Keith Wong Email and Phone Number

Company had to wind down operations due to funding.

As the head of cell process development, I built and led a team of scientists and engineers (5 FTEs) to develop a novel process for manufacturing CAR-NK drug products against solid tumors. We developed (1) an activation process without feeder cells; (2) a non-viral cell engineering platform consisting of transposon gene delivery and CRISPR editing; and (3) proprietary cryopreservation formulations that retain superior CAR-NK drug product quality after thaw. Our process yields an extrapolated >100 doses of allogeneic drug products at full scale and efficiently expresses large constructs consisting of tumor-targeting CAR, cytokine support, and switch receptors against the solid tumor microenvironment. Our two CAR-NK products (HER2 and CD70) showed exceptional persistence and efficacy regressing solid tumors via intravenous injection in preclinical models.I also evaluated enabling technologies and worked cross-functionally to build out CMC activities, led tech transfer activities into GMP manufacturing, and supported company-wide goals including candidate nomination and platform technology development.

I joined as the first Technical Operations employee and built the process development team and the cell process & engineering lab from scratch.

As the lead scientist in formulation development I invented all formulations for drug substances and drug products to support the clinical pipeline of allogeneic Red Cell Therapeutics. I developed both hypothermic (cold storage) and cryopreservation formulations, including DMSO-free options that can be infused without washing. I also developed characterization assays to understand cellular physiology and quality in the context of enhancing therapeutic efficacy and extending product stability. I served as Drug Product lead in technical development teams and contributed to CMC and IND activities for regulatory filings.

Collaboration with computational biologists to analyze genomic alterations of patient-derived circulating tumor cell cultures.

As a bioengineer, my postdoctoral research involved extensive collaborations with clinicians at the Mass General Cancer Center with the goals of advancing liquid biopsy and precision medicine. My projects focused on (1) microfluidic technology development for the isolation of novel circulating tumor cell populations; (2) generating patient-derived cultures of circulating tumor cells; and (3) blood stabilization for cell-based assays, rare-cell isolation, and molecular diagnostics. My research has resulted in 16 publications, 1 awarded patent (+ applications), and 2 awards from the prestigious Gordon Research Conference. I also prepared research grant proposals and secured funding for 2 projects for the Center with a combined budget of ~$3 million. In addition, I served as the Manager of the Tissue Culture Facility and directly trained/mentored 20+ researchers and engineers on laboratory techniques and career development.

My doctoral research focused on tissue engineering of functional human blood and lymphatic microvessels. I developed microfabricated biomaterials that enabled a variety of three-dimensional (3D) cell culture modalities including encapsulation, microfluidic perfusion, and interstitial flow. I engineered perfused, functional microvessels that display normal microvascular physiology such as barrier function and lymphatic drainage. My work resulted in 11 publications and 6 conference presentations. I also served as the Lab Manager and mentored undergraduate and graduate students.

Gave lectures and graded papers for the senior-level class Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics.

I collaborated with researchers in vascular surgery to analyze blood flow in atherosclerotic arteries using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and evaluated parameters that accurately model turbulent flow and transient dynamics.