Chih-Jen Wei

Dr. Chih-Jen Wei, Head of Virology and Infectious Diseases at ModeX, has diverse scientific and leadership experience conducting research in the areas of molecular biology, biochemistry, virology and vaccine development. After his post-doctoral training at NHLBI, NIH, he joined the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and focused on the development of vaccines for viral pathogens such as pandemic influenza, HIV and Ebola. Several vaccine candidates including gene-based and novel recombinant vaccines for influenza viruses which he developed have entered clinical trials. In his last position at Sanofi, Dr. Wei was Head of Vaccines, Adjuvants and Antibody Drug Conjugates, and led the efforts of next-generation vaccine discovery for infectious disease as well as co-managed the Sanofi North America Breakthrough Lab. He oversaw various multidisciplinary vaccine and immunotherapy R&D projects and collaborations including development of universal influenza vaccine, RSV vaccine and Lyme Disease vaccine with Sanofi Pasteur as well as research collaborative agreements with NIH on universal influenza, RSV and EBV vaccines. He was also responsible for a comprehensive survey of novel vaccine adjuvants and the development of chemical conjugation strategies to generate self-adjuvanting vaccines.

At ModeX, he is responsible for the development of novel gene- and recombinant protein-based biologics and vaccines for immunotherapy and infectious disease. Dr. Wei earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology from the University of Houston.