Meet Dr. Fang He
Capabilities
A Chinese proverb comes to mind when Pharmaron’s Senior Vice President of in vitro biology, Fang He, thinks about her team—yi mu nan zhi. The translation is that supporting a building takes more than one post. This resembles Helen Keller’s famous quote, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” As one of the first members of Pharmaron’s in vitro biology group, Fang knew that establishing a strong team would ensure her department’s success.
Fang recalls the excitement she experienced when the first equipment arrived (an EnVision plate reader). Ten years later, Fang still gets excited to see the new equipment that fills Pharmaron’s biology lab, such as the Echo dispenser and a Biacore system.
The in vitro biology team works closely with many other Pharmaron teams, including in vivo pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, and DMPK. Fang recalls a recent collaboration in which the partner’s goal was to discover and develop an orally available and selective first-in-class enzyme inhibitor for treating CNS diseases. Since most of the enzymes were unavailable, the in vitro biology team started with gene engineering and protein expression, followed by customized assay development/validation and weekly screening. The timely assay development and robust screening of novel compounds, together with other functional teams at Pharmaron and our partner, enabled the project team to identify multiple novel structure classes of leads for a second generation of compounds, which led to successful PCC delivery.
In addition, Fang knew it was essential to develop a tailor-made, automated system for compound handling and management. Fang is proud of Pharmaron’s compound handling and management system, as it offers high precision, accuracy, and reproducibility with a strong emphasis on IP protection.
Fang credits her team’s success to their approach to projects. With every team member knowing the full scope of each project, efficiency has improved, and as a result, project timelines have been reduced. Combined with open communication with partners and their positive attitude – Fang is proud of her team, and it’s why “yi mu nan zhi” is so fitting.
About Dr. Fang He
Dr. Fang He is Senior Vice President of in vitro Biology. She joined Pharmaron in 2008 and currently leads the in vitro Screening Center. She obtained her B.Sc. from Beijing Normal University and her Ph.D. in pharmacology and cell biology from a joint program from the University of Louisville and Beijing Normal University. Dr. He’s postdoctoral training was in pharmacology and toxicology at the School of Medicine, University of Louisville (US).
She continued her research at Beijing Normal University in biomarker identification and validation in cancer patients. In her spare time, she likes to run every day with her husband, and her family’s tradition is to make dumplings together every weekend.
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