Gerardo A. Zapata, Ph.D., President of Protein Production Division and Senior Vice President

 

Dr. Zapata brings over 20 years of experience in Protein Biochemistry and Process Development to Intrexon, having been involved in leadership positions in the development and manufacturing of therapeutic proteins at FDA, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline and, within the last five years, at Abgenix, Amgen and Catalyst Biosciences. Dr. Zapata is an expert in process development activities leading to filings of Investigation of New Drugs Applications (IND), Biological License Applications (BLA) and commercial manufacturing. Dr. Zapata has a strong background in upstream and downstream process development, process characterization and manufacturing with emphasis in purification processes, analytical assay development and formulation fill finish development. Dr. Zapata was involved in the development, licensing and manufacturing activities of rituximab, trastuzumab and panitumumab, and has participated in the conjugation of potent compounds to antibodies as well as in the construction of manufacturing facilities for biotechnology products. Dr. Zapata received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and received postdoctoral training at CBER, FDA, where in addition to authoring scientific papers, he participated in the IND and BLA review process. Dr. Zapata has coauthored more than 20 peer-reviewed papers and holds several manufacturing process patents.