Recently, Shanghai Henlius Biotech, Inc. formed its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) comprised of four world-renowned scientists and doctors. The inaugural members of Henlius’ SAB include Kun-Liang Guan, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego, Yang-Xin Fu, MD, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Immunology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Yiping Yang, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Immunology at Duke University Medical Center, and Co-Director, Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy at Duke Cancer Institute, and Weiping Zou, PhD, Charles B. de Nancrede Professor and Director of Center of Excellence for Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy at University of Michigan School of Medicine.

These four immunology and oncology experts focus on the research fields of Cancer Biology, Immunology, Immunopathology, Viral Immunology, Immunotherapy, and Gene Therapy. Meanwhile, several of them are well experienced clinicians in both scientific research and clinical experience. The Scientific Advisory Board is chaired by Dr. Kun-Liang Guan.

The formation of Scientific Advisory Board is a critical decision for Henlius’ strategic development. In the future, the scientific advisors will not only provide professional insights in terms of product development strategies but also support with the research and development activities, helping Henlius develop more high-quality and affordable protein therapeutics to enhance the product pipeline and bring more treatments based on Combined Immunotherapy to patients.

Biographies of Henlius Scientific Advisory Board Members

Kun-Liang Guan is a Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego. He obtained his BS (1982) at Hangzhou University, China and PhD (1989) at Purdue University. From 1992-2007, Guan was a faculty at the University of Michigan. He received the MacArthur Fellowship, the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Young Investigator Award, Distinguished Alumni Award from Purdue University, an AAAS Fellow, and is a highly cited researcher in Molecular Biology & Genetics (Thomson Reuters). Guan studies signaling mechanisms of cell growth and tumorigenesis, particular focusing on the mTOR and Hippo pathways.

Dr. Yang-Xin Fu obtained medical degree in Shanghai Medical University (1986 and PhD in University of Miami (1990).  His resident training was completed in PUMC hospital (1986) and Washington University (1994).  He is an endowed Professor of Pathology and Immunology at UT Southwestern Medical Center.  He has been selected for the established investigator by State of Texas (CPRIT).  He has been interested in tumor immunology, immunotherapy and immunopathology since 1987.  Most recently, his team has been revealing how tumor cells evade immune system and how immune cells can be reactivated inside tumor microenvironment after various anti-cancer therapies, such as radiation, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy.  Those studies help to integrate with various immunotherapies.   His team has explored new mechanisms for tumor targeting antibodies and develop next generation of antibodies, bispecific antibodies, antibody-cytokines.  His work has been cited more than 30,000.

Dr. Yiping Yang received his M.D. from Zhejiang University, and Ph.D. from University of Michigan.  He then completed his postdoctoral training and Internal Medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania, and his Medical Oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. He is an ABIM-certified physician with clinical interest in lymphoma and leukemia.  He has been selected as America’s top oncologist since 2008. Funded by grants from National Institute of Health and private foundations, his research focuses on cancer immunology and immunotherapy, as well as gene therapy and viral immunity. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in journals including Science, Nature Immunology, Nature Genetics, Nature Medicine, Immunity, JCI, PNAS, etc.

Weiping Zou is a faculty at the University of Michigan. His research interests are in tumor immunopathology and immunotherapy. Over the past few years, his research team has achieved important insights into cancer immunopathogenesis. His research efforts demonstrate that the tumor microenvironment is comprised of immune cells that have been reprogrammed by active tumor-mediated processes to defeat tumor immunity and promote tumor progression in a highly effective manner. These studies have helped define the nature of immune responses in the cancer microenvironment, form the concept of immunosuppressive networks in the cancer microenvironment and provide significant insights into designing current immune therapies including inhibitory B7 checkpoint blockade (PD-L1, B7-H1) to treat cancer patients. The Zou laboratory is one of the most cited research teams in the field of Cancer Immunology. Dr. Zou is/was an editorial board member for 9 scientific journals. He has delivered more than 200 invited lectures. He serves as a reviewer for more than 15 funding agencies including NIH and DOD, and for more than 50 scientific journals including New England Journal of Medicine, Cell, Science, and Nature journals. He is the AACR Cancer Immunology Chairperson-elect 2018-2019.