Lijie Rong

I am responsible for building and leading the Translational Science function, providing the strategic and experimental bridge from early discovery through IND submission to early clinical proof-of-concept for our cell therapy portfolio (CAR-T, DC, TCE, etc.). A cornerstone of this was founding our in-house Translational Medicine Center, where I established the vision, built the team, and implemented core capabilities spanning preclinical pharmacology/toxicology, bioanalytical labs, and clinical biomarker operations. My team drives the integrated R&D strategy: we design and execute pivotal in vivo studies for efficacy and safety assessment, deliver proof-of-concept data for pipeline decisions, and manage comprehensive toxicology profiles. We then synthesize these complex datasets into compelling IND-enabling packages for NMPA or IRB submissions. In early clinical trials, we leverage our internal lab to support PK/PD/immunogenicity tests and deep translational analyses (e.g., responder/non-responder) to inform next-stage development. Beyond the bench, I represent Translational R&D in global business development and lead strategic CRO partnerships. My primary focus is on fostering seamless collaboration across Research, CMC, and Clinical Development to de-risk and accelerate our entire portfolio.

My Ph.D. degree was awarded in June 2014 and I am currently finishing up my works on tumor-associated fibroblasts in my mentor Prof. Zhihai Qin’s laboratory. While composing a review about our work, I am looking for a post-doc position in US to continue my career on cancer research.

In 2007 I was recommend for admission to the Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Science and accomplished my B.Sc. thesis at the Institute of Biophysics. I continued my study on cancer biology and immunology as a graduate student in Prof. Zhihai Qin's lab after that. So far I have published my work on J Clin Invest and Cell Mol Immunol as a co-first author and on J Pathol and Protein Cell as a 3rd author. Beside researches I also assisted my mentor in advising junior colleagues and in writing proposals and reports for lab grants.

• Awarded by the Beijing Society for Immunology Award for Academic Excellence, 2013 • Awarded by the Institute of Biophysics Award for Academic Excellence, 2013 • Awarded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Award for Outstanding Graduate Students, 2011 • Invited by International Student Research Forum, Australia, Oct 17, 2013 (Talk) (only the top 10 students from all 18 CAS institutes in the field of life sciences) • Invited by Biennial Meeting of Chinese Society for Immunology, Oct 20, 2014 (Talk) • Invited by Annual Meeting of Beijing Society for Immunology, Jan 21, 2013 (Talk) • Invited by Cell Symposia: Hallmarks of Cancer: Asia, Nov 10, 2014 (Poster) • Invited by Asia Pacific Cancer Conference, Nov 2, 2013 (Poster)