Dr. Rodrigo Ruiz Soto, MD/MSc is an experienced Clinical Development Hematologist-Oncologist with more than 20 years of experience in clinical research. Dr. Ruiz Soto received an M.D. from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. He completed his internal medicine residency and fellowship in hematology at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubiran in Mexico. Dr. Soto trained in Medical Oncology at the Institut de Cancerologie Gustave Roussy in France and received a Master of Science in Oncology from the Paris XI University-Institut Gustave Roussy. Prior to joining ACB he was the Head of Clinical Development at Deciphera Pharmaceuticals with 50+ reports, including Biometrics, Translational Medicine, Clinical Pharmacology, Clinical Scientists and MDs. He was critical to the approval of Quinlock for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors and the new drug application submission of Vimseltinib for the treatment of tenosynovial giant cell tumors.
His experience in ADCs comes from ImmunoGen, as Senior Medical Director moving Mirvetuximab Soravtansine (Elahere) from phase 1 to phase 3, among other ADCs at ImmunoGen.
Joe Ponte, PhD joined LigaChem Biosciences in 2024, bringing over 20 years of experience in oncology, immuno-oncology, pharmacology and translational medicine. Prior to LCB, he was the Head of Oncology at Dragonfly Therapeutics and a Senior Director of Oncology at Seres Therapeutics. He spent a significant tenure at ImmunoGen, where he was the Director of Pharmacology and the Translational Team Lead for Mirvetuximab soravtansine (Elahere®), the first ADC approved for folate receptor alpha-positive ovarian cancer. Currently, Joe serves as Executive Director and Project Lead at AntibodyChem Biosciences, where he guides pharmacology and translational strategy for LigaChem Biosciences' ADC programs as they advance from preclinical development into the clinic.
Stuart W. Hicks, Ph.D. joined LigaChem Biosciences in 2026 as Executive Director and Project Lead at its U.S. subsidiary, AntibodyChem Biosciences, where he advances antibody-drug conjugate programs from discovery through IND submission and into first in human studies.
Dr. Hicks brings more than 15 years of oncology drug development experience across antibody-drug conjugates, immune oncology biologics, and cell-based therapies. He has led multiple IND submissions and built integrated Research and Clinical Translational teams that connect discovery insights with clinical strategy. His work emphasizes the importance of quantitative PK/PD and exposure response modeling to strengthen dose rationale and biomarker strategy to ensure early trials produce actionable biological and clinical data.
Prior to joining LigaChem, Dr. Hicks held leadership roles at ImmunoGen, bluebird bio, and Dragonfly Therapeutics, where he oversaw the progression of novel oncology assets into early clinical development. He earned his Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed postdoctoral training at Yale University.
Stephen Slocum, Ph.D. is Director of Drug Development at LigaChem Biosciences, where he leads development of preclinical and early clinical programs for next-generation ADCs. He brings expertise in PK/PD, toxicology, and translational strategy, guiding programs from discovery through first-in-human studies. Previously, he has served as a project lead coordinating cross-functional development efforts across oncology pipelines.
Dr. Matthew Sender joined LigaChem Biosciences in 2024 after 11 years at GSK working and leading programs across a range of modalities and therapy areas in Medicinal Chemistry, Synthetic Immunology, Chemical Biology, and Oncology. He helped to develop the CyTAC platform which was spun out of GSK as Solu Therapeutics in 2023. Currently, Matt is a project lead for heme ADC programs from pre-clinical to phase 1 and leads chemistry innovation at AntibodyChem Biosciences.
Dr. Laura Laviolette is a cancer biologist with over 15 years of experience leading research programs and translating scientific discoveries into novel therapies. At AntibodyChem BioSciences, she serves as a project lead for antibody–drug conjugate (ADC) programs. Previously, Laura held research leadership roles at Dragonfly Therapeutics, bluebird bio, and ImmunoGen, where she advanced immune cell engagers, CAR-T and TCR-T cell therapies, and ADCs across oncology and immunology indications. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Ottawa and completed postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Carrow Wells joined LigaChem Biosciences in 2025 after 5 years at GSK working and leading programs across a range of modalities and therapy areas in Chemical Biology and then moved to a role in external partnerships leading to the acquisition and integration of two platform companies into GSK. Prior to GSK, Carrow was at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Principal Investigator for the Structural Genomics Consortium focused on the development of probes for the understudied kinome. She also worked as a consultant for Promega to develop and expand the NanoBRET platform for kinase screening, which is now the gold standard in measuring target engagement in live cells. Currently, Carrow is a project lead for heme ADC programs from pre-clinical to phase 1.
