovation Leader’and‘2014 Top Ten Scientific and Technological Innovators’, and is the winner of National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and the China Youth Science and Technology Award. He has been honored with the National Science and Technology Progress Grand Prize, First Prize, Second Prize, the National Medical and Health System Advanced Individual, the National Innovation Award, the Public Health and Preventive Medicine Development Contribution Award, etc. He is currently the Chairman of the Branch of Medical Virology of the Chinese Medical Association and the Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Alliance for the Control of Influenza (APACI). He was the founding dean of the School of Public Health of Sun Yat-sen University (Shenzhen), the editor-in-chief of the Chinese Journal of Virology, the deputy director of the Institute of Viral Diseases of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the director of the National Influenza Center, and the director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza.

Shu has long focused on influenza prevention and control research, and has made outstanding achievements in the discovery of new viruses, the development of detection reagents, and the pathogenesis of infection. Through the systematic establishment of new influenza detection and surveillance technology, it was found for the first time in the world that a variety of new avian influenza viruses such as H7N9, H5N6 and H10N8 can lead to human infection and death; The first successful development of pandemic H1N1 2019 and H7N9 avian influenza detection reagent; The origin, evolution and infection mechanism of H7N9 and other avian influenza viruses were clarified, which provided key scientific and technological support for the successful prevention and control of the epidemic in China. He has published nearly 200 papers in Science, Nature, NEJM, Lancet and other academic journals as a corresponding author. The research results were selected as one of the ‘China’s 100 most influential international academic papers in 2013’and ‘2013 Top Ten Scientific Advances in China’.

John Mo is the general manager of Shanghai SDM and has 17 years of experience in vaccine clinical trials.

l  He used to be the director of Guangxi Disease Control and Vaccine Research Institute, a member of the Expert Committee for Drug Registration and Evaluation of the State Administration of Medicine, a member of the Vaccine Research and Development Expert Group of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism Scientific Research Team of the State Council, a member of the National Immunization Program Technical Working Group, and a member of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association Vaccine Member of the Standing Committee of Clinical Professional Committee, former national and provincial GCP inspector.

l  Participated in the compilation and discussion of relevant regulations and technical guidelines for vaccine clinical trials in many countries. As a PI, he co-chaired more than 70 vaccine clinical trials, including the world's first human diploid cell EV71 inactivated vaccine, the first domestic mRNA new crown vaccine, HPV vaccine, rotavirus vaccines, microcard vaccine, rabies vaccines, IPV, bOPV, influenza, pneumonia vaccines, and meningococcal vaccines.

l  Participated in the compilation and discussion of regulations and technical guidance principles for vaccine clinical trials in multiple countries, and has been involved in special projects of major new drug creation science and technology for many times. Published nearly 30 SCI papers in international journals. He is an editorial board member for the translation of the seventh edition of vaccinology, and an editorial board member for the design and implementation of clinical trials.

Meng LI has been leading the International business team of CNBG since 2013, oversees CNBG’s international cooperation and registration activities. She also serves on the board of CNBG-Virogen, and the board of Emerging Biopharmaceuticals Manufacturers Network (EBPMN). During her 19 year experiences in biological industry, she established extensive networks with academia, NGOs, enterprises internationally, and successfully completed a number of landmark projects. Including the bOPV capacity expansion and prequalification program with BMGF (received over 23Million USD financial supports from BMGF, prequalified by WHO in 2019), establishment of CNBG’s first JV with foreign enterprise, the first overseas acquisition by CNBG, roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine PhIII trials in 6 countries and its registration in over 100 countries. Meng Li has successfully signed a number of in-license, research cooperation, commercialization and industrialization projects with NIH, Oxford, France Institut Pasteur, PATH, IVI, biotech companies and developing country manufacturers. She worked as temporary advisor to WHO inspectorate during WHO’s first inspection to China NMPA in 2010, and was elected as the executive committee member of DCVMN from 2014-2016.

Dr. Anna Schlüter is a pharmacist by training and joined LTS in 2016 as formulation scientist for the development of transdermal therapeutic systems (TTS) and oral thin films (OTF). Since 2020 she is a lab head in the microarrays patch (MAP) team and responsible for the formulation and process development for collaboration and internal MAP projects. She is experienced in leading multifunctional teams for formulation development and scale-up projects for transdermal delivery systems.

Dr. Hu Yong, founder of Rhegen Bio, professor of Hubei Industry, Shenzhen Overseas High-level Talent, Shenzhen Nanshan District "Pilot Talent", excellent Communist Party member, former PI and PhD supervisor of Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is now the chairman and general manager of Shenzhen Rhegen Biotechnology.

Dr. Hu has more than 10 years of R&D experience in the mRNA field, focusing on the research and industrial transformation of mRNA-related underlying technologies, and the development of novel mRNA vaccines and drugs for emergent infectious diseases, cancer immunotherapy, and protein-deficiency disorders, etc. In the past five years, he has filed applications for mRNA vaccines and drugs. In the past five years, he has applied for more than 200 patents of mRNA-related technologies, and has been authorized 48 domestic invention patents and many PCT patents. He has presided over a number of national, provincial and municipal key projects, such as the National Biopharmaceutical Technology Innovation Center's nucleic acid drug "unveiling the list of commanding officers" technology research project (lyophilized COVID-19 mRNA vaccine research and development), the Shenzhen High-tech Zone Development Special Plan Innovation Platform Construction Project (mRNA innovative vaccine and drug pilot base), Shenzhen Key Project of Technology Tackling (Research and Development of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine), Shenzhen Basic Discipline Layout (Research on New Generation of Highly Efficient mRNA Drug Molecular Technology).  The research results have been published in Cell Discovery, Nature Protocol, Nature Communication, Circulation Research, Biomaterial and other well-known journals, Biomaterial and other well-known journals.

Dr. Hu led the team to establish the R4 platform, which is an independent and controllable technology platform for the whole chain of mRNA drug development, led the establishment and release of two mRNA industry group standards, developed the world's first lyophilized COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, which has been approved for clinical trials in many countries and regions, and the first mRNA therapeutic drug using non-LNP delivery technology has been approved for Phase I clinical trials by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Australia. In addition, the first mRNA therapeutic drug using non-LNP delivery technology has received ethical approval from the Australian Human Research Ethics Committee for Phase I clinical trials.

Xingchen Peng

M.D. Ph.D

Professor and Chief Physician, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University.

Dr. Peng is recognized as a Young Changjiang Scholar by the Ministry of Education, a leading talent in the Sichuan Province Ten Thousand Talent Program. Dr. Peng has completed a postdoctoral fellowship in radiation oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He is also a candidate for the academic and technical leadership reserve of the Sichuan Provincial Health Department.

Dr. Peng's work focuses on the integrated treatment of malignant tumors, including radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. He has special expertise in the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, head and neck tumors, melanoma, and soft tissue sarcoma. He is currently leading several multicenter clinical trials in head and neck tumors and has extensive clinical experience in the diagnosis and treatment of recurrent metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. In 2017, he was recognized as the most promising young oncologist by the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO).

Dr. Peng is also responsible for major projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology. He has published more than 45 high-impact papers as first or corresponding author, and his research has been cited in guidelines in Brazil, the United States.

Dr. Hu Yong, founder of Rhegen Bio, professor of Hubei Industry, Shenzhen Overseas High-level Talent, Shenzhen Nanshan District "Pilot Talent", excellent Communist Party member, former PI and PhD supervisor of Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is now the chairman and general manager of Shenzhen Rhegen Biotechnology.

Dr. Hu has more than 10 years of R&D experience in the mRNA field, focusing on the research and industrial transformation of mRNA-related underlying technologies, and the development of novel mRNA vaccines and drugs for emergent infectious diseases, cancer immunotherapy, and protein-deficiency disorders, etc. In the past five years, he has filed applications for mRNA vaccines and drugs. In the past five years, he has applied for more than 200 patents of mRNA-related technologies, and has been authorized 48 domestic invention patents and many PCT patents. He has presided over a number of national, provincial and municipal key projects, such as the National Biopharmaceutical Technology Innovation Center's nucleic acid drug "unveiling the list of commanding officers" technology research project (lyophilized COVID-19 mRNA vaccine research and development), the Shenzhen High-tech Zone Development Special Plan Innovation Platform Construction Project (mRNA innovative vaccine and drug pilot base), Shenzhen Key Project of Technology Tackling (Research and Development of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine), Shenzhen Basic Discipline Layout (Research on New Generation of Highly Efficient mRNA Drug Molecular Technology).  The research results have been published in Cell Discovery, Nature Protocol, Nature Communication, Circulation Research, Biomaterial and other well-known journals, Biomaterial and other well-known journals.

Dr. Hu led the team to establish the R4 platform, which is an independent and controllable technology platform for the whole chain of mRNA drug development, led the establishment and release of two mRNA industry group standards, developed the world's first lyophilized COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, which has been approved for clinical trials in many countries and regions, and the first mRNA therapeutic drug using non-LNP delivery technology has been approved for Phase I clinical trials by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Australia. In addition, the first mRNA therapeutic drug using non-LNP delivery technology has received ethical approval from the Australian Human Research Ethics Committee for Phase I clinical trials.

Naked DNA plasmids, when i.m. or i.d. administered without assistance, are relatively poor in transfection efficiency and consequently show low

level of immunogenicity. A possible solution to this problem is microneedle array patch (MAP) delivery which utilizes microscopic projection

arrays on a plaster to deliver a vaccine on the skin. We will report our recent progress in developing MAP-based DNA vaccines that can effectively

induce protective immunity against SARS-COV-2 variants. MAP technology may open a new avenue for novel vaccine development