Directors

Dr. Kantharaj Ethirajulu is an Asset Development Leader at EDDC. He is responsible for leading preclinical and early clinical development programs. Dr. Kantharaj brings with him 25 years of pharmaceutical R&D experience in DMPK and Early drug development. He has published over 35 peer-reviewed articles and currently serving on the editorial board of Current Drug Metabolism and DML journals.

Prior to joining A*STAR, Dr. Kantharaj has had the chance to serve in various leadership positions in several organizations. He has worked at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical R&D as Team Leader of the ADME/Tox department, and AstraZeneca R&D as Head of DMPK and Bioanalytical Chemistry. As Head of Preclinical development in S*BIO he contributed to preclinical development efforts and played a key role in the development of Pacritinib (Jak2 inhibitor), Pracinostat (HDAC inhibitor) and Zotiraciclib (pan-CDK inhibitor), SB2343 (PI3K & mTOR inhibtor) Oncology assets. 

Until recently, he worked in A*STAR D3 as Head of Technical R & D,and has contributed to the preclinical development of gH1-Qbeta vaccine (H1N1), ETC-206 (Mnk), ETC-159 and ETC-569 (Wnt-porcupine), ETC-670 programs.

Dr. Kantharaj obtained his Ph.D. (1995) in Organic Mass spectrometry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

Veronica is a molecular biologist with more than 20 years of experience in in-vitro and in-vivo biomarker work and its clinical implementation with work experience in big pharma (Novartis Research Institute, Vienna) as well as in biotech setting (S*BIO Pte Ltd.).

Veronica has wide translational experience working in preclinical and early clinical development especially for oncology drugs. At S*BIO, she headed the animal pharmacology and the biomarker group. She was project leader for the HDAC inhibitor pracinostat up to Phase 2 (currently in Phase 3) and provided all PK/PD data for pacritinib (Jak2 inhibitor under review for marketing approval). In her previous roles at A*STAR D3 as Head of Project Management and Head of Development, she defined the biomarker strategies for all clinical compounds and oversaw their clinical implementation. For ETC-206 (Mnk) and ETC-159 (Wnt/porcupine) proof of mechanism in first-in-human studies was successfully demonstrated with chosen PD biomarkers. She also initiated the development of an RT-PCR-based diagnostic assay to be used for patient selection in the ETC-159 Phase 1B trial.

Veronica obtained her PhD at the University of Vienna (Austria) and has since contributed to several successful US-INDs, Singapore Clinical Trial Authorisations and IRB approvals for collected human samples. She has published over 25 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and has filed a patent for a diagnostic test. Veronica is currently the Director of Biomarker Discovery and Development at EDDC.

Chia Hsin-Ee is Associate Director, Alliance Management at EDDC, where she co-coordinates the Target Translation Consortium.

She has spent 14 years in the Biomedical Sciences industry, starting from the Economic Development Board (EDB) where she supported the development of the pharmaceutical and contract research services industry in Singapore. During this time, she also had a stint in EDB’s Frankfurt office to promote investments from pharmaceutical MNCs across Europe.  In 2006, she moved to the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) where, together with the then Executive Director, Prof Judith Swain, she set-up the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS).  In addition to running the operations and industry alliance activities of SICS, Hsin-Ee also concurrently supported the establishment of the Biomedical Sciences Industry Partnership Office (BMS IPO), National Breeding Centre (re-named InVivos Pte Ltd) and the Singapore-Stanford Biodesign programme (now Singapore Biodesign). In 2013, she left A*STAR and took on the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Manager at EDIS, where she ran a non-traditional CSR outfit called EDIS Cares and had the opportunity to work with over 8 charity partners. This effort was spun out in 2018 as Learning Vessels, a social enterprise, which Hsin-Ee continues to run part-time.

Hsin-Ee completed her degree in Computational Biology at Carnegie Mellon University (US).

Biography Available Soon

Snow Lee is an associate director at EDDC. She has extensive experience throughout the early drug discovery process, from target nomination to drug identification and optimization. Her PhD and postdoctoral work focused on the modulation of epigenetic factors and phosphatases for cancer therapeutics. Following that, she joined Chugai Pharmabody Research as a project leader for developing biologics in oncology. She formulates project strategies, design experimental studies and coordinates different functional teams to ensure that project milestones are fulfilled. She holds several patents for both small molecule and biologics therapeutics, and is proficient in the development of new biologics platform technologies for intractable targets.

Dr. Hannes Hentze currently holds the positon of Associate Director of the Translational Sciences. He is responsible for the Biomarker Development, Mass Spectrometry, and in vivo pharmacology functions of EDDC.

Having established his networks and built his knowledge of the industry across 20 years in various roles, Dr. Hentze brings to the table 20 years of experience in academic research, biotech companies (S*BIO, ES Cell International, ASLAN), and in the pharmaceutical industry (MSD).

A pre-clinical scientist and in vivo pharmacologist by training, Dr Hentze’s expertise includes preclinical oncology and diabetes mouse models, integration of innovative biomarkers in pre-clinical programs, large animal models for cardiovascular disease and dyslipidaemia, as well as rodent models for cell therapy applications. He has published over 35 peer-reviewed articles, reviews and book chapters in the areas of liver disease, redox regulation, stem cell therapy, diabetes and oncology (H = 27)

Dr. Hannes Hentze holds a PhD in Biochemical Pharmacology from the University of Konstanz (Germany). In addition, he has recently obtained an executive MBA from INSEAD.

Biography Available Soon

Venkateshan Srirangam is currently the Medical director at EDDC. He earned his medical degree and completed a rotating internship at Mysore Medical College in Mysore, India. He is a qualified medical physician with more than 16 years of academic and corporate clinical research experience.

Prior to working in EDDC he was working as Global Clinical Director at Abbott Labs where he was working to develop global clinical strategy to support organic and inorganic growth through in-house projects, geo-expansion, and licensing and acquisition. He has previously served as a clinical lead for several discovery projects providing clinical support in cross functional discovery teams, and clinical support for several IND submissions. He has experience working with several novel targets including OX40, mPGES, TrkA, TRPA1 and several novel platforms like bispecific antibodies, fusion peptides, antibody drug conjugates and drug-device combinations. His research areas include immuno-oncology, pain and inflammation, diabetes, infectious disease among others.

Venkateshan Srirangam is currently the Medical director at EDDC. He is responsible to plan and implement clinical strategies to translate Singapore research into innovative therapeutics.

Biography Available Soon

Dr. Hsiang Ling Teo, is an accomplished structural biologist with over 15 years of research experience. As Head of Strategy Planning (Special Projects) at EDDC, she is responsible for driving the RIE2025 Strategy Planning and Strategic Projects. Concurrently, as Acting Associate Director of Innovations, she will help to steer the Innovative platforms towards commercialisation. Before joining EDDC, she was the Programme Director at NTU Institute of Structural Biology, spearheading the establishment of a new dedicated laboratory with state-of-the-art structural biology facility for nearly 80 research staff.

Hsiang Ling completed her Ph.D. studies in Structural biology at the MRC-Laboratory of Molecular Biology (UK). Upon finishing her graduate studies, she joined IMCB/ASTAR working on NFκB signalling and its role in cancer biology. This is followed by a second postdoctoral stint in NTU working on anti-inflammatory drug targets using structure based drug design. 

Over the years, Dr. Teo has built up extensive research experience in a wide range of disciplines, from protein x-ray crystallography to mouse knock-out models and has managed and collaborated in multiple research projects in academia.

Biography Available Soon