James X. Rong

SVP, Head of Biology

Peak Perform Innova

Short Biography

James Rong is Senior Vice President and Head of Biology at Peak Perform Innova, where he leads strategy from target discovery and indication selection through portfolio development. His work is centered on advancing protein proximity therapeutics by harnessing protein-protein interactions to develop innovative medicines.

With more than 25 years of experience in drug discovery, translational research, and biotechnology leadership, James has held positions of increasing responsibility at GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, the Broad Institute, Toran Therapeutics, and BioMap. His work has spanned oncology, autoimmune, and cardiometabolic diseases. In addition to leading multidisciplinary research organizations, he has helped shape corporate and portfolio strategy, foster strategic partnerships, and drive external innovation to accelerate therapeutic discovery.

James has successfully advanced therapeutic programs from target validation to clinical development and has broad experience across multiple therapeutic modalities, including small-molecule inhibitors, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), siRNA therapeutics, and targeted protein degradation. He was involved in the early work exploring E3 ligase biology and its application to PROTAC and molecular glue degraders for cancer therapy. At BioMap, he helped establish AI-enabled drug discovery strategies by integrating Perturb-seq and functional genomics with machine learning for target prediction.

James earned his bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Peking University, a Ph.D. in Pathobiology from the University of Southern California, and completed his postdoctoral training at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. He has authored approximately 50 scientific publications, book chapters, and conference abstracts. He believes that the convergence of biological insight, emerging technologies, and AI will continue to drive the next generation of transformative medicines.

Presentation Topic: PPI-101: A Next-Generation RBM39 Molecular Glue Degrader with Improved DMPK and Therapeutic Index for MYC-Driven and HRD Cancers

• AI-assisted discovery of novel arylsulfonamide RBM39 degraders using an integrated machine learning and knowledge-based medicinal chemistry platform

• Defining the PK/PD principles governing RBM39 degradation to guide the design of RBM39 molecular glues with favorable DMPK properties

• Improving therapeutic index by reducing hematotoxicity risk while maintaining robust antitumor efficacy

• Biomarker-driven patient selection leveraging MYC family amplifications and HRD