Taren Ong

PhD

Staff Scientist

2D and 3D cell culture systems advanced microscopy techniques Assay Development biochemical assaya Bioimage analysis cell and molecular biology techniques cell based assays Confocal Microscopy Disease Modeling DMPK FLIPR assays Flow Cytometry FRET High Content Screening In-vitro techniques: Mammalian cell/tissue culture machine learning-based image anaylsis Neurodegenerative disease research Super-Resolution Microscopy

Peer-reviewed publication(s) 1st author peer-reviewed publication(s) Conference Poster(s) Patent(s)

I have designed and implemented innovative in vitro primary and human iPSC cell-based assays to support all stages of early discovery efforts and mechanism of action studies. My work has resulted in the securing of two patents and identification of two IND-ready small molecule drug for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

As the inaugural scientist at my previous company, I spearheaded the establishment of a state-of-the-art research lab with advanced assay development capabilities. I set up a compliant BSL-2 lab and introduced high-content imaging, which became the cornerstone of our development processes. I provided comprehensive personnel training and integrated machine learning image analysis into our workflow, significantly enhancing data generation efficiency. Additionally, I implemented robust storage infrastructure to manage large datasets effectively. The high-content imaging capability became the backbone of our company's development pipelines, driving innovation and supporting all key projects.

As Program Co-Lead for a development pipeline, I coordinated with medicinal chemistry and DMPK teams for preclinical development, managed in-vitro DMPK studies via CRO partnerships, and facilitated academic collaborations on remyelination biomarker studies. My efforts helped secure $850K funding from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society with IRB-approval.