In an effort to foster stronger interactions with industry professionals, we have organized two dedicated presentation sessions at booth 5C17 on October 9. Our expert speakers will deliver advanced technical insights and industry perspectives, offering attendees a deep dive into the latest developments.

Dr.Jian Wang

SVP, Head of Global Chemical Engineering and Technology Center, Porton Pharma Solutions

31-year experience in Pharma industry

Joined Porton JSTAR in 2014, previously served as the Head of Center for Pharma Crystallization, Dr. Jian Wang has over 30 years of process R&D experience specialized in API crystallization, reaction engineering, and PAT applications. Jian earned her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 1994 from University of Pittsburgh, supervised by Prof. Donna Blackmond and Prof. Irving Winder. She has authored over 20 peer-reviewed articles and holds 6 patents, 5 on API crystallization.

From 1994 to 2005, Jian worked at Merck, addressing bottleneck process R&D issues via reaction engineering, API crystallization, and PAT application, as well as pilot plant process execution. She consulted at Mettler Toledo AutoChem from 2005-2010 and served as VP of Crystallization Development at Crystal Pharmatech from 2011-2013. Since 2014, she established a state-of-the-art crystallization center at J-STAR Research, working on API isolation challenges across developmental stages and integrating drug formulation services with API crystallization R&D.

Listening to clients’ needs, building up the team’s technical capabilities, and providing the right technical solutions have been Jian’s focus for decades. Her dedication and contributions to pharma process R&D have served broad needs of diverse global clients with technical rigor, synergy and efficiency.

Dr. Francesco Fontana

R&D Director, Porton Pharmatech

15 years’ experience in Pharma industry

Dr. Francesco Fontana graduated from the University of Milan and received a co-tutoring PhD degree from University of Milan and University P. et M. Curie (Paris) under the supervision of Prof. P. Dalla Croce and Prof. G. Poli, working on β-lactams preparation and transition metal catalysis in natural product synthesis.

In 2009, he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Bristol on palladium-catalyzed reactions, in the field of carbonylation and carboxylation of vinyl-aziridines under the supervision of Prof. V. K. Aggarwal. In 2010, he joined FIS (Fabbrica Italiana Sintetici) as a process chemist developing, optimizing and scaling up processes for APIs and intermediates in the CDMO frame. He developed his career in FIS further as Team Leader in 2015 and R&D Manager in 2018 overseeing various R&D teams (flow chemistry team, process safety & process modelling team, troubleshooting & process improvement team), developing external collaborations and key-suppliers, and mentoring overseas company’s R&D teams (Delmar Inc., Canada).

In 2023, Dr. Francesco Fontana joined Porton Slovenia site (Porton Pharmatech), a newly European based R&D and manufacturing branch of Porton Pharma Solutions, as the R&D Director.

He is author of 25 peer-reviewed publications and patents.