John Her Email & Phone Number

Houston, Texas Area

• Using a novel synthetic biology approach, I demonstrated that a mammalian secretory phenotype can be radically reprogrammed through ectopic expression of mammalian secretory pathway factors. I showed that this strategy can alleviate bottlenecks in the secretory pathway and substantially increase the secretory yields of multiple biopharmaceuticals• Applied this strategy to boost recombinant drug production in HEK293 cells (lentivirus, antibody), cytokine secretion in mesenchymal stem cells, and secreted protein expression in retinal pigment epithelial cells, demonstrating its versatility• Used this strategy to demonstrate that regulated secretion—traditionally thought to be the sole domain of neuronal and neuroendocrine cells—can be implemented in genetically tractable cell lines. Showed that synthetic regulated secretion can be used to engineer environmentally responsive sense-and-secrete circuits• Engineered fast-acting post-translational circuits that use Ca2+ channel activation to trigger release of vesicles containing defined intracellular cargos—a first-in-class demonstration• Advised by Caleb J. Bashor, PhD

Devens, Ma

• Supported purification processes for biologic medicines in downstream MS&T (Manufacturing Science and Technology) at the Devens, MA clinical and commercial manufacturing facility• Identified the root cause of high-pressure processing issues during UF/DF (ultrafiltration/diafiltration) of the therapeutic antibody Empliciti, proposing updated protocols to plant leadership for preventing further production delays and improving future manufacturing campaigns• Conducted bench-scale purification experiments to validate manufacturing strategies and support a PPQ (process performance qualification) campaign to manufacture Opdivo for an upcoming clinical trial• Wrote downstream purification PPQ documentation for clinical manufacturing of Opdivo for approval by the EMA (European Medicines Agency), detailing critical process parameters, equipment, procedures, reagents, and quality control standards

South San Francisco

• Supported development of biologics purification and drug substance formulation in downstream Process Development• Characterized deviations from targeted drug buffer composition during ultrafiltration/diafiltration, enabling improved compensation for the Donnan effect when designing drug formulation strategies• Implemented an HPLC method for assaying organic anions for drug formulation analysis

• Prototyped microparticle concentrators made using 2D UV lithography as an alternative to cell centrifugation• Designed, manufactured, and evaluated microfluidic cell-handling devices to develop lab-on-a-chip medical diagnostic technologies for the Micro Mechanical Methods for Biology (M3B) program at the Liwei Lin lab• Advised by Ryan Sochol, PhD

• Supervised Chemistry 112A (upper division organic chemistry) lab section of 20 students• Provided training for chemical synthesis strategies, assays, and laboratory safety• Reinforced students’ understanding of organic chemistry principles and reaction mechanisms

• Investigated technologies with commercial potential at the CRPL (Corporate Research Process Laboratory)• Reverse-engineered flexible heating element technology from patent literature and sample devices• Constructed functional flexible heating element prototypes and proposed possible product applications

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Bioengineering

Bachelor’S Degree, Chemical Engineering

Activities and Societies: Tau Beta Pi American Institute of Chemical Engineers Chemistry Teaching Scholars

Education record