Ryan Phelan
Principal Scientist, Biocatalysis Lead, Abbvie
Ryan Phelan is Principal Scientist and Biocatalysis Lead at AbbVie, where he leads the application of biocatalysis technologies to enable innovative and sustainable pharmaceutical process development. Since joining AbbVie in 2016, Ryan has played a key role in establishing and growing the company’s biocatalysis capabilities, driving the integration of advanced technologies across process chemistry and development teams. With extensive expertise in biocatalysis, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical innovation, he is recognized for translating emerging technologies into practical solutions for drug manufacturing. Prior to AbbVie, Ryan worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, developing microbial platforms for biofuels and sustainable chemicals.
Seminars
- Leveraged AI/ML tools to engineer a KRED capable of dynamic kinetic resolution, achieving ~1,500-fold improvement in enzymatic performance relative to wild-type
- Accelerated enzyme evolution using an ML-guided algorithm, requiring over an order of magnitude fewer variants screened compared to traditional directed evolution
- Conducted a retrospective analysis of ML programs applicable to biocatalysis using data from this campaign; key learnings will be shared
