AvantGen Appoints Jordon Wang as Chief Operating Officer

AvantGen Appoints Jordon Wang as Chief Operating Officer

SAN DIEGO, CA, UNITED STATES, June 28, 2023/ EINPresswire/ — AvantGen, a leading biotechnology company specializing in the discovery and development of novel antibody drugs, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jordon Wang as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Senior Vice President of Technology Development. Jordon will play a pivotal role in driving AvantGen’s growth strategies and operational excellence. As the COO, Jordon will focus on expanding AvantGen’s business and technology initiatives, and foster strategic partnerships based on AvantGen’s cutting-edge platforms.

Jordon has over a decade of experience in biologics drug discovery and development. Prior to joining AvantGen, Jordon served as Vice President of Technology Development and Vice President of Antibody Discovery at LakePharma, now part of Curia, a global small and large molecule Contract Research Organization (CRO) and CDMO. Prior to LakePharma, Jordon led the in vitro pharmacology group at Crown Biosciences and managed a long-term drug discovery collaboration with Pfizer. He earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences and a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology at Stanford University.

With his leadership, we are confident in our ability to continue delivering innovative solutions to our partners.”

— Xiaomin Fan, Ph.D., President and CEO of AvantGen

“We are delighted to welcome Jordon to our executive team. He brings a wealth of experience to the new role, both in technical operations and in business development. He has a deep understanding of antibody discovery and enjoys building client relationships. With his leadership, we are confident in our ability to continue delivering innovative solutions to our partners.” said Xiaomin Fan, Ph.D., President and CEO of AvantGen.

“I am honored for this opportunity and to be part of such a talented and experienced team. AvantGen’s commitment in accelerating drug discovery for all scientific researchers is truly remarkable.” said Jordon Wang. “AvantGen’s unique and innovative platforms provide partners compelling alternatives to traditional antibody discovery and optimization methods.”

About AvantGen

Founded by experts in the creation of antibody discovery and optimization platforms, AvantGen excels in the rapid discovery and optimization of antibody-related drugs. Its technology platforms include a proprietary and robust yeast display platform, large natural human antibody database, fully human antibody libraries comprised of over 200 billion antibody clones in various formats, including Fab, scFab, scFv and VH only, and a NK cell engager platform with exceptional performances. AvantGen’s partners include pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostic and government entities. For more information, please visit www.avantgen.com.

Jordon Wang
AvantGen
jwang@avantgen.com

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faq Want to learn more?

  • Why Yeast?

    Yeast, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae aka brewer’s yeast to be exact, has the best of both worlds as a model organism for drug discovery. In selecting the right model, two opposing factors are: 1) finding an organism that can be used cost-effectively and ethically, and 2) being physiologically relevant by having it as similar as humans, the intended patients. This is where yeast has all the advantages: 1) it is unicellular, grows incredibly fast at a doubling rate of 90 minutes, and is easy and safe (non-pathogenic) to culture, meanwhile 2) as a eukaryote it can properly express, fold, and glycosylate proteins such as antibodies similar to mammals.

  • Yeast is “similar” but not the same as in humans with regards to post-translation modification (PTM) of proteins such as glycosylation?

    Correct, there are slight differences in the PTM profiles of proteins expressed in yeast versus mammals. However, we recombinantly express our lead antibodies in HEK293 or CHO cells and rarely observe a loss in activity. This is in stark contrast with E. coli-based systems like phage or cell-free, where bacteria lack protein glycosylation machinery.

  • Is affinity maturation required after using one of your platforms?

    Due to our large size rationally-designed Germliner™ library collection coupled with our rapid cell sorting based screening, we consistently obtain single-digit and subnM affinity antibodies with optimal developable characteristics. Interestingly, our popular AvantGeneer affinity maturation platform has been frequently used to optimize client antibodies that were originally discovered with hybridoma and human transgenic mouse platforms.

  • My target is a GPCR. Will your platform work?

    We have had success with multi-transmembrane proteins such as GPCRs, by using virus-like-particles (VLPs), nanodiscs, and client-designed variants with increased solubility.

  • What materials should I provide?

    We typically use various amounts of biotinylated, DyLight™ 650 conjugated, and unlabeled antigens for all projects. It’s important that both labeled and unlabeled antigens are QC’ed by provider, third party, and/or AvantGen. >0.5 mg/mL concentration, >80% monomer percentage, and >90% purity. Preferred buffer is PBS and no tris-based buffers please.

    Estimated Material Amounts*

    Application Stage Discovery Affinity Maturation Rabbit mAb
    All stages 1.5-2 mg biotinylated or 2-3 mg unlabeled 0.5 mg biotinylated or 1 mg unlabeled 2 mg unlabeled and 1 mg biotinylated
    FACS and screening 0.5-1 mg biotinylated or 1-2 mg unlabeled 0.2-0.5 mg biotinylated or 0.5-1 mg unlabeled 1 mg biotinylated and 0.2 mg unlabeled
    Screening only 0.2 mg biotinylated or 0.2-0.5 mg unlabeled 0.2 mg biotinylated or 0.2-0.5 mg unlabeled 0.2-0.5 mg unlabeled

    *Assuming 50 kDa antigen. AvantGen can bioconjugate and QC as needed.

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