Jingrong Jean Cui

President and CEO
BlossomHill Therapeutics, Inc.

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Dr. J. Jean Cui is a renowned oncology drug designer who is the lead inventor of 3 FDA approved medicines and multiple clinical compounds. Dr. Cui is the Co-Founder, President/CEO of BlossomHill Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to that, Dr. Cui is the Scientific Founder of Turning Point Therapeutics, Inc. (TP). TP went public on NASDAQ in April 2019. In June 2022, Bristol Myers Squibb announced the acquisition of TP for $4.1 billion. Dr. Cui served as TP’s Chief Scientific Officer (10.2013-01.2020) and a member of Board of Directors. Prior to that, she was Senior Principal Scientist and then Associate Research Fellow at Pfizer (2003-2013). Prior to that, Dr. Cui served as Project Leader and Group Leader at SUGEN, Inc., a Pharmacia Corporation (1999-2003).  
As scientific founder of TP, she focused on solving drug resistance issues in targeted therapies and invented a unique macrocyclic platform to systematically address resistance issues. This novel strategy and approach led to the creation of 1 FDA approved drug and 2 clinical compounds: Repotrectinib (AUGTYRO®), TPX-0022, and TPX-0046 within 6 years since founding the company.  At Pfizer, Dr. Cui was the lead inventor of Crizotinib (XALKORI®) and Lorlatinib (LORBRENA®).
Dr. Cui was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2024. Dr. Cui and her Crizotinib chemistry team at Pfizer were selected for the 38th National Inventor of the Year Award in 2011. She received 2 Pfizer Worldwide R&D Achievement Awards (2006 and 2012) and Pfizer innovation award in 2011. Dr. Cui was an honoree for two American Chemical Society (ACS)’s Heroes of Chemistry (2013 and 2021). Dr. Cui received the 2022 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from her Ph.D. alma mater. She was the winner of 2022 San Diego BioPharma Achievement Award by SABPA. Dr. Cui is the recipient of 2023 Distinguished Scientist Award from ACS San Diego Section. She is an honoree for The Committee of 100 Circle of Excellence Award in Humanity in Science & Technology in 2023.  
Dr. Cui received her Ph.D. from Ohio State University, and her M.S. and B.S. from University of Science and Technology of China. She had her postdoctoral training at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California Berkeley.

Speech title & Synopsis

Understanding  Protein Dynamics for Structure-based Drug Design: Design Stories of Crizotinib, Lorlatinib and Repotrectinib

Protein kinases are key regulators that govern complex cellular processes. Dysregulation of kinase signaling is associated in many human diseases, particularly in cancers. Protein kinases have become one of the pharmaceutical industry’s most important class of drug targets. FDA has approved 82 small molecule kinase inhibitors since the first approval of imatinib, the Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitor in 2001 for Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia. However, the onset of drug resistance to kinase inhibitor treatment brings new challenges in kinase drug development. Understanding the disease-driven protein conformation is essential for the design of ligand efficient, highly selective kinase inhibitors with preferred drug-like properties. In addition, kinase conformational change after the development of treatment resistance plays a crucial role for the design of the next generation kinase inhibitors overcoming treatment resistance. The design processes of Crizotinib, Lorlatinib, and Repotrectinib will be presented as case examples to illustrate the importance of understanding protein dynamics in structure-based drug design.