Spring 2026 Stivala Lecture: Patients to Discovery

The Stivala Lectures in Chemistry

The Stivala Lectures in Chemistry invites an outstanding scientist for a day of lectures and discussions on timely topics in chemistry. This distinguished lecture series was established by Dr. James Cooper in memory of his father, Charles Cooper, a close friend of Professor Salvatore Stivala, a longtime professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at Stevens.

SPEAKER

Pek Lum, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Auransa Inc.

ABSTRACT

Patient-derived data have become one of the most powerful engines of modern drug discovery. The ability to study diseases directly in humans, using large-scale DNA and RNA sequencing together with richly annotated clinical data, has already guided the development of major therapies. Genetic insights such as PCSK9 loss-of-function variants and CCR5-mediated HIV resilience have revealed causal mechanisms and druggable pathways rooted in human biology. Transcriptomic and clinical datasets now help us define disease subtypes with far greater precision and uncover therapeutic opportunities that non-human or in vitro models often miss. In this talk, I will highlight key examples where patient data have translated into real treatments and then share my firsthand experience as CEO of Auransa, where our human data-first, AI-driven approach uncovers novel biology and advances first-in-class programs in cancer. Together, these stories illustrate how the future of drug discovery can and should begin with patients themselves.

BIOGRAPHY

Pek Lum, Ph.D. is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Auransa Inc., a clinical-stage techbio company developing precision therapeutics using patient-derived data and AI. Auransa’s human-first discovery platform analyzes disease signatures directly from patient samples to guide novel drug development, including AU409, a first-in-class small molecule for liver cancer, now completing Phase 1 evaluation. Pek has more than two decades of experience across genomics, systems biology, and drug discovery. Prior to founding Auransa, she served as Chief Data Scientist and Vice President at Ayasdi, an enterprise software company for complex data analysis. She began her industry career at Rosetta Inpharmatics, later Merck & Co., where she helped integrate emerging genomic technologies with early drug discovery. Throughout her career, Pek has advanced the application of integrative genomics, network-based machine learning, and topological data analysis for target discovery, pharmacogenomics, and biomarker development, contributing to influential studies published in Nature, Nature Genetics, Cell, and other leading journals. Pek earned her Ph.D. from the University of Washington, Seattle, following earlier degrees from Hokkaido University in Japan. She is an entrepreneur, an inventor on multiple patents, and a recognized leader in applying machine learning to human biology for therapeutic innovation.

A Discussion Panel will immediately follow the seminar, entitled: AI-Powered, Human Data-Guided Discovery in Biotech and Medicine

MODERATOR

Marcin Iwanicki, Ph.D., Teaching Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Stevens Institute of Technology.

PANELISTS

Raul Perez-Olle, MD, PhD is a physician-scientist with two decades of US and global oncology experience in pharma and biotech.

Stanislav Glezer, MD MBA is a Managing Director at Outcome Capital, strategic advisory firm and an investment bank, specialized in life sciences.

Benjamin Tycko, M.D., Ph.D., is a Member of the Center for Discovery and Innovation with longstanding research program focusing on genetics and epigenetics in human development and disease.