Derek Piper Email & Phone Number

Seattle, Washington, United States

Structural Biology Consulting• Optimize relationships and experimental strategies with your CRO partners for success• Provide expert analysis of delivered structures • Design protein constructs based on structural analysis• Assist in the plan and design of internal facilities

Alameda, California, United States

• Built protein biochemistry and structural biology capability at Exelixis (recruiting & hiring, lab design, forged partnerships with external facilities)• Led team responsible for protein reagent generation and structure support (X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM) for the Exelixis Drug Discovery pipeline

South San Francisco, Ca

• Supervised a team of scientists overseeing career development, guiding research plans and mentoring for growth• Lead structural biologist on numerous projects (PCSK9, LCAT, PAC1r, CDK4/6, IL-23 and multiple others), using expertise to accelerate drug development for both small and large molecule targets, and provide insight into target MOA• Solved the structure of the PCSK9 protein alone and in complex with multiple antibody fragments, including the molecule developed into Amgen’s FDA approved PCSK9 inhibitor (Repatha®)• Protein Engineering: utilize protein structures and modeling to engineer amino acid changes into candidate molecules that modulate binding characteristics, improve stability or to use as attachment points for antibody drug conjugates• Named as inventor on numerous granted Amgen patents or patent applications

South San Francisco, Ca

• Expressed, purified, crystallized and solved the structures of multiple proteins and protein/ligand complexes (HCV NC5b RNA polymerase, hepsin, LXR, and multiple others)• Collaborated with medicinal and computational chemists to examine protein/ligand interactions and design modified compounds for synthesis • Antibody Humanization: incorporated human amino acids onto a mouse anti-galanin antibody framework and used structural data to engineer substitutions to improve galanin peptide binding affinity• Maintained lab robotics and X-ray equipment (anode rebuilds, filament changes, beam alignment, etc.), and coordinated installation of Rigaku FR-E diffractometer

Performed independent research in the lab of Dr. Cynthia Wolberger including sub-cloning, expression, purification, crystallization and structural determination of the HoxB1-Pbx1 protein/DNA complex

Developed protein purification methods and performed quality control testing on purified proteins

M.S., Biotechnology

B.S., Biology, General