Lucas Liu, PhD

Senior Director, Head of Protein Sciences

About

A dedicated protein engineer with 10+ years experience in biochemistry, biophysics, immunology and oncology with implementation and understanding of different therapeutic modalities in drug discovery. Have a track record to successfully lead a preclinical program to clinic development. Leading several cross-functional teams to successfully tackle various internal and external projects.

Country

United States

City

San Francisco Bay Area

Industry

Pharmaceuticals

Skill

Molecular Biology, PCR, Protein Purification, Bioinformatics, Biochemistry, Protein Chemistry, Lifesciences, Biophysics, Computational Biology, Enzyme Assays, Science, VMD, Research, X-ray crystallography, Structural Biology, Biotechnology, Molecular Modeling, Protein Expression, Microscopy, Molecular Cloning

Experience

Senior Director, Head of Protein Sciences

an oncology start-up

2024-6 - Present · 2 yrs 3 mos

San Francisco, California, United States

Director, Protein Sciences

Sanofi

2022-2 - 2024-6 · 2 yrs 5 mos

Preclinical Project Lead for the AMX-500 (VIR-5500) masked T-cell bispecific engager program, leading cross-functional preclinical efforts that supported transition into clinical development.

Director, Protein Sciences

Amunix Pharmaceuticals

2022-1 - 2022-2 · 2 mos

South San Francisco, California, United States

Associate Director

Amunix

2019-6 - 2022-2 · 2 yrs 9 mos

• Leading a successful T-cell engager campaign to nominate a development candidate into clinic development • Leading several cross-functional teams to optimize high throughput TCE production and screening for lead selection • Supporting IND-enabling activity for AMX-818 (HER2-XPAT) program • Leading internal team and managing external CRO for a wide range of successful discovery projects • A manuscript is under preparation

Senior Scientist II

AbbVie

2018-4 - 2019-6 · 1 yr 3 mos

San Francisco Bay Area

• Familiar with T cell engager (TCE), bispecifics, alternative formats and antibody drug conjugate (ADC) • Antibody discovery: identification, expression, purification, characterization and QC • Protein chemistry: construct design, expression, purification and QC, especially for difficult-to-express proteins • Membrane protein: construct design, expression, purification, characterization and reconstitution (nanodisc) • Automation: Hamilton Robotics for high-throughput protein purification • Structural biology: x-ray crystallography • Support other functions: hybridoma, protein engineering, IHC, cancer biology, DMPK, toxicology and etc. • HPLC-MALS/FAD, FPLC-MALS, Mass Spectrometry, SPR (Biacore and ForteBio), ELISA, Western Blot, SDS-PAGE • A manuscript is under preparation

Postdoctoral Fellow

University of California, San Francisco

2015-2 - 2018-3 · 3 yrs 2 mos

Dr. Robert Stroud's Group

• Express, optimize, purify, crystallize and single particle EM of membrane proteins and membrane protein complexes • Express, optimize, purify, crystallize and single particle EM of soluble proteins and protein complexes • Identify and characterize potential Fab or VH binders to the antigens • Manage, organize and update grant renewal and annual reports for The HARC Center (HIV Accessory & Regulatory Complexes), a NIH sponsored P50 specialized center • Mentor and guide students

Postdoctoral Research Associate

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

2013-1 - 2015-1 · 2 yrs 1 mo

Champaign, IL

Combined with protein engineering, biophysical characterization, enzyme & cell assay and structural biology as an integrated SBDD platform, I am focusing on the proteins as potential drug targets involved in the isoprenoid biosynthesis. I am developing the small molecule inhibitors against those targets as potent anti-bacterials, anti-malarials, anti-parasitics and anti-cancer agents.