Wayne Fairbrother is currently a Senior Staff Scientist, Senior Director of the Department of Early Discovery Biochemistry, and Officer of Genentech, USA. Wayne received a B.Sc.(Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Otago, NZ, and a D.Phil. in Chemistry from the University of Oxford, UK. He joined the Protein Engineering Department at Genentech in 1992. His research has focused on the use structure-based design methods to identify small-molecule antagonists of protein-protein interactions, most notably the inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) family and the Bcl-2 family (Venclexta), for the treatment of cancer. He is currently leading efforts focused on the development of technologies and modalities to target challenging-to-drug proteins.