HUNG V. LE, Ph.D. CV

 

HUNG V. LE, Ph.D.

5 Fernwood Road

Rockaway, NJ 07866

Home: (973) 627-8438                                        leatfernwood@gmail.com                                              Cell: (862) 432-2794

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/hung-v-le/0/740/976 

SUMMARY

Extensive expertise in Protein Science as applied to drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry (Merck & Schering-Plough). Practiced Protein Science to support affinity-based screening, structure-based drug design and biologics development. High level of experience in managing and developing groups of 12 to 25 scientists at all level of experience to deliver on goals. Have an established track record working in multidisciplinary drug development teams, including teams that have produced billion dollars drugs. In addition to experience in the pharmaceutical industry, I also owned and operated a consultation business. Currently, I own and operate a health advocacy website.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Health advocate: Created and managed a website addressing topics in health and disease prevention.

Owner & Manager of a consultation business

·         Managed all aspects including networking, marketing, contract and subcontract delivery, finance & accounting.

·         The business provided consultation services addressing selected problems in biologics & small molecule drug discovery

Discovery Project Management

·         Evaluated potential drug targets and made key decisions supporting corresponding discovery teams. Assessed the impact of Protein Science as a component of the discovery process and provided recommendations accordingly.

·         Discovery programs have resulted in drugs on the market or candidates at various stages of clinical evaluation, e.g. Intron A (interferon alpha 2b), Sarasar (lonafarnib), Zetia (ezetimibe), boceprevir, CDK2, CHK1, BACE inhibitors and many others.

·         Made key decisions on the priority and intensity of support for various stages of drug discovery (target validation, lead compound validation and optimization), and particular aspects of discovery activities such as small molecule screening, structure-based design and biologics development.

·         Coordinated activities of Protein Science group as part of a multidisciplinary effort. Aligned talents to meet team requirements and recruited new team members with appropriate leadership and skills.

·         Managed performance, compensation, and career growth of employees based on actual delivery on goals and demonstrated leadership (e.g. Dr. Catherine Smith and Dr. William Windsor are now both Directors at Merck; Dr. Basant Sharma, Vice President at J&J).

·         Managed operating and capital expenses of Protein Science Department (ca. $4 M) according to budgetary guidelines.

Specific scientific skills set

·         Structure-based protein engineering

·         Protein expression optimization in both prokaryote and eukaryote hosts

·         Purification & production, micro to macro scale, from all host cells, including isotope-labeled proteins.

·         Protein crystallization

·         Biophysical analysis of protein ligand interaction based on micro calorimetric and thermal denaturation techniques, LC-MS, and UV/fluorescence spectroscopy.

·         High throughput affinity-based screening

·         Epitope mapping based on determination of complex structure

Benchmarking and improving Protein Science in R&D

·         Maintained a core facility for biophysical analysis of drug targets and profiling SAR of drug candidates. Appointed leaders for implementing high throughput screening, interfacing with clients in biology and medicinal chemistry, and keeping all technologies at leading edge.

·         Managed laboratories for protein production leveraging available resources for construct engineering, cloning, expression in E. coli, insect and mammalian cells. Appointed key leaders responsible for keeping expression & purification technologies up to date in all three host platforms. Production efficiency was improved by outsourcing to CROs when appropriate.

·         Constructed and maintained a departmental bioinformatics portal to assist engineering of proprietary drug target constructs.

·         Recruited consultants for the department and conducted monthly project or technology reviews to improve team communications.

APPOINTMENTS

HEALTHWARDBOUND.ORG

Managing Director

PROSCI LLC, Rockaway, NJ

Principal Consultant & Owner (2011-2025)

MERCK RESEARCH LABORATORIES, Cambridge, MA

Site Lead-Protein Science (2007-2010)

·         Managed 18 FTEs (15 PhD, 3 BS/MS, 1 intern and 1 admin) and a $4 M expense center to primarily support affinity-based screening and biologics development in Cambridge, and secondarily structure-based drug design in Kenilworth, NJ.

·         Supported discovery projects from all Merck sites and across 5 franchises: Oncology, Infectious Diseases, Inflammation, Metabolic Diseases and Neurobiology.

SCHERING-PLOUGH RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Kenilworth, NJ

Distinguished Fellow-Protein Engineering (1999-2007)

·         Key responsibilities included support of structure-based drug design at Kenilworth site, and coordination of drug screening activities using ALIS at Cambridge site.

·         Supervised the activities of team leaders responsible for protein engineering aspects of discovery projects in infectious diseases, cancer, inflammation & allergy, CV & CNS therapeutics.

·         Supervised core facilities for peptide synthesis & protein sequencing, calorimetry, CD & fluorescence spectroscopy, partition coefficient & solubility determination for small organic molecules, high throughput protein crystallization.

Associate Director-Structural Chemistry (1994-1998)

·         Served as team leader for HCV helicase (1997-1998) and HCV protease projects (1994-1997).

·         Supervised the activities of three team leaders responsible for projects related to farnesyl protein transferase, 17-β-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase & HCV RNA polymerase as drug targets.

·         Explored molecular mechanism of action of Ezetimibe.

·         Restructured the protein biochemistry group to support iterative structure-based drug design. Core responsibilities included cloning, expression and engineering of enzyme constructs for crystallography; enzymology and ligand binding studies.

Associate Director-Biotechnology-Biochemistry (1990-1993)

·         Developed cytokine monoclonal antibodies as clinical candidates. Wrote the initial proposal for an antibody therapeutic program at SPRI, and evaluated anti-IL-4 and IFN-γ antibodies for re-engineering and humanization.

·         Supported the Formulation group in the synthesis of pegylated IFN- 2b. Evaluated the stability of various linkers.

·         Cytokine antagonist program: Developed IL-4, IL-5 and IFN-γ receptor binding assays, cell-based assays, for antagonist screens. Managed antagonist screens at Battelle

SCHERING-PLOUGH CORPORATION, Bloomfield, NJ

Section Leader- Biotechnology-Biochemistry (1987-1989)

·         Characterized the IL-4 and IFN-γ receptors. Developed skills in epitope mapping using human IL-4 as model.

·         Crystallized IFN-α 2b and γ; GM-CSF and IL-4, for X-ray structure determination and therapeutic formulation.

Principal Scientist-Protein Chemistry (1983-1986)

·         Purified and characterized human and mouse IFN-γ for pre-clinical and clinical evaluation in collaboration with Suntory

·         Purified and characterized murine IL-2, IL-4 and human IL-4 in support of the cytokine therapeutic programs at SPRI and DNAX.

Senior Scientist-Medicinal & Protein Chemistry, Schering-Plough Corporation, Bloomfield, NJ, and at Charles Weissmann laboratory, Institut für Molekularbiologie I, Universität Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland (1980-1982)

·         Purified and characterized IFN-α 2b (Intron A) in support of clinical programs: Provided the first batch of purified IFN for toxicology evaluation (in collaboration with C. Weissmann’s lab, Zurich).

·         Purified and characterized IFN-α subtypes for pre-clinical evaluations. Evaluated Biogen IFN-β expressed in E. coli, as potential clinical candidate.

Roswell Park Memorial Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York

·         Postdoctoral Fellow-Viral Oncology (1978-1980)

·         Purified and characterized IFN-α from human foreskin fibroblast for clinical evaluation as antitumor and antiviral agent.

·         Mentors: Eugene Sulkowski, Ph.D., Principal Scientist; William Carter, MD, Department Chair and Chief Medical Officer.

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Biochemical Pharmacology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York (1978)

B. Sc., Biochemical Pharmacology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York (1973) 

PATENTS, PUBLICATIONS, LECTURES, HONORS, AWARDS, COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS 

See addendum 

AFFILIATIONS

American Chemical Society, since 1973

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Macromolecular crystallography-Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Course (1996)

Harbridge House Inc. (1992)

Institute for Management Studies (NY & NJ Chapters) (1990-1992)

COMMUNITY SERVICES

Dean’s Ambassador, School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, University at Buffalo

Mentor of student interns at Schering-Plough

Board Member and Secretary for The Vietnamese Humanitarian Initiatives (VHI), a non-profit NGO.

Wildlife Conservation Corp (WCC) DEP NJ 

FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Functional verbal & written skills in French & Vietnamese