Engine Biosciences Appoints Renowned Drug Discovery and Development Leader Robert Abraham, PhD, as Chief Scientific Officer

Global expert's appointment further strengthens Engine's scientific and R&D leadership as the company advances its precision oncology pipeline toward the clinic

SINGAPORE and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Engine Biosciences (Engine), a company pioneering cancer medicines informed by its proprietary machine learning and functional genomics platform, today announced the appointment of Robert (Bob) Abraham, PhD, as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Dr. Abraham brings over three decades of experience leading scientific and translational efforts in oncology and joins Engine as the company advances its drug discovery and development programs.

"Bob's career reflects an extraordinary track record in translating science into therapeutics and patient impact," said Jeffrey Lu, Co-Founder and CEO of Engine Biosciences. "His deep expertise in oncology drug discovery and development, and his leadership of world-class R&D organizations, are a great match for our platform and pipeline rooted in innovative science and significant clinical potential. We're thrilled to welcome him as we drive to deliver our mission to bring highly impactful precision medicines to patients."

"I am incredibly excited to join the talented Engine team," said Dr. Robert Abraham. "I look forward to leveraging the company's outstanding capabilities in high-throughput genomics and machine learning to identify and address novel cancer dependencies and biomarkers, with the singular goal of delivering meaningful medicines to precisely targeted populations of cancer patients."

Over the course of a career spanning biotech, pharma and academia, Dr. Abraham has contributed to the development of 11 FDA-approved oncology drugs. He most recently served as Executive Vice President and Head of Cancer Biology at Odyssey Therapeutics and previously as Chief Scientific Officer at Vividion Therapeutics (acquired by Bayer). In a decade at Pfizer, Dr. Abraham served as Senior Vice President and Worldwide Head of the Oncology R&D group, where he led global cancer drug discovery and early clinical development to deliver impactful cancer medicines. He joined Pfizer following the acquisition of Wyeth, where he served as Head of Oncology Discovery Research.

Dr. Abraham has held academic appointments at the Mayo Clinic, Duke University, and the Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. He has authored more than 230 scientific publications with over 59,000 citations and is recognized globally for his work in cancer biology, immunology, and signal transduction. He earned his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Pittsburgh and completed postdoctoral training at the Mayo Clinic.

Engine Biosciences NetMAPPR platform integrates AI, functional genomics, and translational science to uncover and prosecute key genetic interactions and tumor-specific vulnerabilities. Leveraging NetMAPPR, Engine has assembled the largest-known synthetic lethality knowledge base. With multiple programs in internal and partnered development, the company is building and advancing a pipeline of potential first-in-class and best-in-class precision oncology therapeutics aimed at addressing significant unmet needs.

About Engine Biosciences
Engine Biosciences (Engine) is a venture-backed Singapore and Silicon Valley based company discovering and developing impactful precision medicines by deciphering complex biology with integrated computation and experimentation, with particular depth in oncology gained over several years of substantial investment and focus. Having pinpointed many promising drug targets and predictive biomarkers for patients most likely to benefit, Engine is advancing its pipeline of oncology therapeutics towards the clinic internally and with collaborators, and in other disease areas through partnerships. Engine's team is motivated by opportunities to address significant unmet needs with more selective and effective precision medicines. For more information, please visit www.enginebio.com, and follow Engine on LinkedIn.

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SOURCE Engine Biosciences