Jenny (Xiaoyu) Yang

Associate Manager, Business Development @ Nona Biosciences

About

I am a scientist turned business development professional, brining over a decade of experience across biomedical research, 3D cancer modeling, drug discovery, and cell engineering. My scientific career has centered on building translationally relevant in vitro systems and developing assays that support therapeutic discovery and preclinical decision-making. Over time, I discovered that what I enjoy most is bridging science and business—translating complex technologies into real-world impact for partners and customers. This passion is what led me to pursue my MBA at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where I’m expanding my skills in strategy, commercialization, and leadership. I recently joined the Business Development team at Nona Biosciences, a technology-driven biotech company focused on enabling end-to-end (“Idea to IND”) antibody discovery and development. Our proprietary Harbour Mice® platform—a fully human transgenic mouse system producing both heavy chain–only antibodies (HCAb) and conventional antibodies (H2L2)—supports a broad range of next-generation therapeutics, including bispecific and multispecific antibodies, CAR-T/NK engagers, ADCs, and mRNA/LNP-based modalities. I’m passionate about connecting cutting-edge science with innovative partners and helping innovative technologies reach the partners, programs, and patients who can benefit from them.

Country

United States

City

Carlsbad

Industry

Biotechnology

Skill

Sanger Sequencing, Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), Data Analytics, Cancer Immunotherapy, Gene Editing, Mentoring, Cross-functional Collaborations, Assay Development, 3D Cell Culture, Drug Discovery, Cell Line Engineering, Customer Service, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Scientific Writing, Molecular Biology, Cell Culture, Western Blotting, SDS-PAGE, ELISA

Experience

Associate Manager, Business Development

Nona Biosciences

2025-11 - Present · 10 mos

California, United States

Business Development Intern

Nona Biosciences

2025-7 - 2025-11 · 5 mos

Scientist III

Thermo Fisher Scientific

2022-4 - 2025-4 · 3 yrs 1 mo

San Diego County, California, United States

-Led and launched 3D cancer model services, developed cell-based assay workflows such as drug screening and immuno-oncology assays -Launched Gibco media system for 3D cancer cell culture, lead in development of research applications, performing and training on quality control (QC) testing -Support pre-launch marketing effort by presenting research applications at international conference -Collaborate with marketing and sales team to gather voice of customer (VOC) and industry trend -Led and execute customer services projects, including CRISPR/Cas9 based cell line engineering and cell-based screening assays -Engage in cross-team collaborations and direct customer interactions

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

UT Health San Antonio

2022-1 - 2022-3 · 3 mos

San Antonio, Texas, United States

Graduate Research Assistant

UT Health San Antonio

2017-9 - 2021-12 · 4 yrs 4 mos

San Antonio, Texas, United States

- Excellent grant-writing skills: funded by pre-doctoral training fellowship from Department of Defense (DoD) - Investigated the role of glutamine and STAT3 signaling in pancreatic cancer - Evaluated the therapeutic potential of a natural compound, namely palmatine in pancreatic cancer in in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo model - Generated stable knockdown cells - Screened and identified novel drug candidates in pancreatic cancer cells - Mentored high school summer students, graduate students and medical students - Collaborated work resulted in 3 co-authored publications and 1 first-author publication in preparation

Graduate Research Assistant

UT Health San Antonio

2016-1 - 2017-8 · 1 yr 8 mos

San Antonio, Texas, United States

- Studied the role of glucocorticoids in chemoprevention of non-melanoma skin cancer - Tested the ability of a pharmacological inhibitor Glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) on tumorigenesis in a mouse model of non-melanoma skin cancer - Collaborated work resulted in 1 co-authored publication

Research Assistant

Georgetown University

2013-5 - 2015-5 · 2 yrs 1 mo

Washington DC

- Studied on roles of matriptase in breast cancer - Evaluated expression of matriptase and its inhibitors in different human carcinoma cells - Collaborated work resulted in 2 co-authored publications