Founded in 2006, Virovek is a global leader in viral vector development, optimization, and manufacturing. Our mission is to empower academic research, biotech firms and pharmaceutical companies in their pursuit of transformative gene and cell therapies.
At the heart of our success is the patented BAC-to-AAV technology, which has revolutionized large-scale manufacturing. This system delivers unmatched production efficiency, generating up to 1E+17 viral genomes (vg) of adeno-associated virus (AAV) in a single batch, establishing a new benchmark for scalability and viral vector yield in the industry.
Our commitment to quality, innovation, and client success has established Virovek as a trusted partner in the biopharmaceutical sector. We customize our services to meet the unique demands of each project, from early-stage research to clinical-grade manufacturing. Our focus on scalability, viral vector purity, and advancing gene therapy technology sets us apart.
Partnering with Virovek means more than just accessing expertise – it is about collaborating with pioneers in viral vector technologies. Together, we can expand the horizons of gene and cell therapy, turning bold scientific ideas into real-world solutions.
Haifeng Chen, Ph.D.
Chief Technology Officer & Founder
Haifeng Chen is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Virovek Inc., a leading manufacturer of custom viral vectors. Dr. Chen is an industry-leading AAV manufacturing expert, who invented the patented BAC-to-AAV technology that enables Virovek to produce large scale vector production campaigns that typically yield 50-200x the volume of conventional AAV production methods. Haifeng previously served as Vice President of Research at Asklepois Biopharmaceuticals and has co-founded several companies in the biotechnology sector.
Min Chen, M.D.
Chief Operating Officer & Founder
Min Chen is the Chief Operating Officer of Virovek. Prior to Virovek, Dr. Chen led teams at Gilead and Novartis, with extensive experience in molecular biology, cell biology, virology, and oncology pharmacology fields. Dr. Chen was the architect of Virovek’s program to improve operations and drive company growth, driving the Company’s significant growth over her tenure. She also oversees the Virovek’s ongoing expansion efforts into emerging markets both domestically and internationally.
Peter Hoang, M.B.A.
Chief Executive Officer
Peter Hoang has served as the CEO of Virovek since 2024. Prior to Virovek, Mr. Hoang served as the CEO of Mongoose Bio, Marker Therapeutics, and TapImmune, and the head of strategy for Bellicum Pharmaceuticals. Previously, Peter served as Managing Director, Innovations at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Prior to that, Peter served for 16 years in investment banking, most recently as Global Head of Mergers & Acquisitions and Head of Healthcare M&A for CIT Group.
Tsvetelina Hoang, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President – Therapeutics Development Group
Tsvetelina Hoang leads Virovek’s Therapeutics Development Group, which develops novel gene therapy approaches based upon viral vector-based delivery systems. Dr. Hoang’s team tests, validates and advances novel biotherapeutics that can transform current medical modalities. Dr. Hoang previously served as Vice President, Research and Development at Marker Therapeutics, and led the pre-clinical development of 4 TCR and 2 CAR-T cell therapy programs at Bellicum Pharmaceuticals.
Anastasiya Smith, Ph.D.
Vice President – Therapeutics Development Group
Anastasiya Smith serves as Vice President for Virovek’s Therapeutics Development Group. Dr. Smith has extensive experience in drug development, with 15 years of experience in the development of novel biological agents at companies such as CellReady, Marker Therapeutics, Immatics US and Cell Medica. In addition, she has worked to optimize manufacturing and production processes for outside clients, where she planned and executed studies that enabled IND and other regulatory submissions for those companies.
Tara Shahim
Associate Director – Therapeutics Development Group
Tara Shahim brings more than 10 years of experience in the biotechnology industry specializing in process development and cGMP manufacturing of cell therapies to Virovek’s Therapeutics Development Group. Tara has served as a senior scientific investigator for CellReady, Marker Therapeutics, Immatics and Celltex, and has extensive experience in cell therapy research, process development & optimization, and quality.
Ching Yi (Tiffany) Ho
Associate Director – Commercial Vector Product Manufacturing
Tiffany Ho leads viral vector production for Virovek, with over a decade of experience producing high titer AAV products for our customers. Tiffany joined Virovek in 2010 and currently oversees manufacturing of the company’s vector products. Tiffany has also led tech transfer for Virovek partners and licensees, including GenePeutic’s GMP production of AAV using Virovek’s BAC-to-AAV technology in Beijing, China.
Platon Selemenakis, Ph.D.
Research Scientist – Vector Production Lead
Platon Selemenakis leads the Molecular Cloning Team at Virovek, which is tasked with viral vector production in mammalian cells. In addition, Dr. Selemenakis brings significant expertise in genetic engineering and lentiviral vector production, which he has applied to the development and testing of new vector production technologies to improve the manufacturing of viral vectors including the company’s lentivirus program. Prior to Virovek, he conducted academic biomedical research and drug discovery at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Carina Pena
Customer Relations Leader
Carina Pena manages Virovek’s client-facing interactions, communicating with our customers to ensure seamless order fulfillment, quality and specification documentation, and logistics for their orders. Carina provides pre-order coordination, information and feedback to ensure that a customer’s specifications and requirements are clearly understood before production is commissioned. She coordinates with our Manufacturing team to ensure that our customers receive consistent and timely updates as their order is produced and shipped.
Raymond Chen
Head of Information Technology
Raymond Chen has served as our Head of IT services since 2022 and is responsible for technology systems at Virovek. In addition to managing Virovek’s corporate IT networks and infrastructure, Ray has led development of the company’s electronic commerce platform. In this role, Ray designed, developed and implemented Virovek’s webstore technology and many of the customer service and supply chain management elements integrated into the Virovek online system. Ray is currently working on the full integration of Virovek’s gene design tool into our online store.
