Our Team
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Mingxi Li, PhD
Dr. Mingxi Li is an investor and entrepreneur specializes in identifying and commercializing early-stage life science innovation, with extensive experiences in cross-border investments and project incubation. Dr. Li is a partner at GT Healthcare Capital Partners and the CEO of Apeiron Therapeutics, he has a deep understanding of the Chinese and global healthcare industry and aims to build Apeiron a world-class biotech company. He started his career at Jiuding Capital, focusing on healthcare investments in China and later joined Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, focusing on global early-stage pharmaceutical investments. Dr. Li graduated from Tsinghua University and received his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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Fred Aswad, JD, PhD
Dr. Fred Aswad is the Senior Vice President of Biology at Apeiron Therapeutics. He has over 15 years of research and development experience in the biotechnology industry. He began his career at Bayer, where he played a leadership role in developing the immuno-oncology portfolio and development of novel drug discovery platforms. After Bayer, he went on to become Senior Director of Biology at Ideaya Biosciences where he focused on the discovery and development of targeted small molecule therapies at the intersection of immuno-oncology and synthetic lethality. Dr.Aswad received his Ph.D. in Immunology at the University of Southern California and a J.D. from the Santa Clara University School of Law with a focus on intellectual property.
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Xiaohui Gu, PhD
Dr. Xiaohui Gu is the Senior Vice President of Chemistry at Apeiron Therapeutics. Dr. Gu has over 20 years research and development experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Gu has been engaged in the research, development and management of novel drugs at several pharmaceutical companies and CROs, including X-Ceptor, Exelixis, ShangPharma, Otsuka and Pharmaron. Prior to joining GT Apeiron, Dr. Gu was Senior Director of R&D at the Simcere Pharmaceutical Group. Dr. Gu received his doctorate degree in organic chemistry from Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He completed his postdoctoral trainings at National Institutes of Health (NIH) with Dr. Kenner C. Rice as well as at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, with Professor John L. Neumeyer.
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Jim Joseph, PhD
Dr. Jim Joseph is the Executive Director of Biology at Apeiron Therapeutics. He has over 15 years of small molecule oncology drug discovery experience leading research teams supporting preclinical activities ranging from new target identification and validation to translational biology supporting ongoing clinical trials. Most recently Jim was an Associate Director at Ideaya Biosciences where he led the new target identification and validation activities. Prior to Ideaya, Jim directed the in vitro biology activities for the androgen receptor (Erleda®) and estrogen receptor antagonist programs at Aragon and Seragon Pharmaceuticals, respectively. Jim completed his Ph.D. in Pharmacology at Duke University and is an author on over 25 publications and patents.ere
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Minghua Wang, PhD
Dr. Minghua Wang is the Director of AIDD at Apeiron Therapeutics. He has over 15 years of small molecule drug discovery experience. Minghua has worked at different biotech companies, applying computational chemistry to drug design in many drug targets, spanning from enzymes to receptors. Most recently he worked on membrane protein targets in neuroscience diseases at Cerevel Therapeutics. Minghua completed his Ph.D. at Chinese Academy of Sciences and is an author on over 25 patents and publications.
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Yanfeng Zhou
Yanfeng Zhou is the Senior Director of CMC at Apeiron Therapeutics. He has over 15 years experience in drug discovery and non-clinical development with a focus on CMC. Prior to joining Apeiron, he served as the R&D director at 2Y-Chem Co., LTD., where he made significant contributions and led several programs through the non-clinical development phase and into phase 1 clinical trials. Moreover, Yanfeng has developed and supported several IND and ANDA applications. Yanfeng obtained his master degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from China Pharmaceutical University.
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Weifeng Mao, PhD
Dr. Weifeng Mao is the Senior Director of Biology at Apeiron Therapeutics. He has more than 18 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He has deep expertise in building and optimizing in vitro screening and characterization platforms to discover novel drugs. Prior to joining Apeiron, Dr. Mao worked at WuXi AppTec where he established several in vitro screening platforms. Dr. Mao has also held several project leader responsibilities at international companies, including HutchMed and Everest, leading efforts across a range of functions within drug discovery and non-clinical development. Dr. Mao received his Ph.D.in physiology at the East China National University.
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Ling Zeng
Ms. Zeng Ling is the Senior Director of Clinical Operations at Apeiron Therapeutics. She has nearly 15 years of project and team management experience in the field of drug clinical trials and has participated in several global and local phase I-III clinical trials, mainly in the field of oncology. She is very familiar with the processes of conducting clinical trials as well as the related regulations. Prior to joining Apeiron, she worked at R&G, IQVIA, MSD and Forward Pharmaceutical in project and team management roles. She holds a Master's degree in Clinical Medicine and is currently pursuing further studies in Public Health at Peking University.
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Bing Yao, PhD
Dr. Bing Yao serves as the Director of Chemistry at Apeiron Therapeutics, where he brings over 5 years of expertise in new drug development. Before joining Apeiron, he worked at the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry and Shenzhen Phytovent Biopharma, focusing on the development of targeted anti-cancer therapeutics and central nervous system drugs. Dr. Yao successfully led the chemistry efforts to being a novel BTK inhibitor MH048 and a mitochondria-targeting FIC drug QB0208-1 into clinical development. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, which is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2018.
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Lucy Yu
Lucy Yu is the Human Resources Director at Apeiron Therapeutics, bring over 15 years of comprehensive experience in human resources in the pharmaceutical and financial industries. Prior to joining Apeiron, Lucy held positions at Sanofi, Citibank and AMS where she gained extensive expertise in talent acquisition, organization development and talent development. Lucy holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Canberra.