Robert Lu, Ph.D.
Founder & Sr. VP of Technical Operations
Robert joined Frontera Therapeutics in 2020 as the Sr. VP of Technical Operations. Robert has over 17 years of biotechnology industry experience in corporate strategy, CMC, and regulatory submissions at different stages of drug development. Before joining Frontera, he was the VP of Process Development and Analytical Development at Solid Biosciences. In this role, he has led the AAV process development and manufacturing from a research concept to IND submission within 18 months (SGT-001 for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, DMD). He has also led the second-generation process development to improve the AAV quality to reduce the clinical safety concerns. Prior to Solid Biosciences, Robert was the manager of MSAT at Sanofi Genzyme, where he has successfully led the process improvement of Cerezyme’s commercial process which resulted in 25% manufacturing yield increase. Before Sanofi Genzyme, he held positions of increasing leadership responsibility at Shire and Percivia, where he made contributions to the advancement of new drug candidates from research to development in multiple therapeutic areas including Oncology, Metabolic Diseases, and Enzyme Replacement Therapies.
Robert received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Peking University in China, and Ph.D. in Chemistry from Brown University, and completed his postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School.