Wei-Shou Hu, Ph.D. (Organizer)

Distinguished McKnight University Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
University of Minnesota

Dr. Hu's research in cell culture technology deals with conventional and macroporous microcarriers, suspension culture, and cell-recycling systems. His recent work in cell culture involves the metabolic control of cell's physiological state and genome-wide gene expression analysis of their regulation. He co-authored the textbook Bioseparations. He initiated the Engineering Foundation Conferences on Cell Culture Engineering more than a decade ago which has been among the most important forum of cell culture processing. Current research efforts emphasize employing genomic and proteomic tools in his research projects.

Susan Abu-Absi, Ph.D.

Chief Operating Officer
Be Biopharma

Susan Abu-Absi is a strategic operations executive with over 20 years of experience in product development and supply in the biopharmaceutical industry. She joined Be Biopharma in March 2025 as Chief Operating Officer, responsible for driving all operational aspects of the business to unleash the power of engineered B cell medicines as therapeutics for patients with serious diseases.

Prior to Be Bio, Susan was Chief Technology Officer at 2seventy bio where she led the Technical Development, Supply & Quality organization. Her team provided deep execution capabilities in autologous cell therapy manufacturing resulting in the launch of Abecma and the translation of multiple novel therapies into the clinic. Before 2seventy bio, Susan led Technical Development & Operations at bluebird bio, a pioneering company in ex vivo gene therapies, where she played an integral role in the approvals of Zynteglo and Skysona. Prior to joining bluebird, Susan held leadership roles in the Global Product Development and Supply organization at Bristol Myers Squibb. She started her career in the Process Sciences organization at Bayer Healthcare.

Susan earned a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota, where she conducted research in the laboratory of Professor Wei-Shou Hu as a National Science Foundation Fellow, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Summa Cum Laude with Honors, from the University of Toledo.

Arpan Bandyopadhyay

Associate Director of Pivotal Biologics Technical Development
Gilead Sciences

Arpan Bandyopadhyay is an Associate Director of Pivotal Biologics Technical Development at Gilead Sciences in Oceanside, CA. His team in Gilead is responsible for advancing the company's cell culture process platform, commercial process development, tech-transfer, and commercialization activities for multiple modalities. Prior to joining Gilead, Arpan spent 4 years at Merck & Co in Kenilworth, NJ where he supported multiple molecules in various stages of the product life cycle including process development, process characterization, tech-transfer, and post-commercial support. At both Gilead and Merck, Arpan has worked with cross-functional teams and spearheaded the efforts to standardize the framework for various program deliverables to improve efficiencies and support accelerated commercialization timelines.

Arpan obtained his Ph.D. from the Univeristy of Minnesota and a B.Tech and M.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in Chemical Engineering. Along the way, he has received several awards. Arpan's scientific publications cover areas in microbial community signaling, genomics of CHO cells, and systems biotechnology. He is an active member of the cell bioprocessing community, serving as session co-chair for conferences and as a peer reviewer for several journals.

Ben Hackel, Ph.D.

Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
University of Minnesota

Ben Hackel is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. He earned degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin (B.S. 2003, advised by Eric Shusta) and MIT (Ph.D. 2009, advised by Dane Wittrup) and performed postdoctoral research in the radiology department at Stanford University (Sam Gambhir). Since its inception in 2011, the Hackel lab has advanced protein engineering technologies to develop physiological molecular targeting agents for molecular diagnostics and targeted therapy, with a focus on oncology, inflammation, and infectious disease. 

Huong Le, Ph.D.

Director of Upstream Process Development
Gilead Sciences

Huong Le is a Director of Upstream Process Development at Gilead Sciences in Oceanside, CA. Her team is responsible for delivering upstream processes and materials needed for all biologics development activities spanning from late Research to commercialization. Prior to joining Gilead, Huong spent over 10 years at Amgen in Thousand Oaks, CA, where she held multiple leadership positions in Cell Line Development and Pre-Pivotal Bioprocess Development. Huong is the recipient of the 2016 Martin Sinacore Outstanding Young Investigator Award at Cell Culture Engineering conference. Huong obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, MN, and her B.Eng. from University of Technology, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, both in Chemical Engineering.

Zion Lee, Ph.D.

Principal Scientist
Cell Line Development
Genentech

Dr. Zion Lee is a Principal Scientist working in Cell Line Development at Genentech. His work focuses on enhancing productivity and product quality in industrial production cell lines with targeted transgene integration. He is also engaged in technology development to accelerate timelines and improve product quality. He obtained his doctoral degree at the University of Minnesota. In his research, he has applied genomic tools extensively to probe accessible and transcriptionally active genomic regions in industrial host cells and explore their utility in cell line development.  While at the University of Minnesota, he also pioneered the creation of stable cell lines for the production of recombinant AAV using a systems synthetic biology approach.  

Bhanu Chandra Mulukutla, Ph.D.

Research Fellow
Bioprocess Research & Development
Pfizer

Dr. Mulukutla received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota’s Chemical Engineering program and joined Pfizer in 2012. At Pfizer, he is involved in developing cell culture processes for active portfolio projects and contriving newer technologies to improve cell culture process performance, specifically through optimization of cellular metabolism.

Dr. Mulukutla’s Ph.D. research entailed identifying mechanisms that governed metabolic shifts to lactate consumption in the late stages of fed-batch culture by employing systems biology approaches. He developed a mechanistic kinetic model to demonstrate the presence of a multiplicity of steady states in a glycolytic activity that could explain metabolic shifts in cell culture. For this work, Dr. Mulukutla received the award for best poster presentation at the Cell Culture Engineering XII conference in April 2010.

Dr. Mulukutla and his research group at Pfizer has been developing novel technologies for enhancing the fed-batch processes of CHO cell lines used for therapeutic production. Dr. Mulukutla’s research team was the first to identify inhibitory metabolic byproducts produced in CHO fed-batch cultures, and devised strategies to alleviate the inhibition. His group has metabolically engineered CHO cells to reduce or eliminate the production of these metabolic byproducts. The tyrosine prototrophs of CHO cells that his team engineered can synthesize tyrosine and proliferate in tyrosine-free environments. His recent work applied systems biology approaches to determine the underlying cause for the glycosylation dynamics observed in CHO fed-batch cultures. Dr. Mulukutla has co-authored 16 scientific articles, 4 patent applications, and is an active member of the cell bioprocessing community. 

Qi Zhang, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
University of Minnesota

Qi Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and worked at BASF prior to joining the University of Minnesota. His research in the broad area of process systems engineering focuses on computational optimization and machine learning in sustainable energy and process systems, supply chain management, and bioengineering. Qi is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the Junior Sargent Medal, and the AIChE CAST Outstanding Young Researcher Award. He has also been awarded the McKnight Land-Grant Professorship and the Guillermo E. Borja Career Development Award by the University of Minnesota.

Weichang Zhou, Ph.D.

Former President of Global Biologics Development & Operations and Chief Technology Officer of WuXi Biologics

Dr. Weichang Zhou earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology from the University of Hannover, Germany, in 1989. He then conducted postdoctoral research in biochemical engineering at esteemed institutions including the German DECHEMA Institute, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zurich), and the University of Minnesota, USA. With over 30 years of distinguished industrial experience, Dr. Zhou is renowned for his leadership and significant contributions to biologics and vaccine development and manufacturing.

During his tenure between 2012 and 2024, lastly as President of Global Biologics Development & Operations and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at WuXi Biologics, Dr. Zhou led transformative initiatives that solidified the company's position as an industry leader. Under his guidance, WuXi Biologics’ unit for biologics and vaccine development was expanded into a 5,000-member team, becoming one of the largest globally. Dr. Zhou's strategic vision drove the successful launch of proprietary technology platforms, advancing fast protein production, cell line development, process, and analytical development, as well as high-throughput drug product development. He has served as Honorary President of Global Biologics Development and Operations, and Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer at WuXi Biologics since 2024.

Before joining WuXi Biologics in 2012, Dr. Zhou held senior leadership positions in Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) teams including Senior Director of Commercial Cell Culture Development at Genzyme, a SANOFI Company, Senior Director of Process Sciences and Engineering at PDL BioPharma and Associate Director of Fermentation and Cell Culture at Merck.

In addition to his corporate endeavors, Dr. Zhou has made significant contributions to academia and the scientific community. Throughout his career, he has published over 80 scientific papers, holds 16 international patents, and delivered over 200 presentations and lectures at international conferences. He has shared his knowledge through lectures at various universities, serving as a guest lecturer and professor. Dr. Zhou's commitment to advancing the field is evident through his active involvement in organizing and chairing conferences and symposia related to vaccine and biologics development and manufacturing. He served as one of two chairs for the Cell Culture Engineering (XIV) 2014 conference, Biochemical Engineering (XIII) 2003 conference and 2004 program of the Division of Biochemical Technology, American Chemical Society in the 227th ACS Spring National Meeting. He was elected as a fellow of the American Chemical Society in 2013 and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) in 2002. Dr. Zhou was an executive committee member of the Division of Biochemical Technology (BIOT), American Chemical Society between 2003 and 2014 having served as division’s Program Chair (2004), Awards Chair (2005-2008), Division's Chair-Elect (2008), Chair (2009) and Past-Chair (2010).

Dr. Zhou's outstanding leadership, technological innovations, and contributions to professional societies have been acknowledged with prestigious awards, including the 2025 ECI Cell Culture Engineering award, recognizing his excellence in innovation, leadership, and service in the cell culture engineering field, and the CTO of the Year 2023 award, honoring his exceptional contributions to expediting global biologics and vaccine development and manufacturing.