Navigating Business Transitions and Deal-Making in Biotech
Date: May 19, 2026 @ 4:30 pm – @ 8:30 pm
Location: 3000 El Camino Real, 5 Palo Alto Square, Suite 125, Palo Alto, CA 94306
Join us for an engaging evening of insights and connections at Navigating Business Transitions and Deal-Making in Biotech. This dynamic event brings together industry experts, innovators, and professionals to explore the critical elements of business transactions in the biotech space. Featuring a keynote session by K&L Gates, an inspiring fireside chat with entrepreneur Keting Chu on the journey behind Bluejay, and a thought-provoking panel discussion, the program offers valuable perspectives for anyone involved in biotech ventures. The evening concludes with a networking session—an excellent opportunity to connect, collaborate, and exchange ideas with peers and leaders in the field.
Navigating Business Transitions and Deal-Making in Biotech
4:30–5:00 pm: Check-in and Introduction
5:00–6:00 pm: Essentials in Business Transactions – by K&L Gates
6:00–6:45 pm: Fireside Chat with Keting: The Story of Bluejay
6:45–7:00 pm: Break
7:00–7:45 pm: Panel Discussion
7:45–8:30 pm: Networking
Speakers:
Linda Zhou, Partner, K&L
Linda Zhou has more than 20 years of experience in working with technology and biopharma companies and investors in venture capital and corporate transactions, including VC financings, M&As, licensing, joint ventures,and fund formations. Linda’s corporate representation includes work with many emerging companies as well as larger companies and VCs.
Linda works frequently on cross-border transactions. She has developed a robust practice guiding domestic clients in their outbound investment and assisting foreign companies in their inbound business expansion. She has acted as a trusted advisor for numerous technology companies and investors in complex acquisitions and global operations across key economic countries. Linda co-leads the firm’s Emerging Growth and Venture Capital practice. She is an experienced and well-known business lawyer in several local technology communities.
Linda obtained her Master of Laws in University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mattias Luukkonen is a partner in K&L’s Corporate practice. Prior to joining the firm, he served as counsel in the corporate practice of another international firm, where he focused on intellectual property and commercial transactions for the life science industry. Mattias represents both public and private clients across the life science spectrum, from pharmaceutical and medical device companies to companies developing nutraceuticals, flavor modulators, and bioprocessed foods. He has extensive experience in structuring, drafting, and negotiating complex intellectual property and commercial agreements, asset purchase agreements, and agreements relating to the pre-clinical and clinical development of novel products.
David Lu is a Chambers USA and LMG Life Sciences-recognized patent lawyer and a leader in intellectual property strategy and portfolio management. He is a partner in the firm's Intellectual Property practice, where he advises clients in the life sciences sector on patent prosecution, strategic IP portfolio development, and intellectual property due diligence related to mergers, acquisitions, licensing transactions, and investment activities. David has designed and implemented global patent strategies across the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and has managed high-impact portfolios for international enterprises, mid-sized biotechs, and venture-backed startups. He also provides patent landscape analysis, freedom-to-operate assessments, and patentability evaluations to support clients' innovation and commercialization efforts.
Prior to joining the firm, David served as a partner and co-lead of the life sciences group at a US-based law firm. Before transitioning into his legal profession, David conducted cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, contributing to advancements in DNA damage response and BRCA1 biology, with emphasis on molecular mechanisms and microRNA-mediated regulation. His earlier academic work at Duke University focused on RNA biology and virology, exploring mRNA and viral microRNA biogenesis. David has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in leading scientific journals and presented his research at renowned international conferences.
David obtained his J.D. from Suffolk University Law School (Intellectual Property Concentration with Distinction) and PhD from Duke University for Molecular Genetics and Microbiology.
Keting Chu, MD. Ph.D
Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board Bluejay Therapeutics, Inc.
Dr. Keting Chu is an experienced biotech executive, entrepreneur and life science venture inv estor with a broad range of experiences in therapeutic development in both large and small biotechnology companies and venture investments.
Prior to founding Bluejay, Keting was a Partner and a Venture partner at LYFE Capital. Working with the team in Lyfe capital, Keting helped to close $550M Lyfe Capital Fund III and invested in Ansun Biopharm, Pliant Therapeutics and Tempest Therapeutics. Pliant and Tempest went IPO in NASDAQ successfully in 2020 and 2021. Keting was a venture partner in Apple Tree Partners briefly. Before joining Apple Tree Partners, Keting spent five years as VP, Research TAP at The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). There she was responsible for venture philanthropy, also known as the Therapy Acceleration program. At LLS, Keting led the investment into Celator, Stemline, Constellation, Affimed, ArgenX, Kite Pharma, Kiadis, OncoPep, Valor and a number of projects in academic institutions with the focus on proof-of-concept (POC) studies in patients. Three of the nine companies received “Breakthrough” designation by the FDA in 2016 after positive proof-of-concept studies. Celator was acquired by Jazz Pharma for $1.5B, Kite by Gilead for $12B and Stemline by Menarini for $677M. Three NDAs, by Celator, Kite and Stemline, were approved by the US FDA successfully. Prior to LLS, Keting was the CEO of Mission Therapeutics and the Co-Founder, President and CEO of DigitAB, Inc. and BioCubed Corporation. For her first startup company, Five Prime Therapeutics, Keting was Vice President of Biology and Head of R&D where she built the R&D strategy and team, established the technology platform and generated a product pipeline. Prior to Five Prime, Keting was the Head of Immunotherapy and Antibody Therapeutics Division at Chiron Corporation, where she engaged in preclinical and clinical developments of protein, DNA-based, and small molecule therapeutics for cancer and inflammatory diseases. Three cancer therapeutic antibodies that keting led the team from discovery to phase I clinical trials went through phase II and III clinical testing.
Keting earned her MD in Sun Yat-sen Medical University specialized in infectious diseases in China, and Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). She also conducted her postdoctoral training at Cardiovascular Research Institute at UCSF.
Shenshen Hu is a Vice President in Lazard’s Healthcare M&A group based in San Francisco, where she advises biopharma, biotech, and life sciences companies on mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, and other complex transactions. She has advised on a number of high‑profile healthcare deals, including ImmunoGen’s $10 billion sale to AbbVie. Prior to joining Lazard, Shenshen began her career in biotechnology as a research scientist at Corvus Pharmaceuticals and later served as Head of Business Development, where she led partnership and strategic collaboration initiatives for multiple clinical‑stage oncology programs. Shenshen completed her postdoctoral training in quantitative biosciences at the University of California, Berkeley. She holds an MBA from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a B.S. in Chemistry from Nankai University. She has authored more than 30 scientific publications with over 800 citations.
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