Welcome to Partnology’s Biotech Leader Spotlight Series, where we highlight the remarkable accomplishments and visionary leadership of biotech industry pioneers. This series is about showcasing the groundbreaking strides made by exceptional leaders who have transformed scientific possibilities into tangible realities. Through insightful interviews, we invite you to join us in following the inspiring journeys of these executives who continue to shape the landscape of the biotech industry. This week we are recognizing:
Jian Zuo is Co-founder and CEO of Ting Therapeutics, a biotech startup developing therapeutics to prevent and treat hearing loss. Previously, Jian Zuo was Professor and Chair of Biomedical Sciences at Creighton University’s School of Medicine. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Bioengineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China (1985); and a PhD in Physiology from the University of California at San Francisco (1993). He joined the faculty at the Department of Developmental Neurobiology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in 1998. His primary research interests included mouse genetics and mouse models that illustrate mechanisms of hair cell regeneration to restore hearing, and screening compound derivatives to preserve or restore hearing in preclinical models. He has been a member of the ARO since 1998 and has received the Bellucci Prize in Hearing Research in 2004.
Walk me through your career, noting some of the most pivotal moments or decisions throughout:
I earned my PhD from UCSF many years ago. After that, I ran my own lab at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, for 20 years as a professor in the Department of Developmental Neurobiology. Later, I moved to Omaha, Nebraska, to serve as chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the medical school for five years. Just last July, I relocated my company to San Diego to focus full-time as CEO and co-founder. That’s a brief overview of my career.
What made you decide to jump from academia into industry? Tell me about that transition:
I’ve been studying hearing loss for about 25-30 years, first as an academic professor and later as a key opinion leader in the inner-ear therapeutics field. After decades of research, I realized that the ultimate goal of our studies should be to benefit society. To do that, I needed to shift my focus from purely academic research to therapeutic development.
About 10-15 years ago, I changed my lab’s focus to studying hearing regeneration in mammals. After years of work, it became clear that the regenerative approach was not yielding practical results. That’s when I decided to pursue a more tangible solution—developing better small-molecule drugs against acquired hearing loss.
Initially, I was juggling multiple roles: running a lab of 20 individuals, chairing a department of over 150 people, and acting as CEO and co-founder of Ting Therapeutics. I realized that to make my vision a reality, I had to commit fully to my company. So, I left academia and moved to San Diego, which is a biotech hub, to focus on building the company. It’s been a great decision—I’ve engaged with various local groups, incubators, and advisors, all of which have been instrumental in advancing our work.
Tell me more about Ting Therapeutics – what are you currently working on?
Ting Therapeutics is focused on developing better solutions for hearing loss. Hearing impairment affects a significant portion of the global population—around 5-10%. It’s a substantial unmet medical need that requires more investment and innovative solutions. Our goal is to tackle this problem with effective therapeutics.
We’ve examined various types of hearing loss and identified medication-induced hearing loss, such as from cisplatin chemotherapy or aminoglycoside antibiotics, as the most prevalent and achievable area for therapeutic advancement.
We’ve been investigating hearing restoration for years, but even after 20 years of research in my lab, regeneration is still not well understood and remains ineffective in animal models. That’s why we’re focusing on acquired hearing loss. For example, chemotherapy-induced hearing loss affects about 50-60% of patients who receive cisplatin, and we believe our approach can prevent this. This population is a great opportunity for us to test the efficacy of our drugs.
After proving success in chemotherapy-induced hearing loss, we plan to expand to other forms of acquired hearing loss, such as those caused by aminoglycoside antibiotics, noise exposure, and age-related hearing loss. The potential market for these treatments is significant—around 5-10% of the global population suffers from some degree of hearing loss. If we can develop effective drugs, the societal benefits will be immense.
We’ve screened a large number of compounds and identified over 150 promising candidates, many of which show 100 to 1,000 times greater potency than current benchmarks. Our goal is to develop drugs that are safer, more effective, and can serve a wider population, including both pediatric and adult cancer patients, as well as those affected by noise and antibiotic-induced hearing loss. Based on our preclinical models, we’re confident in the potential of our treatments.
What do you see as the most promising technologies in biotech over the next 5-10 years?
For hearing loss, gene therapy has made significant strides in recent years, particularly for congenital deafness. However, despite these advances, gene therapy currently is and is likely to remain only appropriate for certain types of hearing loss such as specific types of congenital deafness diagnosed at a very early age.
Another approach, hearing regeneration, has been heavily researched but has yet to show practical success. I think it’s still too early to expect near-term benefits for patients.
In contrast, small-molecule development has shown the most promise in recent years. It’s the only area that has seen FDA approval for treating pediatric patients with chemotherapy-induced hearing loss, though the approved drug has significant limitations.
I believe we’ll see more progress in small-molecule therapies for chemotherapy and antibiotic-induced hearing loss over the next five years. Within ten years, we could also see advances for noise-induced hearing loss, and in 15 years, possibly treatments for age-related hearing loss.
Cochlear implants have been a significant achievement, but they’re not a perfect solution. They don’t fully restore hearing to its natural state, and are only appropriate for certain patient populations. So, while there are pros and cons to each approach, I believe small-molecule therapeutics hold the most immediate potential.
With the experience and insights you’ve gained, what advice would you give to others aspiring to become a biotech founder?
The most important thing is commitment. If you want to commercialize your idea or technology and benefit society, you have to be fully invested. Some founders think they can balance their startup with other responsibilities, like maintaining an academic job. But that’s a recipe for failure—especially in biotech, where even founders who devote 150% of their time and effort often don’t succeed.
In my experience, you can’t expect success if you’re only putting in 5% of your time. It’s just not feasible. The biotech industry is straightforward, but it requires a significant amount of effort. If you’re not fully committed, your startup will fail. That’s the key lesson I’ve learned from my time in both academia and industry.
