Zhimei Du, MD, PhD

Dr. Zhimei Du is a leader in the fields of cell and gene therapy and biologics, bringing more than 20 years of experience in both early and late-stage therapeutic development. As Chief Scientific Officer of BlueSphere Bio, Dr. Du leads the R&D organization, directing efforts toward the further advancement of TCR-based therapeutic development across various disease areas.

Prior to joining BlueSphere Bio, Dr. Du served as Vice President at Atara Biotherapeutics, where she focused on accelerating the progress of both early and late-stage cell therapy pipelines, and later as Vice President at Landmark Bio, where she built and oversaw Translational Research and Early Development. Notably, her tenure at Merck & Co. as Executive Director and Global Head of Process Cell Sciences saw her establish innovative core functions and multi-site teams on a global scale, particularly in cell therapy and biologics development. In addition, Dr. Du has been instrumental in driving successful business development initiatives by evaluating and forging partnerships in biologics, ADC, cancer vaccine, CAR-T, and CAR-NK programs. Her extensive research contributions encompass a myriad of patents and publications in cell and gene therapy, process development, protein engineering, cell engineering, vector engineering, and genetic/epigenetic biomarker development.

Dr. Du’s academic journey commenced with an M.D. from Beijing University Medical School, followed by a Ph.D. in Immunology from Cornell University Medical College. She further honed her expertise as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Robert G. Roeder at The Rockefeller University, renowned for its groundbreaking contributions to transcription, in vitro transcription, and epigenetics.