Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United States based Founder operating in the Genetics space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Anne Wojcicki
Co-Founder and CEO of 23andMe
Anne co-founded 23andMe in 2006 after a decade spent in healthcare investing, focused primarily on biotechnology companies. Her hope was to empower consumers with access to their own genetic information and to create a way to generate more personalized information so that commercial and academic researchers could better understand and develop new drugs and diagnostics. Presently, 23andMe has built one of the world’s largest databases of individual genetic information. Its novel, web-based research approach allows for the rapid recruitment of participants to many genome-wide association studies at once, reducing the time and money needed to make new discoveries, and the company has created a proven and standardized resource for finding new genetic association and confirming genetic loci discovered by others. Under Anne’s leadership 23andMe has made significant advances in bringing personalized medicine directly to the public. Anne graduated from Yale University with a BS in Biology. Getting access to and understanding her own genetic information had always been one of her ambitions.
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About 23andMe, The Brin Wojcicki Foundation: 23andMe is a DNA testing technology company that enables its users to access their ancestry, genealogy, and inherited traits.
Jennifer Doudna
Co-Founder of Mammoth Biosciences
As an internationally renowned professor of Chemistry and Molecular and Cell Biology at U.C. Berkeley, Dr. Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues rocked the research world in 2012 by describing a simple way of editing the DNA of any organism using an RNA-guided protein found in bacteria. This technology, called CRISPR-Cas9, has opened the floodgates of possibility for human and non-human applications of gene editing, including assisting researchers in the fight against HIV, sickle cell disease and muscular dystrophy. Doudna is an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, senior investigator at Gladstone Institutes, and the Executive Director of the Innovative Genomics Institute. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Doudna is also a Foreign Member of the Royal Society and has received numerous other honors including the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the Japan Prize, and the Kavli Prize. Doudna’s work led TIME to recognize her as one of the “100 Most Influential People” in 2015, and she is the co-author of “A Crack in Creation,” a personal account of her research and the societal and ethical implications of gene editing. She is a vocal proponent of its responsible use, first calling for a moratorium on using CRISPR technology to make permanent changes to the human germline in 2015.
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About Caribou Biosciences, Editas Medicine, Intellia Therapeutics, Mammoth Biosciences, Scribe Therapeutics, University of California Berkeley: Mammoth Biosciences develops novel CRISPR applications for disease detection, research, agriculture, biodefense, and more.
Trevor Martin
Co-Founder and CEO of Mammoth Biosciences
As co-founder and CEO of Mammoth Biosciences, Trevor Martin is focused on creating the world’s first CRISPR-based platform for disease detection, taking impactful CRISPR technology out of the lab and into the hands of doctors and consumers. Prior to co-founding Mammoth, Trevor completed his PhD in Biology at Stanford University, where he worked at the intersection of statistics and genetics. In addition to having taught a course in Statistics at Stanford, Trevor has penned educational guides for university courses across the globe. His work has been featured in outlets like FiveThirtyEight and The Atlantic.
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About Mammoth Biosciences: Mammoth Biosciences develops novel CRISPR applications for disease detection, research, agriculture, biodefense, and more.
Jessica Richman
Co Founder & CEO of uBiome
Jessica Richman is the co-founder and CEO of uBiome, a startup that uses big data and citizen science to understand the human microbiome. Jessica started and sold her first company after high school. Returning to formal education, she attended Stanford University, where she earned degrees in Economics and Science, Technology & Society (interdisciplinary engineering, emphasis in computer science). Along the way, she worked for Google, McKinsey, Lehman Brothers, the Grameen Bank, and top-tier Silicon Valley venture firms as well as other entrepreneurial projects and adventures. Her work has been published in The New York Times and other national publications. Jessica arrived at Oxford University as a Clarendon Scholar and completed an MSc at the Oxford Internet Institute. Currently a Green Templeton DPhil Scholar, her academic interests include network analytics, innovation, and collective intelligence. Her work has been featured in Wired, MIT Technology Review, Scientific American, NPR, FoxNews, ABC News, and dozens of other media outlets. She has spoken at TEDMED, TEDxBrussels, Partnering for Cures, the American Society for Microbiology, HealthFoo, SciFoo, Oxford University, the University of California San Francisco, and many other conferences and venues.
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About uBiome: uBiome is a provider of public access to DNA sequencing technology to understand the microbiome.
Zachary Apte
Co – Founder and CTO of uBiome
Zachary Apte is a Co-Founder and CTO of uBiome. Trained in both theoretical high-energy physics and biophysics, Dr. Apte earned his PhD in biophysics from the University of California, San Francisco. Before uBiome, he founded a synthetic biology company based on his invention of a novel microfluidics devices and funded by the US Department of Energy. While a university student at Hampshire College, he built an open science web platform and was integral in the initial research and development for the project that became the first published carbon-emissions rating label in North America.
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About Bioparaiso, uBiome: uBiome is a provider of public access to DNA sequencing technology to understand the microbiome.
Sam Santhosh
Founder Chairman & Global CEO of MedGenome
Sam Santhosh is the Founder and CEO of MedGenome. He has been an entrepreneur, with over 20 years of experience in the software industry. Currently, he is at the helm of affairs as CEO and promoter of MedGenome Labs Pvt Ltd. Sam sits on the board of a number of companies, both in the US and India. In this role he advises, guides and mentors companies to help them grow and realize their true potential. Prior to this Sam was the CEO and Managing Director of California Software Limited (Calsoft) from 1992 – Feb 2012. He founded Calsoft in 1992 and under Sam’s vision, Calsoft rapidly grew from a niche player in the Silicon Valley to a global player with over 1200 employees and presence in 8 countries. Sam took Calsoft Public and the company is listed the in Indian Stock Exchanges. Sam oversaw the growth of Calsoft in all key areas – Finance, Strategy, Customer Acquisition, and inorganic growth through eight acquisitions including companies in the U.S, UK, Japan, and India. He has been constantly retooling himself and has attended various training programs in different U.S universities including MIT. In 2010, he completed the Executive Education program at the Singularity University in Sunnyvale, California. Sam has an engineering degree and an MBA (majoring in Management Information Systems) from India’s premier institute, IIM Calcutta.
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About Agrigenome, MedGenome: MedGenome develops a genomics-based diagnostics and research solution for healthcare providers to understand the genetic basis of diseases.
Mickey Kertesz
President, CPO & Co-Founder of Karius
Kertesz co-founded Karius in 2014 to bring the pathogen detection technology he and colleagues developed at Stanford closer to the bedside. Prior to that, he was the CEO and co-founder of Moleculo, a long-reads DNA sequencing company, which was acquired by Illumina in late 2012. Dr. Kertesz earned an MS in computer science from Tel Aviv University and a PhD in computational biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science. He went on to complete his postdoctoral work in bioengineering at Stanford University, where he developed novel methods for investigating the genetic diversity of human viruses.
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About Karius: Karius provides genomic insights for infectious diseases to enable clinicians to make life-saving treatment decisions.
Tim Blauwkamp
Chief Scientific Officer, Co-Founder of Karius
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About Karius: Karius provides genomic insights for infectious diseases to enable clinicians to make life-saving treatment decisions.
Wei-Wu He
Founder and CEO of Origene Technologies
Wei-Wu He is a biotech executive dedicated to the commercialization of innovative life sciences technologies for the healthcare market.He is currently Chairman and CEO of OriGene Technologies, Inc. He is also the founder and General Partner of Emerging Technology Partners, LLC (ETP), a venture firm dedicated to incubating innovative life sciences companies. He is also a Venture Partner of IDG/Accel Partners, a $4 Billion venture fund designed to fund innovative companies in China.He started his biotech career as a scientist at the inception of Human Genome Sciences, Inc.He has been involved in the funding and founding over 20 biotech companies throughout his career and has served on many biotech company boards. Most recently He was named the Executive Chairman of Casi Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company dedicated to the development of innovative cancer treatments both in China and the US.He has conducted cancer research at Mayo Clinic and at Massachusetts General Hospital as a research fellow. He has been awarded over 30 United States patents and has more than 25 original research publications.He received a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Nanjing University, P. R. China, an M.B.A. from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine.
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About Emerging Technology Partners, Origene Technologies: OriGene Technologies is a research tool company that provides a commercial collection of full-length human cDNAs.
Martin G. Reese
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer & President of Fabric Genomics (formerly Omicia)
Martin Reese is an internationally recognized expert and entrepreneur in Genomics and Bioinformatics. Prior to founding Omicia, Martin Reese served as Vice President of Discovery Informatics for ValiGen. Prior to this, Martin Reese co-founded Neomorphic, where he served as President and Chief Scientific Officer. The human genome annotation software that Martin Reese developed at Neomorphic, provided the foundation for the successful commercialization of microarrays by Affymetrix. During his career Martin Reese has been actively involved in community-wide assessments of genome annotation. He organized the state-of-the-art Genome Annotation Assessment Project and was a member of the Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project, which provided the essential proof-of-concept platform for “shotgun” sequencing technology. At the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories Martin Reese developed gene-finding algorithms for the Human Genome Project. He holds a Masters degree in Medical Informatics from the University of Heidelberg and a Ph.D. in Genetics jointly from the University of Hohenheim, Germany and the University of California, Berkeley.
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About Fabric Genomics (formerly Omicia): Global healthcare platform for genomics-driven precision medicine. Fabric’ proven AI algorithms power genomic insights.
John Stuelpnagel
Co-Founder & Chairman of Fabric Genomics (formerly Omicia)
Dr. John Stuelpnagel currently serves as the Executive Chairman of Ariosa Diagnostic since 2009 and a board member at Sequenta, two leading genomic-based Diagnostic companies in the San Francisco bay area. Prior to this, John co-founded Illumina Inc., a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of life science tools and integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and biological function. John was involved in making Illumina one of the most successful life science companies, serving as its first President and Chief Executive Officer from 1998 to 1999, Vice President of Business Development from 1999 to 2002, Senior Vice President of Operations from 2002 to 2005 and Chief Operating Officer from January 2005 to April 2008. Prior, he was a venture capitalist at CW Group from 1997 to 1998 and with Catalyst Partners, a venture capital firm, from 1996 to 1997. While at CW Group, John uncovered what would become Illumina’s BeadArray technology at Tufts University and negotiated an exclusive license to that technology which led to the founding of Illumina Inc. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Illumina Inc. from April 1998 until April 2008. John received his B.S. in Biochemistry and his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the University of California, Davis and his M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.
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About Ariosa Diagnostics, Fabric Genomics (formerly Omicia): Global healthcare platform for genomics-driven precision medicine. Fabric’ proven AI algorithms power genomic insights.
Mirza Cifric
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Veritas Genetics
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About Veritas Genetics, YPO: Veritas Genetics is a provider of a genetic testing platform intended to empower people to live healthier and longer.
Jonathan Zhao
Founder & Managing Director, Asia of Veritas Genetics
Jonathan Y. Zhao, Ph.D. is Co-Founder of Veritas Genetics and serves as its Managing Director of Asia. Jonathan Zhao is responsible for Asia strategy and new products at Amgen and Pfizer. He holds MBA from MIT Sloan and Ph.D. in Chemistry.
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About Veritas Genetics: Veritas Genetics is a provider of a genetic testing platform intended to empower people to live healthier and longer.
Hesaam Esfandyarpour
Founder and CEO of Genapsys
Hesaam is the Founder and CEO of GenapSys Inc. He is an inventor of electronic DNA sequencing, a technology he developed during his PhD work at Stanford. Hesaam has dedicated the past decade of his life to the development of this novel DNA sequencing technology, which has at its core the convergence of multiple fields of science – engineering, chemistry, biology, and computing. Hesaam incubated the technology at the Stanford Genome Technology Center for a period of six years before securing licenses to the IP and incorporating GenapSys in January of 2010. He has grown GenapSys from just a handful of employees working out of Menlo Labs incubator space, to over 50 employees across seven functional teams. In 2012, Hesaam partnered GenapSys with StartX, an accelerator for the development of Stanford’s top entrepreneurs. He has raised approximately $50M for GenapSys in Seed, Series A, and Series B rounds of financing. Hesaam holds a PhD and MS in Electrical Engineering, and MSc Management degree, all from Stanford University. He earned his BS in Electrical Engineering with Honors from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. When he is not at GenapSys HQ (which is rare!) you can find Hesaam spending time outdoors, hiking or spending time with family and friends. He is also a great lover of poetry, his favorite of which are poems by the Persian poet Saa’di.
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About Genapsys: Transform the human condition by building a scalable, affordable genomic sequencing ecosystem that will support research and diagnostics
Oguzhan Atay
Co-Founder of BillionToOne
Oguzhan is responsible for implementing BillionToOne’s vision and for all day-to-day management decisions. During his PhD at Stanford, he has combined machine learning and genetics to solve problems in cell biology. His PhD research has been featured as Cover Article in Cell Systems, and his work has been published in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, including Cell and Journal of Cell Biology.
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About BillionToOne: BillionToOne is a precision diagnostics company that makes molecular diagnostics accurate, efficient, and accessible for all.
Jenny Rooke
Founder & Managing Director of Genoa Ventures
Dr. Jenny Rooke has been deploying capital at the frontiers of life sciences innovation, with a penchant for technology-fueled solutions and category-defying opportunities. Jenny got her start in venture at Fidelity Biosciences, a Cambridge-based healthcare VC, during their Fund I formation. Jenny then brought her unique toolkit of genetics domain expertise, strategic business acumen, and venture investing to the Gates Foundation, where she deployed and managed over $250M in funding in genetic engineering, diagnostics, and synthetic biology. She also played a key role in establishing the foundation’s investing function. In 2014, Dr. Rooke began independently investing under the brand 5 Prime Ventures, financing her investments using what has become the largest life sciences syndicate on AngelList, and one of the highest-performing AngelList syndicates of any sector. Jenny founded Genoa Ventures in 2018, building on the 5 Prime Ventures track record, in order to scale a proven, differentiated investing strategy, to ensure continued access to the very best deals, and to maximize portfolio returns.
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About Genoa Ventures: Genoa Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage life sciences technology companies.
Harry Gruber
CEO, Co-Founder & President of Tocagen
Harry E. Gruber, M.D., one of the pioneers in gene therapy, co-founded Tocagen and led the company as chief executive officer before assuming the role of president, research and development in November 2016 and president, science and innovation in October 2017. He has been a member of the board of directors since August 2007. Dr. Gruber served as our chief executive officer from August 2007 to November 2016 and served as chairman of our board of directors from August 2007 to October 2014. Dr. Gruber is a co-founder of Tocagen and has been the co-founder and/or co-inventor of key technology for the following publicly held companies: Viagene Inc., a gene therapy company acquired by Novartis Pharmaceuticals; Gensia Inc., a biopharmaceutical company acquired by Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd.; INTERVU Inc., a technology company acquired by Akamai Technologies, Inc.; Kintera, Inc., a technology company acquired by Blackbaud. He is the author of more than 100 original scientific articles and an inventor on more than 100 issued and pending patents. Dr. Gruber holds a medical degree and bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and trained in Internal Medicine, Biochemical Genetics and Rheumatology/Immunology at the University of California, San Diego, where he subsequently joined the medical school faculty until founding Gensia Inc.
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About Tocagen: Tocagen is a biopharmaceutical company developing gene therapy products for the treatment of cancer.
Igor Khandros
Co-Founder of Berkeley Lights
Igor Y. Khandros Co-Founded Berkeley Lights, Inc. and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Igor Khandros served as an Advisor of FormFactor Inc. Igor Khandros founded Formfactor Inc. and served as its Executive Chairman. Igor Khandros served as the Chief Executive Officer of Formfactor and also served as its President Igor Khandros served as the Vice President of Development of Tessera Technologies Inc., that he co-founded. he was employed at the Yorktown Research Center of IBM Corporation as a Member of the Technical Staff and a Manager. Igor Khandros was employed at ABEX Corporation as a Research Metallurgist and a Manager, and he served as an Engineer at the Institute of Casting Research in Kiev, Russia. Igor Khandros has been a Director of FormFactor Inc., Igor Khandros holds an M.S. equivalent degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Kiev Polytechnic Institute in Kiev, Russia, and a Ph.D. in Metallurgy from Stevens Institute of Technology.
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About Berkeley Lights, Nutcracker Therapeutics: Berkeley Lights is a provider of research and development services using micro-droplet technology that change the biological processes.
Joe Bondy-Denomy
Co-Founder of Acrigen Biosciences
Joe Bondy-Denomy is a Co-Founder of Acrigen Biosciences.
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About Acrigen Biosciences: Acrigen Biosciences is dedicated to making gene editing safe.
Mark Kaganovich
Co-Founder & CEO of SolveBio
Mark Kaganovich is the Co-Founder & CEO at SolveBio.
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About SolveBio: SolveBio deploys technology and on-demand expertise to drive precision medicine. We monitor, gather, and secure Genomic Intelligence.
Ben Hindson
CSO, CO-Founder & President of 10X Genomics
Ben Hindson has served as Chief Scientific Officer and Director of 10x Genomics since its founding in 2012. Prior to 10x Genomics, Hindson was Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Quantalife, a privately-held life sciences company that developed and commercialized a droplet digital PCR platform, until its sale to Bio-Rad in 2011. From 2002 to 2008, he served in various positions of increasing responsibility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in the Chemical and Biological Weapons Non-proliferation Program. He has published extensively in his field and holds many patents for assays and instrumentation. Hindson earned his BSc in Chemistry in 1998 and his PhD in Chemistry in 2001 from Deakin University, Australia.
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About 10X Genomics: 10X Genomics ELV solutions and security systems company that provides an innovative genomics platform.
Philippe Leboulch
Founder & Co-Chair of Scientific Advisory Board of Bluebird Bio
Head of the Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies of CEA and INSERM; Professor of Medicine, University of Paris; and Visiting Professor, Harvard Philippe Leboulch is a scientific founder of bluebird bio. He serves as the co-chairman of its Scientific Advisory Board and leader of the LentiGlobin® project. He is a professor of medicine and cell biology at the University of Paris and visiting professor at Harvard Medical School. Philippe is also the director of the Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies of the CEA near Paris and director of an INSERM research unit. He maintains a research laboratory in the genetics division of the Brigham & Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School, where he previously served as a full-time faculty member for 15 years after a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT. Philippe is an expert in vectorology and hematopoietic gene therapy, with special emphasis on the beta-hemoglobinopathies. He has been published extensively in high-impact journals and is a regularly invited speaker at major international conferences. Philippe was a member of the Editorial Board of Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology. He has served on major committees of the National Institutes of Health and the American Society of Gene Therapy. Philippe has received numerous NIH grant awards and prizes that include the Grand Prize Etancelin of the French National Academy of Sciences.
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About Bluebird Bio: Bluebird Bio offers products based on the transformative potential of gene therapy for patients with genetic and orphan diseases.
Khaled Kteily
Founder & CEO of Legacy
Khaled Kteily is the Founder & CEO of Legacy, a digital fertility clinic for men helping change the outdated view that fertility is a “women’s issue”. Legacy is a graduate of Harvard’s Innovation Labs and Y Combinator, has raised over $20M from top-tier investors like FirstMark Capital & Bain Capital Ventures, as well as celebrities like Justin Bieber and DJ Khaled. The company works with leading insurers, military partners, and clinics in additions to its Direct to Consumer offering. A former healthcare consultant at Oliver Wyman in Toronto, Khaled studied public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he received a full scholarship and graduated with distinction. He previously graduated with a triple concentration from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Khaled is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), is an Aspen Ideas Health Scholar, and a World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellow. He was recently recognized as 40 under 40 by the Arab America Foundation. He serves on the boards of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership (Alumni Council) and the Harvard Arab Alumni Association.
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About Legacy: Legacy is a digital fertility clinic for men, founded at Harvard & backed by Y Combinator, FirstMark Capital, Bain Capital and celebrities.
George Church
Founder of Gen9
George Church is a leading expert in human genetics and biotechnology.He has served as professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School since 1986 and currently serves as professor of health sciences and technology at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).He is also director of the U.S. Department of Energy Center on Bioenergy at Harvard and MIT and director of the National Institutes of Health Center of Excellence in Genomic Science at Harvard. Church helped initiate the Human Genome Project in 1984 and the Personal Genome Project in 2005. Church pioneered genome engineering, systems and synthetic biology, and concepts of molecular multiplexing and tags, and he has a successful track record of developing and transferring new technologies to more than 20 companies. Church has received numerous awards, including the 2011 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science from the Franklin Institute, the 2009 Promega Biotechnology Research Award from the American Society for Microbiology, and was honored in The Scientist’s Top 10 Innovations list in 2008. Church holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Harvard University and a B.A. in zoology and chemistry from Duke University.
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About 64x Bio, ALACRiS Theranostics, digiD8, Editas Medicine, EGenesis, enEvolv, Fitbiomics, Gen9, GRO Biosciences, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Medical School, Joule Unlimited Technologies, Kern Systems, Knome, Knome, LS9, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nebula Genomics, ReadCoor, ReadCoor, Tierra Biosciences, Inc.: Gen9 provides gene synthesis technology that enables the high-throughput, automated production of DNA constructs.
Josh Bilenker
Founder, President & CEO of Loxo Oncology
Josh Bilenker serves as a Partner of Aisling Capital. Previously, Josh Bilenker was a Medical Officer in the Office of Oncology Drug Products at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. While at the FDA, he conducted clinical reviews of IND-stage and licensed biologic oncology products. Prior to joining the FDA, Josh Bilenker trained at the University of Pennsylvania in internal medicine and medical oncology, earning board certification in these specialties. Josh Bilenker currently serves as a director of LensAR, Inc., Roka Bioscience, Inc., T2 Biosystems and ViewRay, Inc and as a board observer at Aragon Pharmaceuticals. He is also a Board Member of the NCCN Foundation and of BioEnterprise. Josh Joshua H. Bilenker, M.D., founder of Loxo Oncology, serves as President and Chief Executive Officer, and sits on the board of directors.Previously, Josh Bilenker was a Partner at Aisling Capital, a multi-strategy healthcare investment firm based in NY, where he remains a Venture Partner. From 2004-2006, Josh Bilenker was a Medical Officer at the U.S. FDA in the Office of Oncology. Josh Bilenker trained at the University of Pennsylvania in internal medicine and medical oncology, earning board certification in these specialties. Josh Bilenker received his M.D. from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He received his A.B. from Princeton, awarded summa cum laude in English.
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About Aisling Capital, Loxo Oncology, Treeline Biosciences: Loxo Oncology is a biopharmaceutical company focused on targeted cancer therapies for genetically-defined patient populations.
Moran Shochat Snir
Co-Founder & CEO of Clear Genetics
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About Clear Genetics, Invitae: Clear Genetics is a digital health company dedicated to the thoughtful integration of genetics into routine patient care.
Guy Snir
Co-Founder & COO of Clear Genetics
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About Clear Genetics, Invitae: Clear Genetics is a digital health company dedicated to the thoughtful integration of genetics into routine patient care.
Amber Salzman
President & CEO & Co-Founder of AAVLife
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About AAVLife, Ohana Biosciences, Stop ALD Foundation: AAVLife is a privately held company dedicated to advancing gene therapy for rare diseases.
Aaron Sheinbein
Co-Founder & Webmaster of Find My Family Adoption Reunion Registry
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About Find My Family Adoption Reunion Registry, Intellipaat, Teradata: Find My Family helps adoptees and their biological birth family members locate each other and reunite thru a free process.
Thomas Schuetz
Co-Founder of Audentes Therapeutics
Dr. Schuetz, M.D., Ph.D., is the co-founder of Audentes Therapeutics and has served as a member of the board of directors since July 2013. Dr. Schuetz also provided consulting services to Audentes from July 2012 to June 2013. Dr. Schuetz is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Compass Therapeutics, LLC. Previously, Dr. Schuetz was a Venture Partner at OrbiMed. Dr. Schuetz served as the Chief Medical Officer of Therion Biologics Corporation and the Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. (now Shire Pharmaceuticals, Inc.). Dr. Schuetz has also served as the Chief Medical Resident at Massachusetts General Hospital and completed a medical oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Schuetz also serves on the board of directors of Relypsa, Inc. and Glypharma, Inc. Dr. Schuetz holds a B.S. in chemistry from Xavier University, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University. Dr. Schuetz is Board Certified in Medical Oncology.
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About Audentes Therapeutics, Compass Therapeutics, Inc.: Audentes is a biotechnology company that employs gene therapy technology to develop treatments for people with rare muscle diseases.
Alice Zhang
Co-Founder & CEO of Verge Genomics
CEO and Co-founder at Verge Genomics; Angel Investor in Tech-Enabled Bio
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About Verge Genomics: Verge Genomics uses machine learning and human genomics to accelerate drug discovery.
Alex Furman
Co-Founder & Head of Organizational Development of Invitae
Alex co-founded Locus Development after leading the software engineering effort at Navigenics. Prior to that, he spent many years developing automated trading systems and financial planning software. A born-and-bred programmer, Alex grew up playing with computers that took up entire rooms and were orders of magnitude less powerful than the smartphone he now carries in his pocket.
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About Invitae: Invitae is a medical genetics company that bring comprehensive genetic information into mainstream medicine to improve healthcare.
Ryan Pawell
Founder & CEO of Indee Labs
Ryan Pawell (Founder, Director & Chief Executive Officer) is a Y Combinator alumni, published author and subject matter expert in the areas of fluid dynamics, advanced manufacturing, and biomicrofluidics. Ryan has been invited to present his work by the Australian National Fabrication Facility, White House Cancer Moonshot Taskforce, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, and National Cancer Institute among others.
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About Axial, Indee Labs, Pioneer Fund: Indee Labs is unlocking gene-modified cell therapy for the masses with scalable hardware for gene delivery.
Ryan Pawell
Founder & CEO of Indee Labs
Ryan Pawell (Founder, Director & Chief Executive Officer) is a Y Combinator alumni, published author and subject matter expert in the areas of fluid dynamics, advanced manufacturing, and biomicrofluidics. Ryan has been invited to present his work by the Australian National Fabrication Facility, White House Cancer Moonshot Taskforce, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, and National Cancer Institute among others.
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About Axial, Indee Labs, Pioneer Fund: Indee Labs is unlocking gene-modified cell therapy for the masses with scalable hardware for gene delivery.
Jin-Long Chen
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of NGM Biopharmaceuticals
Jin-Long Chen was most recently Vice President of Research at Amgen and head of the Metabolic Disorders therapeutic area. In this role he assumed global responsibility for the company’s research efforts in the areas of metabolism, bone, mineral balance, and muscle. He successfully guided programs from the earliest stages of drug discovery through advanced clinical trials and made key contributions to business development and product commercialization. Jin-Long Chen further bolstered Amgen’s drug portfolio by successfully in-licensing promising clinical candidates and out-licensing suitable clinical-stage molecules. Previously, Jin-Long Chen served as Vice President of Biology at Tularik and was responsible for drug discovery research in oncology, inflammation and metabolic disease. He personally initiated and directed Tularik’s orphan receptor programs, advancing a number of candidates, targeting selected GPCRs and nuclear hormone receptors, to the clinic. Several of these compounds remain in clinical development, including T131, a novel modulator of PPARy activity for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. While at Tularik, Jin-Long Chen was also active in business development, successfully establishing and managing pharma partnerships in support of the company’s metabolic and genomic research programs.
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About NGM Biopharmaceuticals: NGM Biopharmaceuticals is a drug discovery company developing biotherapeutics for the gastrointestinal endocrine system.
Alexander Bisignano
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Phosphorus
Alexander Bisignano is the Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Phosphorus.
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About Phosphorus: Phosphorus provides the back-end infrastructure that enables ubiquitous integration of genetics in medicine.
Eric Ostertag
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of Poseida Therapeutics
Eric Ostertag is the CEO at Poseida Therapeutics.
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About Hera Testing Laboratories, Poseida Therapeutics: Poseida Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that utilizes genome engineering capabilities to develop targeted life-saving therapeutics.
Lisa Alderson
Co-Founder & CEO of Genome Medical
Dedicated and highly successful executive with extensive start-up experience in technology, web services, consumer Internet, digital media and personalized medicine. I am a serial entrepreneur with a passion for creating innovative businesses. I have been a company founder and have joined the start-up team at several early stage, high-growth technology ventures. I am an energetic leader with a proven track record of success. My broad expertise includes strategy, business development, marketing and operations. I have significant functional experience identifying, negotiating and closing strategic partnerships and raising capital for early stage companies. Specialties Corporate strategy; Innovating traditional businesses through technology leadership; Strategic partnership alliances; Social media and social media marketing; Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; Digital convergence; Content distribution Consumer marketing
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About CrossLoop, Genome Medical: Genome Medical is a telegenomics technology and services company allowing access to genomic-based medicine.
Robert Green
Co-Founder of Genome Medical
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About Genome Medical: Genome Medical is a telegenomics technology and services company allowing access to genomic-based medicine.
Matthew Kane
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Precision BioSciences
Matt Kane is the CEO and co-founder of Precision BioSciences, a privately held gene editing biotech that uses the therapeutic grade editing platform, ARCUS. Matt has led Precision since its inception in 2006 and serves on Precision’s Board. He has over fifteen years of experience in the life sciences industry and was formerly with Suros Surgical Systems, later acquired by Hologic. When he isn’t working, you can find Matt enjoying time with his wife and daughters, hiking with his dogs, or stuck under a squat bar. He received his B.S. and M.S. from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and holds an MBA from Duke University.
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About Precision BioSciences, Tune Therapeutics: Precision BioSciences is a biotechnology company dedicated to improving life.
Derek Jantz
Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Precision BioSciences
Derek is a 15-year veteran of the genome editing industry. As a protein engineer, he was an early developer of zinc finger technology and has spent most of his research career designing proteins for genome editing applications. He has a B.A. in biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Derek’s passions include writing holiday themed poetry and finding ways to slip sci-fi references into corporate presentations. Derek Jantz co-founded Precision BioSciences in 2006 after co-inventing a novel method for modifying the DNA-recognition properties of homing endonucleases. Since that time, he has served as VP of Scientific Development, Chief Scientific Officer, and Chairman of the Board of Directors.
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About Precision BioSciences: Precision BioSciences is a biotechnology company dedicated to improving life.
Jeff Smith
Co-Founder & Chief Technical Officer of Precision BioSciences
Jeff is one of the true pioneers in the genome editing industry and made some of the key observations that led to the first successful engineered editing nucleases. Dr. Smith received his graduate degree from Johns Hopkins while developing and characterizing custom nucleases for genome engineering. Continuing his work in protein engineering at Duke University, Dr. Smith helped create the foundation for the ARCUS platform. Jeff’s only known hobbies outside of the lab involve smoking pork and celebrating the Kentucky Derby, preferably at the same time. He is an inventor on more than twenty-five foundational, issued patents involving the production and use of genome editing tools.
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About Precision BioSciences: Precision BioSciences is a biotechnology company dedicated to improving life.
David Whitcomb
Founder of Ariel Precision Medicine
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About Ariel Precision Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine: Ariel Precision Medicine Creates innovative solutions to simplify the personalized treatment of complex disease.
Andre Watson
Founder, CEO & Chairman of Ligandal
Founder at Ligandal
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About Ligandal: Ligandal is creating cell-specific delivery systems for gene editing tools such as CRISPR using automation and peptide-based nanoparticles.
Christian Foster
Co-Founder & CTO of Ligandal
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About Ligandal: Ligandal is creating cell-specific delivery systems for gene editing tools such as CRISPR using automation and peptide-based nanoparticles.
Pad (Padmanabh) Chivukula
Founder, CSO & COO of Arcturus Therapeutics
Padmanabh (Pad) Chivukula Ph.D., is Founder, Chief Scientific Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Arcturus Therapeutics. He is responsible for Arcturus’ research and development activities, including clinical and non-clinical development and regulatory affairs for all of Arcturus drug products. Dr. Chivukula has an exceptional and technically solid foundation in nanoparticle technology. Prior to Arcturus, from 2008 until February 2013, Dr. Chivukula was employed by Nitto Denko Technical Corporation, a pharmaceutical company, where his titles included Group Leader and Chief Scientist. Dr. Chivukula brings over 15 years of experience in drug delivery and therapeutic drug development, including leading the polymeric RNAi research department at Nitto Denko.
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About Arcturus Therapeutics: Arcturus Therapeutics focuses on developing novel RNA therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases aiming at Rare Diseases.
Joseph Payne
Founder, President & CEO of Arcturus Therapeutics
Joseph E. Payne, is Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board for Arcturus Therapeutics, Inc. He brings with him an exceptional track record of ushering novel therapeutics to the clinic including successful experience developing sophisticated targeted RNAi nanoparticle technologies. Joseph’s background includes over 20 years of successful drug discovery experience at Merck Research Labs, DuPont Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Kalypsys, and Nitto Denko as evidenced by over 40 publications and patents, and 7 FDA-approved IND clinical candidates.
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About Arcturus Therapeutics: Arcturus Therapeutics focuses on developing novel RNA therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases aiming at Rare Diseases.
Fergus Chan
Co-Founder & Founding CEO of EPINOMICS
Fergus Chan received his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he has also completed Stanford Public Management and Social Innovation Program. With his aspiration to make an impact to human lives through innovation, he has gained rich social entrepreneurship experience in healthcare and education. He was a fast-tracked consultant at McKinsey, advising leading companies’ executives and countries’ leaders, with his expertise in strategy, business partnership, finance and operations. He has also management experience in growing successful business through working in private equity portfolio management. His experience spans from inventing early-stage technology, starting ventures, to growing companies to be successful.
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About 10X Genomics, EPINOMICS, StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund): Advancing personalized health by leveraging deep analytics and proprietary technology to decode the epigenome (“the living genome”).
Luk Vandenberghe
Co-Founder of GenSight Biologics
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About Affinia Therapeutics, Akouos, Broad Institute, GenSight Biologics, Grousbeck Gene Therapy Center, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmly: GenSight Biologics develops gene therapy-based treatments for retinal degenerative diseases.
Dawn Barry
President & Co-Founder of LunaDNA
Dawn Barry is the president and co-founder of Luna DNA, the first and only genomic and medical research database powered by the blockchain. As President, Dawn communicates and implements the company’s vision, mission, and overall direction. Previously Dawn served as the vice president of Applied Genomics at Illumina, Inc. Dawn integrated market development strategies with product and business model innovation to accelerate the application of genomics in healthcare. Dawn joined Illumina in 2005 as their first market development specialist and held leadership roles in business units, sales, and marketing for the company. Prior to Illumina, Dawn spent seven years at Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, one of the first genomics startups focused on individualized medicine and DNA-based diagnostic testing, with the primary responsibility of promoting clinical genetics testing services for pharmaceutical clinical trials. Dawn was named San Diego Business Journal’s 2017 Business Woman of the Year.
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About LunaDNA, LunaPBC: The first and largest health and DNA research platform owned by its community.
Bob Kain
CEO & Co-Founder of LunaDNA
Bob Kain is a renowned pioneer in genomics. At Illumina, Bob led the invention of the modern, high throughput genome sequencer that brought the cost from millions of dollars down to less than $1000. He joined Illumina pre-IPO in 1999 and retired in 2014, as the Chief Engineering Officer. Bob is lead inventor on 28 U.S. patents that led to the breakthroughs that have revolutionized genome sequencing. Prior to joining Illumina, Bob was the Director of the Microarray Business Unit at Molecular Dynamics. He is also on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Dovetail Genomics, Singular Genomics, and Edenroc Biosecurity, and is the co-founder of Revere Biosensor. Additionally, he is the co-founder and chairman of the board of a successful health & fitness business, Mesa Rim Climbing and Fitness Center, with multiple locations in San Diego and Reno, Nevada. Bob received a BS in Physics from San Diego State University and an MBA from Saint Mary’s College of California.
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About LunaDNA, LunaPBC, Mesa Rim Climbing Center: The first and largest health and DNA research platform owned by its community.
David Lewis
Co-Founder & CFO of LunaDNA
David Lewis is a Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer at LunaDNA and LunaPBC.
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About Ganley Investment Group, LunaDNA, LunaPBC: The first and largest health and DNA research platform owned by its community.
Chris Mason
Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Avrobio
Chris Mason is the Founder & Chief Scientific Officer at AVROBIO .
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About Avrobio, Cell & Gene Therapy, Krystal Biotech, Ori Biotech, University College London (UCL): Avrobio is a clinical stage company developing step-change cell and gene therapies targeting cancer and rare disease.
Geoff MacKay
Founder, President & CEO of Avrobio
Geoff is a pioneer in cell and gene therapy with a track record of successful leadership at innovative biotechs. He is the former CEO of Organogenesis Inc., the world’s leading cell therapy company. During his tenure at the helm, the company treated 1 million patients with living cell therapies, received the first approval of an allogeneic cell therapy from the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and led the field of regenerative medicine. Geoff is also the founding CEO of eGenesis, a biotech dedicated to applying CRISPR Cas-9 gene editing to xenotransplantation. Earlier in his career, Geoff spent 11 years at Novartis in senior leadership positions within the global transplantation and immunology franchise. Geoff sits on the boards of Talaris Therapeutics and Satellos Bioscience. Past activities include chairman of the board of MassBio, chairman of the board of the Alliance of Regenerative Medicine, and a member of the advisory council to the Health Policy Commission for Massachusetts.
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About Atlas Venture, Avrobio: Avrobio is a clinical stage company developing step-change cell and gene therapies targeting cancer and rare disease.
Jeffrey Medin
Scientific Founder of Avrobio
Jeffrey received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Kentucky. He then trained at the NIH working on gene transcription and gene transfer/therapy. He was recently a Senior Scientist at the University Health Network and a Full Professor at the University of Toronto. In January 2016, Jeffrey started a new position as the MACC Fund Endowed Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He is also Vice Chair of Research Innovation for the Department of Pediatrics, Research Director within the Section of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and GMP Facility Director.
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About Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses, Avrobio, GMP Securities, Medical College of Wisconsin: Avrobio is a clinical stage company developing step-change cell and gene therapies targeting cancer and rare disease.
Christopher Paige
Scientific Founder of Avrobio
Christopher earned a PhD in Immunology at the Sloan-Kettering Division of Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in 1979. He became a Member of the Basel Institute for Immunology in Switzerland in 1980 where he worked until joining the Ontario Cancer Institute as a Senior Scientist in 1987. In 1990, Christopher became the founding Director of the Arthritis and Autoimmunity Research Centre as well as Director of Research at The Wellesley Hospital. In 1997, he returned to OCI, now part of the University Health Network, to assume the role of Vice President, Research at UHN. Christopher is a Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Immunology at the University of Toronto.
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About Avrobio, University of Toronto: Avrobio is a clinical stage company developing step-change cell and gene therapies targeting cancer and rare disease.
Wei Zhou
Founder and CEO of Centrillion Technologies
Dr. Wei Zhou is Founder, President and CEO of Centrillion. While a student at Stanford, he joined the pioneering genomic technology start-up Affymetrix (now NASDAQ: AFFX) where a generation of future industry leaders and scientists were inspired to change the world for the better through genomics. He continues to be fascinated by the profound and positive impact of genomic technologies in scientific research, health care, agriculture and other fields despite the severe limitations of current genomic technologies and is passionate about making genomic technology accurate and accessible. Prior to founding Centrillion, Dr. Zhou was a partner at the technology law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati where he advised life sciences, clean tech and digital media companies and venture capital investors. He also served as a senior advisor to the global law firm Covington and Burling. At Affymetrix, he was a vice president of intellectual property and advanced technology until 2008. He was also credited with building Affymetrix’ rapidly growing China business. Dr. Zhou received his PhD from Virginia Tech (John Lee Pratt Fellow), his postdoctoral training from Emory University Medical School and his JD from Stanford University Law School (Associate Editor, Stanford Law Review). He is also a graduate of Harvard Business School’s General Management Program.
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About Centrillion Technologies: Centrillion Biosciences develops genomics and DNA analyses technology for personalized medicine, life sciences research, and bioinformatics.
Daniel Zurr
CEO, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Quark Pharmaceuticals
Daniel Zurr Ph.D., CEO, Founder and Director, former President of Plantex Ikapharm (currently part of the Teva Group). Dr. Daniel Zurr founded Quark in 1993 and is currently CEO of the Company. Dr. Zurr also currently serves as a Director of QBI. Dr. Zurr has vast experience in senior research and business management in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to establishing QBI, Dr. Zurr was the CEO of Plantex-Ikapharm, then the second largest pharmaceutical company in Israel with more than 300 employees and marketing offices in the United States, Europe and Japan, focused in the field of bulk active ingredients and finished dosage pharmaceuticals. During Dr. Zurr’s tenure, Plantex Ikapharm, now part of the Teva group of companies, became the first Israeli company ever to be inspected and approved by the FDA. In the early eighties, Dr. Zurr served as the Director of Licensing at G.D. Searle in Skokie, Illinois, where he was responsible for the major collaborative agreement between G.D. Searle and Meiji Seika Kaisha (Tokyo), involving the licensing of several drugs and recombinant DNA technology transfer. Dr. Zurr was also responsible for numerous other agreements, including those with Bayer AG (Leverkusen), Ono Pharmaceutical (Osaka) and May and Baker (London).
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About Kunshan RiboQuark Pharmaceutical Technology, Quark Pharmaceuticals: Quark Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of novel RNAi-based therapeutics.
Kunwoo Lee
Co-Founder & CEO of GenEdit
Kunwoo Lee is a CEO and co-founder of GenEdit, which focuses on development next-generation therapeutics for genetic diseases through CRISPR/Cas9 delivery. He has developed many novel delivery systems and published 13 peer-reviewed papers.
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About GenEdit: GenEdit develops next generation therapeutics for genetic diseases through safe and efficient CRISPR/Cas9 delivery.
Derrick Rossi
Founder of Intellia Therapeutics
In 2010, Dr. Rossi discovered a groundbreaking method to reprogram skin cells into stem cells utilizing messenger molecules. His novel technique eliminated the risk of cancer posed by previous methods and sparked a push to develop cellular and molecular therapeutic products using the technologies he developed. More recently, Dr. Rossi and colleagues again innovated in the stem cell field by applying the CRISPR/Cas9 system to generate hematopoietic stem cells resistant to HIV infection. Dr. Rossi continues to study CRISPR for application in human therapeutics.
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About Convelo Therapeutics, Intellia Therapeutics, Moderna Therapeutics, Stelexis Therapeutics: Intellia Therapeutics is a genome editing company that develops curative gene-editing treatments.
Rodolphe Barrangou
Co-Founder of Intellia Therapeutics
Rodolphe Barrangou is an Associate Professor of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University. His lab focuses on the biology and genetics of CRISPR/Cas immune systems in bacteria. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Caribou Biosciences. Rodolphe was previously a Director of Research and Development at DuPont and Danisco. While with Dansico, he was part of the team that initially established the adaptive immune function of CRISPR systems. Rodolphe received his PhD in Functional Genomics from North Carolina State University and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
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About Intellia Therapeutics, North Carolina State University – NCSU: Intellia Therapeutics is a genome editing company that develops curative gene-editing treatments.
Luciano Marraffini
Founder & Advisor of Intellia Therapeutics
Luciano Marraffini is an Assistant Professor of Bacteriology at Rockefeller University. Luciano’s laboratory investigates the underlying molecular mechanisms of CRISPR immunity, and seeks to employ this natural pathway to develop new technologies. He is a 2012 Rita Allen Foundation Scholar and the recipient of a 2012 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. Luciano received his PhD from the University of Chicago where he studied bacterial pathogenesis, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University.
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About Eligo Bioscience, Intellia Therapeutics, The Rockefeller University: Intellia Therapeutics is a genome editing company that develops curative gene-editing treatments.
Jeannie T. Lee
Scientific Co-Founder of Fulcrum Therapeutics
Jeannie T. Lee is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital. She is also a Co-Director of the Epigenetics Initiative at Harvard Medical School and at the Massachusetts Geneteral Hospital.
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About Fulcrum Therapeutics, Massachusetts General Hospital: Fulcrum Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing new medicines to deliver a new future to patients.
Steven Paul
Co-Founder of Voyager Therapeutics
Steven Paul is our Interim President of R&D, a member of the Board of Directors and a Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures. Steven Paul has had a distinguished career in neuroscience with an extensive track record in CNS drug discovery and development. He joined Third Rock in 2010, where he serves as a senior advisor to the firm and participates in the ideation and development of new companies. Steven Paul also currently leads the Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College. Preceding his appointment at Weill Cornell, Steven Paul spent 17 years at Eli Lilly, during which time he held several key leadership roles, including President of the Lilly Research Laboratories, and Vice President of Discovery Research and Neuroscience Research. As President of the Lilly Research Laboratories, he was responsible for the company’s overall R&D strategy, expanding its efforts in oncology and biotechnology and resulting in a pipeline of approximately 70 new molecular entities. Prior to Lilly, Steven Paul served as Scientific Director of the National Institute of Mental Health. He has also served as Medical Director in the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service. Steven Paul has authored or co-authored more than 500 papers and book chapters. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He currently serves on the board or as a trustee of several organizations, including Sage Therapeutics, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, the Sigma Aldrich Company and the Foundation for the NIH. Steven Paul holds a B.A. in biology and psychology from Tulane University and an M.S. and M.D. from the Tulane University School of Medicine.
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About Karuna Therapeutics, SAGE Therapeutics, Third Rock Ventures, Voyager Therapeutics, Voyager Therapeutics: Voyager Therapeutics is a gene therapy company developing treatments for fatal and debilitating diseases of the central nervous system
Raju Kucherlapati
Founder of KEW Group
Raju Kucherlapati, Ph.D. has served as a director since October 2001. He has been a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School since 2001 and served as scientific director of the Harvard Medical School-Partners HealthCare Center for Genetics and Genomics from 2001 to 2008. Dr. Kucherlapati was a founder of Cell Genesys, Inc., Abgenix, Inc. and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and currently serves on the board of Enlight Biosciences LLC. Dr. Kucherlapati holds a B.S. in Biology from P.R. College, Kakinada, India, an M.S. in biology from Andhra University, Waltair, India and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana.
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About Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Genetics Institute, Harvard Medical School, KEW Group: KEW Group is a personalized oncology management company that provides DNA based genomic testing and interpretation services.
Einat Metzer
Co-Founder of Emedgene
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About Emedgene, Emedgene, Yazamiyot: Emedgene provides data-driven AI solutions for genomic diagnostics and discovery at scale.
Tomohiro Takano
Representative Director, CEO, and Founder of Genomelink
Tomo started his career as a member of the founding team of Impact Hub Tokyo. Through his involvement in establishing this social enterprise community center and business incubator, he honed his start-up business acumen and connected with domestic and international entrepreneurs. In his next role as the business development manager of G-TAC, a genomic corporate venture of M3, Inc., he leads major operations in building a genomic healthcare platform within the primary online network of physicians in Japan. His belief in the potential of the genome in widespread applications led to the founding of AWAKENS, Inc. in 2017.
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About Genomelink: Genomelink is a platform where people discover more with their DNA data and help businesses build, market, and do research with it.
Takamasa Kudo
Science Advisor / Founder of Genomelink
Takamasa Kudo is the Science Advisor and Founder of Genomelink.
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About Genomelink: Genomelink is a platform where people discover more with their DNA data and help businesses build, market, and do research with it.
Tian Xu
Co-Founder of AI Therapeutics
Tian Xu is Co-Founder at LAM Therapeutics. He is Member of the Scientific Advisory Board at LAM Therapeutics.
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About AI Therapeutics, DoubleRainbow Biosciences, Drug Farm: AI Therapeutics develops drugs for rare diseases and cancer.
Cullen Buie
Co-Founder of Kytopen
Cullen R. Buie, Ph.D. is a Tenured Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and co-inventor of the high-throughput genetic modification technology. He brings expertise in the areas of microfluidics, microfabrication, and experimental fluid mechanics to Kytopen.
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About Kytopen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Kytopen developer of a cell therapy platform for non-viral delivery of molecules into hard-to-transfect immune cells.
Jeffrey Marrazzo
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of Spark Therapeutics
Jeffrey Marrazzo is co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Spark and serves on the board of directors. He is an experienced entrepreneur dedicated to curing disease through genomic medicine. Jeff was part of the founding management of Generation Health, a pharmacogenomics medicines company that was acquired by CVS Caremark in 2009, and a senior member of the business development and finance teams at Tengion, a venture-backed regenerative medicine company that went public in 2010. Most recently, Jeff launched the U.S. division of Molecular Health, Inc., securing capital and recruiting a management team for this emerging leader in personalized cancer therapy. Throughout his career, he has helped raise or place more than $150 million in venture capital and has led or co-led the formation of novel strategic partnerships with the FDA, Quest Diagnostics, GE Healthcare and SAP. Previously, he served as healthcare advisor to former Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell and as an IBM management consultant to global pharmaceutical companies. He has also advised investment firms such as Goldman Sachs, Safeguard Scientifics and BioAdvance. Jeff holds a dual M.B.A./M.P.A. from The Wharton School and Harvard University, a program which he founded and a B.S.E. and B.A. in systems science and engineering and economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
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About Spark Therapeutics: Spark Therapeutics is focused on the development of gene therapy.
J. Fraser Wright
Co Founder & Chief Technology Officer of Spark Therapeutics
Dr. Fraser Wright is director of the Clinical Vector Core Laboratory at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, a world-class manufacturing facility that has designed, manufactured, characterized and certified recombinant adeno-associated viruses (AAV) and lentiviruses (rLenti) for human gene therapy trials. He is also an associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Fraser has led efforts in basic research, process and analytical methods development, and GMP manufacturing and quality systems supporting translational research. He has overseen investigational product chemistry, manufacturing and controls for gene therapy vectors administered to more than 100 human subjects in 12 clinical studies. His primary research interests focus on the development and clinical translation of gene therapy vectors with the goal of achieving effective new treatments for serious human diseases. With basic training in biochemistry, immunology and virology, Fraser has been engaged for more than 20 years in the development of viral vector-based new biologic products in both industry and academic settings, and previously served as director of development and clinical manufacturing at Avigen, Inc. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Toronto.
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About Sio Gene Therapies, Spark Therapeutics: Spark Therapeutics is focused on the development of gene therapy.
Viviana Gradinaru
Co-Founder of Capsida
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About Capsida: Capsida is a biotechnology company that specializes in tackling monogenetic and sporadic CNS and non-CNS disorders.
Alexis Rovner
Co-Founder & CEO of 64x Bio
Alexis Rovner founded 64-x on August 22, 2017, with George Church, Jeffrey Way, and Pamela Silver, and she serves as its CEO.
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About 64x Bio: 64x Bio builds a platform that increases the speed and scale of mammalian cell line discovery.
Pamela Silver
Founder/Scientific Advisor of 64x Bio
Dr. Silver is Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. Previously she held academic positions at Princeton University and The Dana Farber Cancer Institute. She has made important contributions in the areas of cell biology, cancer and genome organization. Dr. Silver has published seminal papers on the biology of nuclear transport, and has discovered novel nuclear export inhibitors directed at Crm1 and other pathways.
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About 64x Bio, Harvard Medical School: 64x Bio builds a platform that increases the speed and scale of mammalian cell line discovery.
Jeffrey Way
Founder/Scientific Advisor of 64x Bio
Jeffrey Way founded 64-x on August 22, 2017, with George Church, Alexis Rovner and Pamela Silver.
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About 64x Bio: 64x Bio builds a platform that increases the speed and scale of mammalian cell line discovery.
Leo Qian
Co-Founder & Platform Chemistry and Biology of Entrada Therapeutics
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About Entrada Therapeutics: Entrada Therapeutics is a developer of novel therapeutics intended to treat devastating diseases.
Dehua Pei
Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Advisor of Entrada Therapeutics
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About Entrada Therapeutics: Entrada Therapeutics is a developer of novel therapeutics intended to treat devastating diseases.
Mark Kay
Founder of LogicBio Therapeutics
Mark Kay, M.D., Ph.D. has served as a member of LogicBio’s board of directors since January 2016. Dr. Kay is the Dennis Farrey Family Professor in Pediatrics, and a professor of genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he heads the division of human gene therapy. A founder of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, Dr. Kay has served as the society’s president from 2005 to 2006. He holds a B.S. in physical science from Michigan State University and an M.D. and Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University.
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About American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy, LogicBio Therapeutics, Stanford University, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Voyager Therapeutics: LogicBio Therapeutics is a gene therapy startup
Yangbing Zhao
Co-Founder of Tmunity Therapeutics
Yangbing Zhao is currently the Director of the TCEL at the Abramson Cancer Center and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He is a graduate of the Third Medical University in Chongqing, China, where he received his PhD and MD. He was a postdoctoral student and visiting scientist at The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, from 1996 – 2000 where he studied tolerance induction through genetically engineered T cells for allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. For the next two years he was a research associate at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, where he worked on RNA transfected dendritic cell vaccines against tumors. Next, he was a research fellow at the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute at the U.S. National Institutes of Health from 2003 – 2008 where he developed NY-ESO-1 TCR and Her2/Neu CAR transduced T cells into clinical trials. From there, he joined The Translational Research Program under Carl June where he became the director of the TCEL. He is also currently a member of the International Society for the Biological Therapy of Cancer (ISBTC).
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About Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Tmunity Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania, UTC Therapeutics Inc.: Tmunity Therapeutics is developing novel products to unleash the immunological potential of T cells
Carl June
Co-Founder of Tmunity Therapeutics
Carl June is currently Director of Translational Research at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
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About Tmunity Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania: Tmunity Therapeutics is developing novel products to unleash the immunological potential of T cells
James Riley
Co-Founder of Tmunity Therapeutics
James Riley, PhD, co-founder and advisor, is an associate professor of Microbiology and member of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. His research focuses on the cell biology of and therapeutic use of primary human T-cells. He has more than 20 years experience developing adoptive T cell therapies for HIV-1, cancer and autoimmune diseases. He is a graduate in Molecular Biology from Vanderbilt University and Ph.D in Genetics and Molecular Biology from Emory University.
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About Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Tmunity Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania: Tmunity Therapeutics is developing novel products to unleash the immunological potential of T cells
Anne Chew
Co-Founder of Tmunity Therapeutics
Anne Chew, PhD, co-founder and advisor, is the Executive Deputy Director of Penn’s Center for Cellular Immunotherapies. She has extensive experience in translational research and early phase development of investigational T cell and gene therapies.
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About Tmunity Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania: Tmunity Therapeutics is developing novel products to unleash the immunological potential of T cells
Shannon Hall
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pow.bio
Shannon Hall is a Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Pow Genetic Solutions. She also serves as an Advisor at Berkeley SkyDeck.
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About Bio-Rad Laboratories, Pow.bio: Pow.bio provides a genetically engineered solution for fermentation scientists.
Ouwei Wang
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Pow.bio
Ouwei Wang is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Pow.bio.
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About Pow.bio: Pow.bio provides a genetically engineered solution for fermentation scientists.
Ravi Sachidanandam
Co-Founder of Girihlet
Ravi Sachidanandam is currently working on methods of analyzing high-dimensional sequencing data from the immune system to infer states of health. He trained as a physicist before making the jump to genomics. He has worked on a wide range of topics, including algorithms and tools in RNAi, mRNA splicing and bioinformatics. He has also developed more accurate methods of sequencing small RNAs, mitochondrial genomes and the TCR repertoire. Most of the work has been carried out in academic settings, and the IP from this work is the foundation of several patents which led to the founding of Girihlet Inc.
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About Girihlet: Girihlet is a provider of rapid and accurate deep sequencing services with a unique focus on developing novel technologies.
Anitha Jayaprakash
Co-Founder of Girihlet
She started out by setting up the deep-sequencing core at Mount Sinai, NY and enjoyed the science so much that she continued on to get a Ph.D. During her Ph.D she developed several sequencing-related technologies (patents pending). She want to harness these and other sequencing-based technologies to enable more precise delivery of diagnoses and drugs through the development of novel biomarkers
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About Girihlet, Oakland Genome Center: Girihlet is a provider of rapid and accurate deep sequencing services with a unique focus on developing novel technologies.
Barrett Bready
Founder & CEO of Nabsys
Barrett Bready, was founder of Nabsys and CEO from 2005 until 2014 and then again starting in October, 2015. He grew Nabsys from a single employee to 50 and raised $50 million in venture financing to support the company’s growth. Barrett Bready is an adjunct professor at Brown University where he teaches Biotechnology Management, a course on the business of biotechnology. He serves as a commissioner of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, a large land redevelopment project in downtown Providence with a focus on life sciences and other high technology sectors. He has received numerous awards including, in 2011, Rhode Island Innovator of the Year from Providence Business News. Barrett Bready received an M.D. and an Sc.B. in physics from Brown University, both as part of Brown’s Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME).
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About Nabsys: Nabsys is a life sciences company focused on the development of solid-state, single-molecule positional sequencing technology.
Dmitri Petrov
Founder of NGX Bio
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About NGX Bio: NGX Bio is an online marketplace platform for online DNA sequencing services.
Neel S. Madhukar
CEO, Co-Founder of OneThree Biotech
Neel S. Madhukar is the CEO and co-founder of OneThree Biotech, a biotechnology startup developing artificial intelligence platforms to accelerate drug development by efficiently predicting drug targets and clinical effects. He received his PhD in Computational Biology and Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in the lab of Dr. Olivier Elemento and has authored numerous scientific publications in the fields of machine learning, pharmacology, and precision medicine. In one of his recent publications, Neel and his team used machine learning to identify dopamine receptors as the binding target of a novel anti-cancer agent, opening up a new avenue for targeting cancer. For this work, Neel was awarded a PhRMA foundation informatics fellowship for PhD and was named one of Forbes’ “30 under 30 in Healthcare” in 2016. He is currently based at Cornell Tech’s Runway Startup Incubator where he continues his research on AI in drug development and works to further develop OneThree Biotech.
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About Cornell Tech, OneThree Biotech: OneThree Biotech redesigns drug discovery with biology-driven artificial intelligence.
Tommy Stephenson
Co Founder & Chief Technology Officer of BLOCKStrain Technology Corp.
Stephenson is the co-founder of Spark. Since September 1998, he has been Chief Executive Officer of Heated Details Inc., a Seattle-based design and development agency he founded, which provides services to Fortune 500 companies, including Microsoft, Google/YouTube, Starbucks and Mercedes Benz. Mr. Stephenson previously served as the Chief Technology Officer of Ghost Group, a technology company that owns and manages a portfolio of advertising, Web, point-of-sale and logistics solutions for the cannabis industry (including its well-known flagship platform, Weedmaps), from September, 2014, to January, 2016.
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About BLOCKStrain Technology Corp.: Developer of the first integrated blockchain platform that registers and tracks intellectual property for the cannabis industry.
John Alda
Inventor and Founder of Genetic Internet — A Self-organizing World Wide Web (Machine Genetics)
John Alda is the inventor and founder of Genetic Internet and Machine Genetics: The first company to genetically sequence the World Wide Web and genetically engineer information for Internet Search and Advertising. He has authored technical papers on Genetically Engineered Information, Hereditary Internet and the Structure of DATA—the basis for Genetic Internet. Alda is an R&D/prototype engineer. He attended Master of Design (MDes) in Sustainable Urban Environments at Northeastern’s School of Architecture specializing alternative energy. Former Internet applications engineer at Sybase and systems engineer at Netscape. Formerly founder of Stratavision Studios and Stratavision Capital Partners.
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About Genetic Internet — A Self-organizing World Wide Web (Machine Genetics): The first company to genetically sequence the World Wide Web and genetically engineer information for Internet Search and Advertising
Michael Zachary
Founder and Chief of Product of Genetic Internet — A Self-organizing World Wide Web (Machine Genetics)
Michael Zachary is an artist, teacher, tinkerer, and amateur futurist. He is one of the founders of Genetic Internet, where he serves as Chief of Product. His work for GI is the culmination of years of research into the relationship between images, information, and cognition. An internationally exhibiting artist and writer, Michael has taught at Northeastern University, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
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About Genetic Internet — A Self-organizing World Wide Web (Machine Genetics): The first company to genetically sequence the World Wide Web and genetically engineer information for Internet Search and Advertising
RA Session
President, Founder and CEO of Taysha Gene Therapies
RA Session II is the President, CEO and Founder of Taysha Gene Therapies. Mr. Session has nearly 20 years’ experience in the life sciences industry, primarily in business development, corporate strategy and financial roles. Previously, he served as Chief Business Officer of the gene therapy subsidiaries of BridgeBio, as well as Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development at AveXis.
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About Taysha Gene Therapies: Taysha Gene Therapies develops treatments to eradicate severe and life-threatening monogenic diseases of the central nervous system.
David Doyle
Co-Founder and COO of DNA SEQ
David is a Co-Founder of a Los Angeles based technology group developing proprietary IP in three areas of digital technology that were designed to increase the efficiencies of the server side hardware infrastructure, enrich the user experience through client side software, and enhance search methodologies by implementing cognitive resources to the management of data.
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About DNA SEQ: DNA SEQ offers reports that match a patient’s genomic profile to targeted therapies using crystallography-based filtering methodology.
Benjamin Wang
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Chimera Bioengineering
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About Chimera Bioengineering: Chimera solves the challenges of CARs with drug-responsive gene regulators, which allow us to re-program of the immune system.
Gusti Zeiner
Co-Founder & Chief Science Officer of Chimera Bioengineering
Gusti Zeiner is Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer at Chimera Bioengineering.
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About Chimera Bioengineering: Chimera solves the challenges of CARs with drug-responsive gene regulators, which allow us to re-program of the immune system.
J. Venter
Founder & President of J. Craig Venter Institute
J. Craig Venter, PhD, is regarded as one of the leading scientists of the 21st century for his numerous invaluable contributions to genomic research. In addition to his role at HLI, Venter is also Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit, genomics-focused research organization with approximately 250 scientists and staff, and is Founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics Inc.,a privately held company dedicated to commercializing genomic-driven solutions to address global needs such as new sources of energy, new food and nutritional products, and next generation vaccines. Venter began his formal education after a tour of duty as a Navy Corpsman in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. After earning both a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and a PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of California at San Diego, he was appointed professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. In 1984, he moved to the National Institutes of Health campus where he developed Expressed Sequence Tags or ESTs, a revolutionary new strategy for rapid gene discovery. In 1992 Venter founded The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR, now part of JCVI), a not-for-profit research institute, where in 1995 he and his team decoded the genome of the first free-living organism, the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae, using his new whole genome shotgun technique. In 1998, Venter founded Celera Genomics to sequence the human genome using new tools and techniques he and his team developed. This research culminated with the February 2001 publication of the human genome in the journal, Science. He and his team at Celera also sequenced the fruit fly, mouse and rat genomes. Venter and his team at JCVI continue to blaze new trails in genomics. They have sequenced and analyzed hundreds of genomes, and have published numerous important papers covering such areas as environmental genomics, the first complete diploid human genome, and the ground-breaking advance in creating the first self-replicating bacterial cell constructed entirely with synthetic DNA. Venter is one of the most frequently cited scientists, and the author of more than 280 research articles. He is also the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, public honors, and scientific awards, including the 2008 United States National Medal of Science, the 2002 Gairdner Foundation International Award and the 2001 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize. Venter is a member of numerous prestigious scientific organizations including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Society for Microbiology. Venter has published two books, his autobiography A Life Decoded (Viking 2007) and Life at the Speed of Light (Viking 2013) which examines the history and future application of synthetic biology.
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About Agradis, Human Genome Sciences, Human Longevity, J. Craig Venter Institute, Viridos: J. Craig Venter Institute is a non-profit organization engaged in the research of genomics.
Prem Premsrirut
Founder , President & CEO of Mirimus
Prem Premsrirut is an expert in the development and use of RNAi transgenic mice for fast and flexible validation and toxicity assessment of candidate genes targets in vivo. She was an inventor of technological advancements that lead to the development of a high-throughput platform for rapid and efficient generation of conditional RNAi transgenic mice and pioneered a novel approach for the generation of “speedy” chimeric GEMMs based on rederivation of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) from existing mouse strains with a predisposition to cancer. Dr. Premsrirut was an MD/PhD fellow at SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. She received her Ph.D. in genetics and cancer biology following her training in the laboratory of Dr. Scott Lowe. Her work focused on the development of transgenic mouse models to study the effects of tumor maintenance on lung cancer using RNA interference. She received a B.A. in Molecular Cell Biology and Biochemistry from UC Berkeley. She previously worked in the lab of Dr. Ravi Iyengar at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where she studied the downstream effects heterotrimeric G-proteins coupled to muscarinic, dopamine and adrenergic receptors in order to gain an understanding of the signal transduction pathways that play a role in opioid addiction and neuronal development.
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About Mirimus: Mirimus is a producer of custom genetically-engineered mouse models with reverse gene silencing capabilities.
Solomon Ssenyange
Founder & CEO of Single Helix Genomics
Solomon Ssenyange is the CEO and Co-FounderCEO and Co-Founder at Single Helix Genomics.
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About Single Helix Genomics: Single Helix Genomics has developed an automated and portable therapeutics-on-demand (TOD) device.
Michael McElhaugh
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Arbutus Biopharma
Mr. Michael J. McElhaugh, also known as Mike, co-founded Arbutus Biopharma Inc. in 2012 and serves as its Chief Operating Officer. Mr. McElhaugh has over 15 years of combined scientific and business experience. Prior to co-founding OnCore Biopharma, Inc., he was most recently Director of Hepatitis C Worldwide Commercialization at Bristol Myers Squibb where he was responsible for global hepatitis C commercialization. Prior to Bristol Myers Squibb, he was Director, Business Development and Market Analytics at Pharmasset, Inc., where he was an integral contributor to corporate strategy, strategic marketing and business development efforts. He played a key role in the sale of Pharmasset to Gilead Sciences, leading all diligence efforts and commercial analyses. Prior to joining Pharmasset, he held roles of increasing responsibility in Market Research at Viropharma, Inc., and at Merck and Co, Inc. and Thomas Jefferson University as a bench scientist. He holds a B.S. in Psychology from the Saint Joseph’s University, a M.S. in Microbiology from Thomas Jefferson University and an MBA from Cornell University.
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About Arbutus Biopharma: Arbutus Biopharma Corporation is a publicly-traded biopharmaceutical company.
