Fyodor Urnov is a Professor of Molecular Therapeutics at UC Berkeley and a Scientific Director at its Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI). He co-developed the toolbox of human genome and epigenome editing, co-named genome editing, and was on the team that advanced all of its first-in-human applications to the clinic. He also led the effort that identified the genome editing target for an approved medicine to treat sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia.

A major goal for the field of genome editing and a key focus of Fyodor's work is expanding access to CRISPR therapies for genetic disease. As part of that effort Fyodor directs the Danaher-IGI Beacon for CRISPR Cures - a first-in-class academia-industry partnership developing and advancing to the clinic scalable CRISPR-based approaches to treat diseases of the immune system.

Daniel Bauer is a physician-scientist whose research focuses on functional genomics to dissect determinants of blood disorders and develop innovative therapies.

He discovered the gene editing approach targeting the BCL11A erythroid enhancer that was developed as exa-cel, now approved for sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia treatment. He has described mechanisms of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) repression, demonstrated how human genetic diversity alters therapeutic gene editing outcomes, and uncovered how the hematopoietic stem cell state constrains the efficiency and genotoxicity of nuclease, base and prime editing.

He has sponsored investigator-initiated clinical trials of therapeutic gene editing. His clinical work focuses on non-malignant hematology.

He is Donald S. Fredrickson, MD Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Gene Therapy Program at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Tirtha Chakraborty specializes in Genetic Medicines. In his most recent position, he was the Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Technical Operations at Vor Bio, a clinical stage company, focused on AML treatment using hematopoietic transplant and immuno-therapy. At Vor, he oversaw both Research as well as Process and Analytical Development and GMP manufacturing. His team was responsible for the early Research and Development of trem-cel, a CD33-null allogeneic transplant and VCAR33, a CD33 directed CAR-T therapy. Both cellular medicines were in clinical trials.

Before joining Vor, Dr. Chakraborty was the VP of Cell Therapy Research at Sana Biotechnology. Prior to Sana, he was the Head of Hematology at CRISPR Therapeutics, leading the platform development and pre-clinical work for regulatory filing of the first ever genome-edited transplant, Casgevy (exa-cel), for Beta-thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease.

Prior to that, Dr. Chakraborty oversaw the therapeutic mRNA technology platform development at Moderna Therapeutics, paving the foundation for the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. In his academic life, he was trained as a molecular geneticist and investigated the role of post-transcriptional gene regulation in lymphocyte development and lymphomagenesis using genetic engineering.

In 2009, Tom Foti co-founded Aldevron’s Protein Business Unit and currently serves in the role of Vice President / General Manager. Aldevron’s Protein Business Unit offers development and manufacturing services to the research, diagnostic and therapeutic markets and is based in Madison, WI.

Tom has been instrumental in developing and launching the CRISPR product line at Aldevron. From off-the-shelf products to custom GMP manufacturing, he and his team have helped clients advance their programs from concept to the clinic. His guidance and foresight have kept Aldevron in a leadership position in the competitive gene and cell therapy markets.

Tom has more than 30 years of biotechnology experience and prior to joining Aldevron, he served in several roles in Merck KGaA’s Bioscience Division (2000-2008), most recently as the Director of its Global Custom Services Business. He started his career in 1992, with Novagen, Inc. serving in scientific, manufacturing and operational roles until 1999. He played college basketball while earning a Bachelor’s of Science in Biotechnology and Microbiology from North Dakota State University. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Edgewood College and a Management Leadership Certificate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Sadik H. Kassim is a highly-regarded scientist and executive with extensive experience in biotechnology with a specific focus on cell and gene therapy bioprocessing and translational research. Currently, he is Chief Technology Officer at Danaher with a focus on genomic medicines. He previously was Chief Technology Officer at Vor Bio where he built the technical operations team responsible for process development, analytical development, supply chain, and manufacturing support of a CRISPR gene-edited HSPC product and oversaw the company’s CAR-T efforts. Prior to Vor, Sadik was Executive Director at Kite Pharma and led development of manufacturing processes for autologous CAR-T and TCR-based cell therapies. As the Chief Scientific Officer at Mustang Bio, Sadik managed the foundational build-out of the company’s preclinical and manufacturing activities.

Earlier in his career, Sadik was Head of Early Analytical Development for Novartis’ Cell and Gene Therapies Unit and worked on research teams at the National Cancer Institute with Dr. Steven Rosenberg, the University of Pennsylvania Gene Therapy Program with Dr. Jim Wilson, and Johnson and Johnson’s Immunology Discovery group. Sadik and his teams have contributed to the successful BLA and MAA applications for three of the commercially available CAR-T therapies: Kymriah®, Yescarta®, and Tecartus®. Sadik holds a B.S. degree in cell and molecular biology from Tulane University and earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from Louisiana State University.