Arun Upadhyay, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, and Head of Research, Development and Medical, drives Ocugen’s innovation and product development. He leads science and operations, creating and implementing fit-for-purpose strategies that enable scientific and business solutions. He oversees the development of various product modalities, such as biologics, vaccines, cell and gene therapy, and regenerative medicine and is responsible for all product development activities including discovery, proof of concept, preclinical, bioanalyses, CMC, clinical, safety, medical support, and global regulatory submissions across entire R&D pipeline.
Dr. Upadhyay has over 20 years of experience across the biotechnology industry, academia, and government institutions, focused on discovery research, innovation, and product development. He successfully led multidisciplinary R&D functions including discovery, preclinical and clinical development of mAbs, bispecific, vaccines, and cell and gene therapybased products. He led cutting-edge molecular and cell biology research contributing to the development of new therapeutics for infectious, ophthalmic, and degenerative diseases. He managed the team responsible for process and analytical development, formulation design for biologics and gene therapy-based products, tech-transfer, scale-up, manufacturing of drug product, and supply logistics to clinical sites. He has worked extensively in drug development consisting of lead identification and target validation—ranging from small molecules to biologics and advanced cell and gene therapy modalities. Prior to joining Ocugen, Dr. Upadhyay led ophthalmic drug development and delivery research at the University of Colorado Denver in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. There he was instrumental in designing therapeutics for ophthalmic diseases; engineering biopolymers scaffold; and developing novel approaches, such as design of cell and tissues specific targeting peptides and nanosystems, for sustained and targeted drug delivery systems for peptide, proteins, RNA, and DNA to cells and tissues. Dr. Upadhyay led engineering of polymeric micro and nano carriers’ systems and adjuvant approaches to encapsulate vaccine antigens to enhance immunogenicity and protective immunity.
Dr. Upadhyay received his PhD in Biotechnology from the National Institute of Immunology and an MSc in Biotechnology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He was awarded the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists’ “Innovation in Nanotechnology Award” for developing novel ocular drug delivery systems. Dr. Upadhyay has authored more than 40 scientific publications and holds more than 15 patents.
