Penelope Drake, Ph.D.

Penelope Drake is Head of R&D, Bioconjugates at Catalent. She received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from UCSF, where in the laboratory of Susan J. Fisher, Ph.D, she studied the immunology of the human fetal-maternal interface during pregnancy. During a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California Berkeley under the mentorship of Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D Drake used animal models to reveal immunological roles of the unusual glycan, polysialic acid. Next, Drake joined the Sandler-Moore Mass Spectrometry Core Facility at UCSF, eventually becoming the facility manager. She was recruited to Redwood Bioscience in 2011 to build the Analytical Group, where she oversaw the in-house provision of full-spectrum analytical support, from mass spectrometry through biophysical characterization and in vitro functional studies. Eventually, Drake also took on the management of outsourced in vivo efficacy and safety studies, and remained in this capacity after the 2014 acquisition of Redwood Bioscience by Catalent Pharma Solutions. Drake was promoted to Director of R&D in 2015, where she continues to focus on strategy related to the preclinical development of antibody-drug conjugate programs. Drake graduated Magna Cum Laude with Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa, earning B.S. (Botany) and B.A. (French) degrees. She is an author on over 25 peer-reviewed publications and several book chapters.