Julien Dugal-Tessier

Dr. Julien Dugal-Tessier joined NJ Bio as Director of Innovative Chemistry & Bioconjugation, building off his previous experience of working for eight years in the field of Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs). In his successful ADC research career at both ImmunoGen and Agensys/Astellas, Julien focused on the design of novel payloads and linkers. At ImmunoGen, he studied potent DNA damaging agents with the goal of increasing their therapeutic index. Prior to ImmunoGen at Agensys (a former affiliate of Astellas), Julien worked on a variety of different payloads and linkers which led to four product candidates, one of which (AGS62P1) is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial. Julien was also involved in the discovery-to-scale-up activities of ADC payloads and linkers as well as in chemistry activities supporting later stage programs such as the commercially approved ADC Enfortumab Vedotin. Julien obtained his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in a joint project between Profs. Gregory Dake and Derek Gates on the development of metal catalysis for organic synthesis. After his Ph.D., Julien studied N-heterocyclic carbene catalysis and its application towards a total synthesis during his post-doctoral fellowship at Northwestern University with Prof. Karl Scheidt. He has published over 15 peer-reviewed research manuscripts.