Current Events in RP3

RP3 Leadership

Led by drug expert Professor Micky Tortorella and co-led by CNS expert Professor He Jufang, the RP3 investigator team comprises senior scientists from CityU, CUHK and CRMH.

Professor Micky Tortorella

Program Leader (Full-time)

Over 25 years of experience in the drug discovery and basic research of inflammatory diseases

- Rich experience in drug discovery and development (US and China), with a long term focus in the area of immunological and inflammatory diseases;
- Publish over 75 high impact academic articles and over 30 US and international patents;
- Successfully lead 4 drug candidates to the clinical development stage.

Biography

- 2021-now
Senior Principal Investigator & RP3 Leader

- Developing multiple IND candidates in CNS and musculoskeletal diseases.
- Strong network in drug discovery in mainland China and the US.

- 2009-now
Chief Technology Officer
Drug Discovery Pipeline
Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health

- Supervise the development of 3 clinical drugs: GIBH-824, GIBH-130, GIBH-1014.
- GIBH-824 has been approved in China (Ascentage Pharma: HQP1351).

- 2003-2009
Senior Research Director
Dept. of Inflammatory Diseases, Pfizer Inc.

- 2001-2003
Senior Principal Investigator
Dept. of Inflammatory Diseases, Pharmacia

- 1992-1999
Senior Scientist
Dept. of Inflammatory Diseases, DuPont

Professor He Jufang

Co-Program Leader (Part-time)

Over 30 years of research experience in basic neuroscience and brain diseases

- Long term focus in basic neuroscience research and discover the memory switch: cholecystokinin;
- Dedicated to the drug development for brain diseases, including epilepsy, tinnitus, dementia, depression, etc.;
- Publish over 110 high impact academic articles and 9 US and international patents;
- Research supported by UGC (Hong Kong), ITF (Hong Kong), HMRF (Hong Kong), MOST (mainland China), NSFC (mainland China), CAS (mainland China), etc. The total funding amount is up to 90 million HKD.
- Professor He has supervised over 50 Ph.D. graduates. He is now supervising 18 postdoctoral fellows and 41 Ph.D. students.

Education

- 1989-1993
Doctor of Medicine
University of Tokushima
Doctor of Engineering
University of Tokyo

- 1979-1986
Bachelor of Engineering
Master of Engineering
Harbin Institute of Technology

Biography

- 2021-now
Department Head
Department of Neuroscience
City University of Hong Kong

- 2018-now
Chair Professor
Wong Chun Hong Chair Professor of Translational Neuroscience
Department of Neuroscience
Department of Biomedical Sciences
City University of Hong Kong

- 2013-2018
Professor
Department of Biochemistry
Department of Biomedical Sciences
City University of Hong Kong

- 2008-2013
Director
CAS-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory

- 1998-2013
Professor
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences
Hong Kong Polytechnic University

- 1998-2013
Post-doctoral Fellow
Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN)

RP3 Researchers

Dr. Feng Lu

Research Assistant Professor (Full-time)

Principal investigator for basic research and translational study on musculoskeletal diseases

- Focused on the study of regulating mechanism of non-coding RNAs, peptides and novel biomaterials on bone and cartilage diseases.
- Dedicated in the development of small molecule and peptide drugs on bone and cartilage diseases, including osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, etc.
- Published 40+ peer reviewed manuscripts, including 20+ first or corresponding authored manuscripts; Applied 1 China patent; H-index=17, i10-index=22.
- Research supported by ITF (Hong Kong) and HMRF (Hong Kong).

Mentor of staffs and students

- Guided the research theme design and research progress.
- Supervised the graduation of 5+ PhD students.

ORCID: 0000-0002-4498-190X

Education

- 2007-2014
PhD in Biochemistry
Chinese University of Hong Kong

- 2002-2006
BSs in Biosciences
University of Science and Technology of China

Biography

- 2024-now
Research Assistant Professor
Research Programme 3
Centre for Regenerative Medicine and Health, Hong Kong Institute of Science & Innovation, Chinese University of Hong Kong

- 2021-2024
Postdoctoral Fellow
Research Programme 3
Centre for Regenerative Medicine and Health, Hong Kong Institute of Science & Innovation, Chinese University of Hong Kong

- 2018-2021
Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology
Chinese University of Hong Kong

- 2014-2018
Research Assistant
Faculty of Medicine
Chinese University of Hong Kong

Contact information

Office: (852)3161 2118
Email: lu.feng@crmh-cas.org.hk

Four Pillars of Drug Discovery in RP3

RP3 has established three of the four pillars of drug discovery: People, Platform and Pipeline. Current goal of RP3 is the Translation of its drugs in human clinical trials.

Pillar I: People

RP3 comprises international team of drug discovery scientists, with total staff currently at 65 (critical mass!). Successful talent recruitment in diversified disciplines by RP3 has been completed.

Pillar II: Platform

The four reseach platforms in RP3 are fully equipped and staffed, allowing RP3 to conduct drug development from target validation to IND candidate nomination.

Pillar III: Pipeline

Drug discovery pipeline in RP3 mainly focuses on cognitive regeneration and muscle skeletal regeneration.

Pillar IV: Translation

RP3 is now engaged in clinical development of its lead drugs. Primary focus is RP3’s CNS portfolio:

Our Innovative Pipeline of Drugs

- Neu-001 is a novel small molecule agonist targeting a GPCR in the visual cortex of the brain for the treatment and cure for childhood and adult Amblyopia;
- Neu-002 is a new small molecule agonist against a GPCR in the audio cortex of the brain for the treatment and cure of Tinnitus;
- Neu-003 is a small molecule antagonist targeting a GPCR in the neocortex of the brain as a novel approach for treating Epilepsy

Developmental stages

Photo Gallery