Joe Russo, Ph.D., is a group leader in the Molecular and Cellular Technologies group at Pfizer, Inc. Joe has focused much of his effort over the last 8 years on nucleic acid-based drug development. Joe’s expertise spans a wide range of manufacturing platforms including large scale cell-based and cell-free DNA production, RNA drug substance production and lipid-based drug product formulation. Additionally, Joe and his team develop novel mammalian expression platforms, including CHO systems (mAbs, bi/tri-specifics), HEK systems (rAAV) and peptide production technologies. Currently, Joe leads a cross-functional team focused on nucleic acid technology development and advanced manufacturing platforms in the Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences division at Pfizer. Recently, Joe also is a member of the business development team at Pfizer, focused on CMC aspects of potential in licensing/out licensing opportunities.
Prior to joining Pfizer, Dr. Russo received his PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Missouri and completed post-doctoral training at Colorado State University, where he focused on various aspects of RNA biochemistry including virus-host interface and stem-cell biology.