Engineering Assistant

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ZIFAN GONG

******@***.*** **** Tulane Dr. Apt #32, Hyattsville, MD 20783 301-***-****

SUMMARY

● Highly motivated biomolecular engineer with strong background in protein characterization and engineering

● Strong expertise in biocharacterization of protein quality/quantity, protein stability, and analytical process development

● Solid experience in protein formulation development, screening, and optimization in biopharmaceutical industry

● Expertise in design-of-experiments (DOE) principles and quality-by-design (QbD) approach for process development

● Familiar with GMP, cGMP, GLP, cGLP, and FDA regulations in pharmaceutical industry

● Currently seeking biopharmaceutical industry position that will utilize my protein engineering, downstream process development experiences and problem solving skills to benefit process development EDUCATION

University of Maryland-College Park, MD Expected March 2017 Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering GPA:3.6/4.0

Tianjin University, Tianjin, China June 2012

Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Engineering (Top college in China) Graduation with Best Graduation Thesis Rewards

SKILLS AND CERTIFICATES

Experimental Skills:

Protein Engineering: SDS-PAGE protein gel, Bradford assay, Western blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP), high-yield protein purification, fluorescence imaging Formulation: Protein drug lyophilization, visual inspection, product quality, aseptic technique, protein filtration including ultra-filtration (UF) and tangential flow filtration (TFF) Instrumentation:

UV-Vis spectrometer, fluorescent spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), lyophilizer, Nanodrop, 96-well plate reader

(BioTek), flow cytometer (BD), fast protein purification chromatography (FPLC, Bio-Rad and AKTA, including IMAC, IEX, CEX, SEC), high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC and SEC from Agilent), mass spectrometer (LC-Q- TOF, Agilent), multichannel microscopy (Olympus), confocal microscopy (Zeiss), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC, TA), instron test (Bluehill), micro fluid imaging (FlowCam), rheometer (Anton Paar) Computer programs: OpenLAB (Agilent), Image Lab (Bio-Rad), Chrome Lab (Bio-Rad), Microsoft Office, Matlab, cellSens (Olympus), AutoCAD, SAS

Certificates:

● Certificate of completion: “Molecule to Market”, biotechnology industry training program, MedImmune (2014)

● Certificate of completion: Analytical Sciences Training Program, NIST, MD (2016) WORK EXPERIENCE

MedImmune Gaithersburg, MD

Internship in mAb Formulation Group June-August 2014

● Pioneered a novel formulation strategy for high concentration lyophilized drug product (DP) using DOE approach

Successfully delivered ultra-high concentration lyophilized DP with long shelf life

Conducted analysis to confirm the quality, quantity, and stability of final DP

Demonstrated the optimal formulation strategy can be promising for multiple pipeline drug candidates

Presented posters and oral presentations on this project

● Developed a mathematical model for evaluating reconstituted DP concentration and injection accuracy

Incorporated multiple types of potential errors to predict the final DP concentration

Initiated Monte Carlo simulations to predict the DP concentration distribution in a DP lot

Helped in determining quality control standard and guiding analyst performance while reconstituting the DP Zifan Gong ******@***.***

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RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

University of Maryland College Park, MD

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering - Research Assistant 2012-present Research Subject: Engineering cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) for Candida pathogen species

● Screen previously discovered or synthesized CPPs in Candida species to pioneer the idea of using CPPs for cargo delivery in fungal cells using flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy

● Investigate the biochemical and biophysical properties of CPPs, along with the biological characteristics of Candida species, propose mechanisms of uptake in Candida species and potential antifungal activities

● Purify and characterize fusion protein CPP-cargo complex in mid/large scales using affinity chromatography (IMAC and GST), ion-exchange chromatography (IEX) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC), yielded over 1 mg/ml

● Successfully deliver CPP-tethered protein cargos (>25 kDa) into Candida pathogens, validating the idea of using CPPs as novel drug delivery vehicles and therapeutic tools for combating rising fungal infections and drug resistance Tianjin University Tianjin, China

Key Laboratory of System Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, China 2010-2012 Research Subject: Analysis and Optimization of the Bio-transformation of Lignocellulose in Bioreactors

● Created genetic mutants to reconfigure the signal sensing pathway of S. cerevisiae for enhancing inhibitor tolerance and improving ethanol production (increased 18.8%) in up to 30L bioreactors

● Demonstrated the genetic mutations improved the cell viability about 50% under the stress of multiple inhibitors

● Evaluated the metabolites changing during fermentation period using RP-HPLC, and proved that the mutations were responsible for stress-induced metabolic responses TEACHING EXPERIENCE

University of Maryland College Park, MD

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering – Separation Process Teaching Assistant 2015

● Led discussion sections to help students understand the contents of classes and their homework

● Helped students in 4-hour weekly office hours

University of Maryland College Park, MD

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering – Unit Operation Lab Teaching Assistant 2014

● Tutored students on fundamental chemical engineering unit operation experiments in lab

● Managed large group experiments and graded over 60 lab reports AWARDS

● Department’s Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, 1st place (2015)

● Jacob K. Goldhaber Travel Grant, University of Maryland-College Park (2016) SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

● Gong Z., Karlsson AJ. Comprehensive understanding of the uptake mechanism and cytotoxicity cell-penetrating peptides (CPP) in Candida fungal pathogens. ACS Chemical Biology (Submitted)

● Gong Z., Walls M., Karley A., Karlsson AJ (2016). Effect of a flexible linker on recombinant expression of cell- penetrating peptide fusion proteins and their translocation into fungal cells. Molecular Biotechnology. 58 (12), 838-849

● Moghaddam-Taaheri, P., Ikonomova, SP., Gong, Z., Wisniewski, JQ., Karlsson, AJ (2016). Bacterial inner-membrane display for screening a library of antibody fragments. J. Vis. Exp. (116), e54583, doi:10.3791/54583 SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

● AICHE 2016 Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA. 11/17/2016 Gong Z., Walls M., Karlsson AJ. Investigation of the cellular uptake and cytotoxicity of cell-penetrating peptides in Candida fungal pathogen

● Graduate Research Appreciation Day, University of Maryland-College Park 04/06/2016 Gong Z., Karlsson AJ. Cellular uptake and cytotoxicity study of cell-penetrating peptides for Candida albicans

● PEGS Conference, Boston, MA 05/10/2015

Goldberg D., Gong Z., Shah A., and Patel S. From low concentration drug substance to high concentration drug products: optimizing formulation parameters for partial reconstitution of lyophilized drug product

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