Ryuta Wada | Research Fellow / Technology Lead
Astellas Pharma | Japan

Ryuta Wada is Technology Lead at the newly established Technology Scouting & Integration Labs (TSIL) at Astellas Pharma, where they drive global scouting, evaluation, and integration of emerging manufacturing technologies across modalities including small molecules, antibodies, engineered antibodies, ADCs, and AAV vectors. In this role, Dr. Wada leads strategic partnerships and agile proof-of-concept studies to accelerate R&D impact and innovation. Prior to their current position, Dr. Wada served as Scientific Lead at Astellas Pharma until September 2025, overseeing end-to-end CMC leadership across upstream, downstream, formulation, and analytical development for in vivo gene therapy programs. Dr. Wada has 13 years of pharmaceutical industry experience spanning Japan and the United States, with deep specialization in upstream process development and analytical method development for biologics, gene therapy, and cellular therapy platforms. Their technical expertise includes mammalian cell culture, host cell engineering, and advanced analytical technologies such as flow cytometry, ddPCR, and LC–MS. Dr. Wada has led cross-functional teams, advanced science-based decision-making, and supported regulatory submissions from pre-IND through clinical manufacturing. They have supervised large research teams and driven innovation in AAV upstream process development, including chemically defined media, stable expression systems, and novel transfection methods. Dr. Wada earned their Ph.D. in Medical Life Science from Yokohama City University and completed earlier degrees in Biotechnology at The University of Tokyo.