Sean Cullen

Director, Licensing & Corporate Development @ Nona Biosciences

About

Former cancer biologist turned Business Development, Search & Evaluation professional working mainly in the oncology space. R&D expertise in immunotherapy, inflammation, cell death, and cell & molecular biology and work to leverage this knowledge to discover next generation therapeutics and technology platforms for in licensing. In my current role as interim Head of Oncology Search & Evaluation (US & Europe) for Simcere Pharma Group, one of the largest China's pharma companies, I am responsible for in-licensing activities around a broad range of modalities in the oncology space including biologics, small molecules, RNA targeting approaches, degraders, machine learning / AI, next generation drug delivery systems, ADCs, cell therapy and more.

Country

United States

City

San Francisco

Industry

Research

Skill

Microsoft Office, Research, Microsoft Excel, Customer Service, Microsoft Word, Public Speaking, PowerPoint, Project Management, Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Molecular & Cellular Biology, Flow Cytometry, Cell Biology, Data Analysis, Teamwork, Presentations, Journals, Communication, Assay Development

Experience

Director, Licensing & Corporate Development

Nona Biosciences

2025-7 - Present · 1 yr 3 mos

Licensing and Corporate Development

Associate Director Business Development

Insilico Medicine

2023-8 - 2025-4 · 1 yr 9 mos

San Francisco Bay Area

Asset Licensing

Business Development; Interim Head of Oncology Search & Evaluation (US & Europe)

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group

2021-6 - 2023-8 · 2 yrs 3 mos

San Francisco Bay Area

Cancer Immunotherapy

Genentech

2015-11 - 2021-5 · 5 yrs 7 mos

South San Francisco

Investigated the interplay between chemotherapy-mediated tumor cell apoptosis and the CD8+ T cell-dependent anti-cancer immune response with a view toward improving pre-selection of patients for immunotherapy regimens and increasing the effectiveness of checkpoint inhibitor therapy in the clinic.

Research Fellow

Trinity College Dublin

2009 - 2015 · 6 yrs

Trinity College Dublin

As a Research Fellow at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin, my research focused on the interaction between dying cells and the immune system. My research has been published in high impact international peer-reviewed journals, such as Immunity and Molecular Cell, and I have been invited to present my work at leading international scientific conferences. Selected Publications Cullen SP, Kearney CJ, Clancy DM, Martin SJ. Diverse Activators of the NLRP3 Inflammasome Promote IL-1β Secretion by Triggering Necrosis. Cell Rep. 2015 Jun 16;11(10):1535-48. Cullen, S.P., Henry, C.M., Kearney, C.J., Logue, S.E., Feoktistova, M., Tynan, G.A., Lavelle, E.C., Leverkus, M., Martin, S.J. (2013). Fas/CD95-induced chemokines can serve as "find-me" signals for apoptotic cells. Mol. Cell 49, 1034-1048. Martin, S.J., Henry, C.M., Cullen, S.P. (2012). A perspective on mammalian caspases as positive and negative regulators of inflammation. Mol. Cell 46, 387-397. Cullen, S.P., Lüthi, A.U., McNeela, E.A., Duriez, P.J., Afonina, I.S., Sheridan, C., Brumatti, G., Taylor, R.C., Kersse, K., Vandenabeele, P., Lavelle, E.C., Martin, S.J. (2009). Suppression of interleukin-33 bioactivity through proteolysis by apoptotic caspases. Immunity 31, 84-98. Cullen, S.P., Henry, C.M., Martin, S.J. (2011). Staying alive: defensive strategies in the BCL-2 family playbook. Mol. Cell 44, 509-610. Cullen, S.P., Afonina, I.S., Donadini, R., Lüthi, A.U., Medema, J.P., Bird, P.I., Martin, S.J. (2009). Nucleophosmin is cleaved and inactivated by the cytotoxic granule protease granzyme M during natural killer cell-mediated killing. J. Biol. Chem. 284, 5137-5147. Cullen, S.P., Adrain, C., Lüthi, A.U., Duriez, P.J., Martin, S.J. (2007). Human and murine granzyme B exhibit divergent substrate preferences. J. Cell Biol. 176, 435-444.