BPS 2022
Beyond Binders: High-Throughput Peptide Screening for Functionally Active Hits
Sally Wang Liang
SVP of BD, PepLib
ABSTRACT
PepLib is rethinking peptide drug discovery beyond binders to functionally active hits. PepLib’s novel peptide technology platform uses 80-mer cyclic peptides to encode and compress half of a billion sequences, including complete peptide libraries up to pentapeptides (ZSenithFive™). PepLib’s platform, powered by Peptide Information Compression Technology (PICT), is capable of high-sensitivity and high-specificity drug mining for a broad spectrum of targets, including membrane-proteins, such as GPCR and ion channels, peptide drug conjugates, and directly on cell-lines. Intelligently designed, individually isolated and packed peptides in HTS compatible format breaks through traditional limitations of peptide screening platforms, extending capabilities beyond binding assays to biochemical and cell-based functional assay. PepLib has validated the efficiency of the platform in over 40 successful screenings on dozens of molecular targets and cell-lines, through external partnerships with leading global (e.g., AstraZeneca) and Chinese pharmaceutical companies, and robust internal development programs, across multiple therapeutic areas. Founded by top scientists in peptide chemistry and biosynthesis, PepLib hopes to leverage its innovative platform to advance peptide drug discovery for the global biopharmaceutical community.
BIO
Sally Wang Liang JD MPH is SVP of Business Development, Head of the Global Business Unit at PepLib, a peptide discovery and therapeutics company with a proprietary screening platform with functional assay and membrane protein screening capabilities. She also consults as Venture Partner at Viva Bioinnovator (VBI), a global life sciences VC fund with 90 portfolio companies, serving as Board of Director of multiple biotech companies.
She comes to PepLib as a life sciences business executive and a multidisciplinary IP & Regulatory lawyer with 15+ years of healthcare industry experience. She is also a Scientific Advisory Board member of New Equilibrium Biosciences, Expert-in-Residence at the Harvard iLab, and mentor with MassBIO and Activate-Nucleate. Previously, she was Entrepreneur-in-Residence (Acting VP of Investments and General Counsel) at the biotech involved in in-licensing promising university technology into NewCo. She was CEO and Co-founder of an international telemedicine company, and as Chief Strategy Officer and EVP of IP and Regulatory of a leading digital therapeutics company. As a lawyer, she practiced pharmaceutical patent litigation and IP licensing at the premier intellectual property firm and clerked for a federal judge. She was also involved in life sciences policy making on the national level at the Food and Drug Administration Office of Policy and the US Senate Health Education Labor Pension Committee Health Office. She began her career as a management consultant at Clarion Healthcare, advising many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies and top biotech firms on business strategy. Sally received a A.B. in Biology from Harvard College, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a M.P.H from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.