Bioanalysis Rising Star Award finalist: Zijuan Lai
Nominated by: Dewakar Sangaraju, Senior Principal Scientist in DMPK at Genentech Inc. (CA, USA)
Supporting comments:
“Zijuan’s educational and research experience is in chemistry, specifically biochemistry, mass spectrometry bioanalysis and metabolomics research. Zijuan contributed to several cutting-edge projects both at the west coast metabolomics research center such as the development of cheminformatics tools for metabolomics (Nature Methods, 2018) and at Genentech including projects such as aging research (Nature Aging, 2022) and therapeutic target biology biochemistry exploration for the process of NETosis (Cell, 2021). After joining Genentech, Zijuan was instrumental in the set-up of global targeted metabolomics workflows.
Zijuan is identified as an excellent collaborator and approachable person to work with by her colleagues and generally most of the projects require extensive collaboration. Zijuan contributed to the bioanalytical community through her research on LC-MS based metabolomics and its application to pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical drug research, discovery and development. She has contributed to the bioanalysis community by publishing multiple metabolomics-based bioanalysis results in impactful journals as listed. She has recently conducted a project on application metabolomics in the antibody production process that led to a successful patent filing (P37114-US) and publication in the Biomedical Chromatography journal. Overall, based on Zijuan’s scientific knowledge, independent thinking, successful collaborations and effective communication, she had the potential to advance in the field of bioanalysis and I recommend her for this award.”
Describe the main highlights of your bioanalytical work
As a research scientist working in the DMPK bioanalysis group at Genentech, I’m very privileged to work on both qualitative and quantitative bioanalytical assay development, as well as biomarker translation. I lead a project utilizing LC-HRMS-based targeted biomarker assay for high-throughput and quantitative analysis of 21 growth inhibition-related metabolites in CHO cell fed-batch cultures, used for therapeutic antibody/protein production. In this project, I developed and validated a streamlined workflow utilizing efficient derivatization procedures, matrix-matched calibration curves, stable isotope-labeled internal standards and accurate mass full MS scan for absolute quantification. I further established a novel analytical strategy for extending the assay’s dynamic range by utilizing naturally occurring isotope M + 1 ion as a quantification analog, in the circumstances where the principal M ion is beyond its calibration range. I then implemented this approach to characterize 21 metabolites of interest in a CHO cell-based antibody production process to contribute to the improvement of cell growth, culture performance and, more interestingly, antibody-drug productivity. I contributed as a lead inventor for a patent on this work filed with USPTO. I have also contributed to other biomarker analysis projects as listed.
