About Us

Mission & Values

Our mission is to transform the treatment paradigm for patients with inherited disorders by developing durable, broadly applicable, life-altering therapies grounded in innovative and rigorous science. By advancing a new category of genetic medicine, at SalioGen, we aspire to treat all inherited disorders, rare or common. At SalioGen, we bring together multidisciplinary group of scientists, drug developers, business leaders and key opinion leaders both from academia and the biotech industry with the breadth and depth of experience needed to bring new, innovative and transformative therapies to patients in need.

Leadership

Joseph Higgins

Joseph J. Higgins, M.D.

President & Chief Scientific Officer
Board Member

Joseph J. Higgins, M.D.

President & Chief Scientific Officer
Board member

Joe is an executive leader, clinician and scientist dedicated to advancing gene therapies for children and adults with genetic disorders involving the cardiovascular, ophthalmological, neurological, and immunological systems. His background spans pediatrics, child neurology, medical genetics and molecular developmental neurobiology. Joe’s notable scientific achievements include, as part of his efforts on the Human Genome Project as the lead of the Human Genetic Initiative, identifying loci and genes for Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor as well as conducting multiple first-in-human Phase 1/2 clinical trials in enzyme replacement and gene therapies in lysosomal and other disorders. As the Vice President of Clinical Development at uniQure, Joe led Phase 1/2 first-in-human gene therapy trials in Huntington’s disease. His academic background includes positions as an instructor at Harvard Medical School, an Assistant Professor at George Washington University, an Associate Professor at SUNY Albany, and a Professor at Cornell University. Joe has published more than 100 medical journal publications and book chapters as well as numerous gene therapy patents.

Joe received his medical degree from New York Univeristy and graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Biology from Marist College. He is double-board certified in Pediatrics and Neurology with Special Qualification in Child Neurology and is licensed to practice medicine in New York and Massachusetts.

Nancy Craig

Nancy L. Craig, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President of
Genetic Engineering and Mobile Elements, Chair, Scientific Advisory Board

Nancy L. Craig, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President of Genetic Engineering and Mobile Elements
Chair, Scientific Advisory Board

Nancy is widely regarded as a pioneer in the study of mobile genetic elements. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of transposable elements, or mobile sequences of DNA found in the genomes of most known organisms. She has directed a research group focused on identifying mobile elements and studied their mechanisms of action since 1992. A member of the National Academy of Sciences since 2010, she currently serves as Professor Emerita of Molecular Biology & Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She was also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1992-2015. Previously, Nancy was a Professor at the University of California, San Francisco in the Departments of Microbiology & Immunology and of Biochemistry & Biophysics. Nancy is the lead author of “Molecular Biology: Principles of Genome Function”, published by Oxford University Press and now in its third edition and also the editor of “Mobile DNA II” and “Mobile DNA III,” published by the American Society for Microbiology, and widely considered to be the definitive volumes on mobile genetic elements.

Nancy completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health with a focus on genomic integration, and she earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Cornell University, during which her studies included mechanisms of DNA repair. Nancy graduated summa cum laude with an A.B. in Biology and Chemistry from Bryn Mawr College.

Jeff Kopacz

Jeff Kopacz, M.S., J.D.

Senior Vice President of
Intellectual Property & Contracts

Jeff Kopacz, M.S., J.D.

Senior Vice President of Intellectual Property & Contracts

Jeff has extensive intellectual property experience, including experience with building and defending intellectual property protection for platform-based technologies and FDA approved biotherapeutics. Prior to joining SalioGen Therapeutics, he served as Vice-President of Intellectual Property at Omega Therapeutics, where he led intellectual property and contract activities related to their genomic control technology.

Prior to joining Omega, Jeff was at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., for 10 years and served most recently as Senior Director, Senior Intellectual Property counsel. His primary responsibilities included developing and executing the intellectual property strategy for Alnylam’s therapeutic candidates, and he helped build the intellectual property portfolio for the world’s first RNAi-approved medicines, Onpattro®, Givlaari®, Oxlumo®, and Leqvio®. He also helped defend the Alnylam platform intellectual property estate from patent challenges and worked closely with business development supporting various license agreements and collaborations.

Prior to joining Alnylam, Jeff was an attorney at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP (now Locke Lord LLP), where he built the intellectual property estates for numerous commercial products and counseled clients on intellectual property matters in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Jeff began his biopharmaceutical career at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, now Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

Jeff received his undergraduate degree in microbiology for University of Massachusetts at Amherst, his graduate degree in molecular microbiology and immunology from Johns Hopkins University and a law degree from Suffolk University Law School.

Sandeep Nema

Sandeep Nema, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President of
Technical Operations

Sandeep Nema, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President of Technical Operations

Sandeep has exhaustive developmental experience in bringing candidates to clinic that span various modalities including gene therapy, ADCs, mAbs, vaccines, oligonucleotides, bi/trispecific, and CART. Prior to joining SalioGen, he worked for 24 years at Pfizer. Recently his team was successful in bringing Pfizer’s COVID-19 LNP-mRNA vaccine to the clinic and achieving emergency use authorization. In his last role as Executive Director, Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences, Global Biologics he was responsible for all pre-proof of concept biologics projects, approximately 50 in total, from discovery up to Phase 3 start. Before that, Sandeep established the Protein Pharmaceutical R&D group at Pfizer that included Formulation, Microbiology and Stability functions. Sandeep is active in AAPS and PDA where he has served as Chairman, Arden House Conference on “Parenteral Products: Integrating Science, Innovation and Patient Needs,” Co-Chair, AAPS/FDA/USP workshop on “Future Direction in Aseptic Processing,” and past Chair of Sterile Product Focus group. He is also an adjunct Professor at University of Tennessee. In 2019 Sandeep co-edited ‘Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms: Parenteral Medications” (4th edition). In addition, he has served as Steering Committee Member for the Handbook of Pharmaceutical Excipients. Sandeep has been lead formulator for six launched products and has filed more than 100 INDs/IMPDs (CMC module).

Sandeep earned his Ph.D. in Pharmaceuticals from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and his Bachelor of Pharmacy from Banaras Hindu University. He is also a Certified Regulatory Affairs Professional.

Pat Sacco

Pat Sacco

Senior Vice President of Manufacturing, Quality, and Operations

Pat Sacco

Senior Vice President of Manufacturing, Quality, and Operations

Pat is highly experienced as a biotechnology and life sciences executive in technical and general operations, including manufacturing, supply chain, CMC, quality, process sciences and engineering. Most recently, as an independent consultant, he has worked with a number of advanced therapy medicinal product (ATMP) biotech companies, CDMOs and specialized program management clients. Previously, he was the Senior Vice President of Technical Operations at both Translate Bio and Shire (now Takeda), and prior to that held roles of increasing responsibility at Wyeth Biopharma (formerly Genetics Institute) and Genzyme. He has contributed to the development, manufacturing and commercialization of the enzyme replacement therapies, REPLAGAL®, ELAPRASE®, and VPRIV®.

Pat holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). He also serves as a board member of NewAge Industries Inc., QbDVision Inc., and as an advisory board member of Vernal Biosciences Inc.

Joe Senn, Ph.D.

Joe Senn, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President of
Nonclinical Development

Joe Senn, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President of Nonclinical Development

Joe has experience with nearly all therapeutic modalities, including small molecules, biologics, antisense, gene editing and mRNA therapeutics. He most recently served as the Vice President of Nonclinical Development at Moderna Therapeutics for eight years, where he and his team were responsible for progressing over 40 candidates into the clinic. Prior to Moderna, Dr. Senn served as Site Head for Drug Safety at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where he oversaw development of all immunology products across the portfolio.

Dr. Senn received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Physiology from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Board of Directors

Ray Tabibiazar, M.D.

Chairman, Board of Directors

Ray Tabibiazar, M.D.

Chairman, Board of Directors

Ray is a seasoned executive with leadership experience in the healthcare and biopharma industries, including venture capital, pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As a clinician-entrepreneur and as managing director of 526 Ventures, he has focused on creating new ventures in the form of new companies or spinouts to translate innovative science into commercially viable products. Previously, Ray led Aravive Biologics as President and CEO, served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Business Strategy at Twist Bioscience, a venture partner at Bay City Capital, and other senior executive roles.

Prior to moving to industry, Ray was a practicing cardiologist and an adjunct faculty member at Stanford University, having trained as a physician scientist at Harvard Medical School and a cardiologist at Stanford Medical Center. Ray graduated with his medical degree from Harvard Medical School.

Joe J. Higgins, M.D.

President & Chief Scientific Officer | Board member

Craig D. Gordon, M.D.

Board Member

Craig D. Gordon, M.D.

Board Member

Craig D. Gordon, M.D., is the founder of GordonMD Global, a private and public long-biased global biopharmaceutical investment firm. Prior to establishing his own firm, he was an Equity Investment Analyst at The Capital Group for over ten years with research and investment responsibilities for U.S. and Japanese biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Before joining Capital, he was a biotechnology equity research analyst and associate for the Cowen Group in New York. He holds an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business; a doctor of medicine (with research distinction) and Medical Resident Teaching Award from the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine and Jackson Memorial Hospital, respectively; completed his rheumatology training at Duke Medical Center; and holds a bachelor’s degree (with distinction) in economics from Cornell University. Craig lives in Los Angeles.

Sukumar Nagendran, M.D.

Board Member

Sukumar Nagendran, M.D.

Board Member

Suku has more than 30 years of experience in key functional areas, including gene therapy development, clinical development strategy, medical affairs, diagnostics, payer strategy and commercialization of therapeutic products. He currently serves as the President of R&D at Jaguar Gene Therapy. Previously, he was Chief Medical Officer & Senior Vice President of AveXis Inc., prior to the company’s acquisition by Novartis. There, he was responsible for overseeing and driving all clinical development and medical affairs strategy, notably for the company’s late-stage AAV-mediated gene therapy program for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Prior to AveXis, Suku held key leadership positions at Pfizer, Novartis, Daiichi Sankyo, Reata Pharmaceuticals and Quest Diagnostics. During his tenures at these companies, Dr. Nagendran played significant roles in several high-profile product launches and across multiple functions, including clinical trials/operations, field medical, medical product teams, pricing and reimbursement, publications and advocacy. He was also instrumental in building the medical affairs department at Quest Diagnostics, one of the largest lab/diagnostics providers in the world. Suku is a board member of Solid Bio and Taysha Gene Therapies, as well as an advisor for Neurogene, Medocity, Encoded Therapeutics, ANZU Medical and Prognos. Previously, he was a board member and advisor to two SPAC’s, HSACU and Chardan.

Prior to moving to industry, Suku practiced internal medicine, with a focus on diabetes and cardiovascular disease. He is a Mayo Alumni Laureate and founding member of the Robert Wood Johnson Legacy Society. He is also the sponsor for the Fonseca-Nagendran Scholar award at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) to enhance research in minority populations and the sponsor of the Jerry Mendell translational medicine award at ASGCT. Suku received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Rutgers University and his medical degree at Rutgers Medical School. He trained in Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. He has was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award at Rutgers Medical School in 2020.

Sean Stalfort

Board Member

Sean Stalfort

Board Member

Sean is the President of PBM Capital where he sources and structures new investment opportunities, oversees portfolio companies and manages the daily operations of the company. He has been an investor and, on the Board/Board observer of AveXis (sold to Novartis), ArcherDx (sold to Invitae), Dova (sold to SOBI), Verrica (NASDAQ: VRCA), Taysha (NASDAQ: TSHA), and Acumen Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ABOS) as well as current portfolio companies including Xalud Therapeutics, Candel Therapeutics and Lexeo Therapeutics. Prior to PBM Capital, Sean was the Executive Vice President for New Business Development and M&A for PBM Products where he sourced and managed new growth opportunities internationally as well as various capital market activities through the sale of the company to Perrigo for over $800 million. Earlier in his career, Sean worked at several investment firms including Greenwich Capital Markets and CS First Boston.

Sean graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Business Economics and Political Science.

Scientific Advisory Board

Nancy L. Craig, Ph.D. | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Chair, Scientific Advisory Board

Beverly Davidson, Ph.D. | Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Beverly Davidson, Ph.D.

Dr. Davidson is the Chief Scientific Strategy Officer, the Arthur V. Meigs Chair in Pediatrics, and the Director of the Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She is Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania (UPENN). Her research group at CHOP is focused on inherited genetic diseases that cause central nervous system dysfunction. In 2013, she co-founded the gene therapy company Spark Therapeutics, and in 2016 she was a co-founder of Talee Bio (now Spirovant), a biotech company applying gene therapy to treat cystic fibrosis and other genetic lung diseases.

Among other awards, Dr. Davidson received the Hereditary Disease Foundations’ Leslie Gehry Prize for Innovation in Science in 2015, and she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017 and the National Academy of Medicine in 2019. She is president-elect of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, the largest international association of gene and cell therapy research.

Ronald M. Krauss, M.D. | University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine

Ronald M. Krauss, M.D.

Dr. Krauss is an expert on disorders of cholesterol metabolism. He is a professor of pediatrics and Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine and holds the Dolores Jordan Chair at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. Dr. Krauss is board-certified in internal medicine and endocrinology and metabolism and is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, a Fellow of the American Society of Nutrition and the American Heart Association (AHA), and a Distinguished Fellow of the International Atherosclerosis Society. He has been a member of the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults, founder and past Chair of the AHA Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism, and a National Spokesperson for the AHA. He has received numerous honors, including the National AHA Award of Meritorious Achievement.

Dr. Krauss has published over 500 research articles and reviews on genetic, dietary and drug effects on plasma lipoproteins and coronary artery disease. In recent years, Dr. Krauss’ work has focused on interactions of genes with dietary and drug treatments that affect metabolic phenotypes and cardiovascular disease risk.

Ellis J. Neufeld, M.D., Ph.D. | St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Ellis J. Neufeld, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Neufeld, an esteemed hematologist, is the Clinical Director and Physician-in-Chief at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where he holds the John and Lorine Thrasher Chair in Pediatric Medicine. He previously, he served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for 26 years. Before coming to St. Jude in 2017, he was Associate Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Medical Director at the Boston Hemophilia Center, and Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Neufeld has worked as a physician-scientist in the laboratory, studying the genetic basis of inherited blood disorders, and as a clinical researcher in hematology with numerous publications in the areas of hemophilia, thalassemia, and immune thrombocytopenia.

He received his medical degree and Ph.D. from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.

Jesse B. Owens, Ph.D. | University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine

Jesse B. Owens, Ph.D.

Dr. Owens is an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaii at the Institute for Biogenesis Research and John A. Burns School of Medicine. Dr. Owens’ lab is currently investigating new tools for improved genome editing, specifically developing vectors that use transposons and recombinases to enable safer and more efficient gene delivery to diverse tissues.

Thomas Quertermous, M.D. | Stanford University School of Medicine

Thomas Quertermous, M.D.

Dr. Quertermous is a noted cardiovascular geneticist currently serving as the William G. Irwin Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University. His research group employs large-scale human genetics studies to characterize the genetic basis of atherosclerosis, and related risk factors such as hypertension and insulin resistance. He is also the founder and director of Cardiovascular Metabolic Consulting.

Dr. Quertermous established an independent laboratory in the Cardiac Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1987. He was recruited to Vanderbilt University in 1991 as Chief of Cardiology and Professor of Medicine and Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. Dr. Quertermous moved to Stanford University in 1997, where he assumed leadership of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. He completed clinical training in cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and research training in molecular genetics in the Department of Genetics at the Harvard Medical School.

Matthew H. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D. | Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Thomas Quertermous, M.D.

Dr. Quertermous is a noted cardiovascular geneticist currently serving as the William G. Irwin Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University. His research group employs large-scale human genetics studies to characterize the genetic basis of atherosclerosis, and related risk factors such as hypertension and insulin resistance. He is also the founder and director of Cardiovascular Metabolic Consulting.

Dr. Quertermous established an independent laboratory in the Cardiac Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1987. He was recruited to Vanderbilt University in 1991 as Chief of Cardiology and Professor of Medicine and Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. Dr. Quertermous moved to Stanford University in 1997, where he assumed leadership of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. He completed clinical training in cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and research training in molecular genetics in the Department of Genetics at the Harvard Medical School.

Executive Advisory Board

Andrew Lo, Ph.D. | The Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor of Finance and the Director of the Laboratory for Financial Engineering at the MIT Sloan School of Management, co-Founder of BridgeBio Pharma

Mathai Mammen, M.D., Ph.D. | Founder, Theravance; formerly EVP of Pharmaceuticals, R&D at Johnson & Johnson; formerly SVP, R&D at Merck

John Maraganore, Ph.D. | Founding Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and director of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. | The Robert J. Margolis Professor of Business, Medicine, and Policy, and founding Director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Advisors

Brian Hew, Ph.D. | University of Hawaii

Brian Hew, Ph.D.

Dr. Hew is a researcher specializing in molecular biology at the University of Hawaii. Previously, he was a lecturer at Kapiolani Community College, a research scientist at Black Ivory Biotech, and a research technician and graduate assistant at the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Washington, and his Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Andrew Knudten, M.S., MBA | Jaguar Gene Therapy

Andrew Knudten, M.S., MBA

Mr. Knudten serves as chief operating officer at Jaguar Gene Therapy. He previously occupied the positions of chief technical officer at Cirius Therapeutics, Inc., operations director at Amgen, Inc., global head of contract manufacturing at Novartis AG and chief technical officer at AveXis, Inc. (now Novartis Gene Therapy), where he led development and commercialization of Zolgensma® from a manufacturing, process development and supply chain perspective.

Mark E. Pennesi, M.D., Ph.D. | Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University

Mark E. Pennesi, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Pennesi is an inherited retinal degeneration specialist at the Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, where he leads the institute’s gene therapy programs. He serves as the Kenneth C. Swan associate professor in ophthalmic genetics and as the chief of the Paul H. Casey Ophthalmic Genetics Division, where his research focuses on developing novel treatments for inherited retinal diseases.

Both Research to Prevent Blindness and the Foundation Fighting Blindness have recognized Dr. Pennesi with career development awards to support his ambition to conduct transitional research that will bring treatments for diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa from the laboratory to the clinic.
Dr. Pennesi completed a residency at University of California, San Francisco and a combined M.D./Ph.D. at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

Renee Ryals, Ph.D. | Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University

Renee Ryals, Ph.D.

Dr. Ryals is a Research Assistant Professor in the department of Ophthalmology at the Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University. She has a joint appointment in the Molecular and Medical Genetics department at OHSU. Dr. Ryals has been studying inherited retinal degenerations for over ten years and has authored 19 peer-reviewed publications to date.

Gaurav Sahay, Ph.D. | Oregon State University

Gaurav Sahay, Ph.D.

Gaurav Sahay is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy at Oregon State University. Dr. Sahay’s lab is developing novel nanotechnology-based platforms including lipid-based nanoparticles for effective delivery of messenger RNA therapeutics for treatment of cystic fibrosis, retinal degeneration and against SARS-CoV-2. He has done pioneering work to dissect the intracellular transport essential for nucleic acid delivery to the cytosol and developed methods to overcome endosomal barriers. Dr. Sahay has 48-peer-reviewed publications in top tier journals including Science Advances, Nature, Nature Communications, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Nanotechnology, Journal of Controlled Release and Nano Letters. Dr. Sahay is the winner of a 2013 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Postdoctoral Fellow Award, the 2015 Controlled Release Society (CRS) T. Nagai Award, a 2016 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) New Investigator Award, a 2019 Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU) Distinguished Faculty Senate Award for Collaboration, 2020 Phi Kappa Phi OSU Emerging Scholar Award and 2020 CMBE Young Innovator Award. Sahay lab is funded through the National Institutes of Health, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and biotech companies. He serves as a consultant and scientific advisory board member to several biotech and venture capital firms and Gaurav was the Chair of the 2018 NanoMedicine and Drug Delivery Symposium (NanoDDS, Portland, OR) and is current Chair of CRS GDE Focus Group. Dr. Sahay completed his postdoctoral research with Prof. Robert Langer and Prof. Daniel Anderson at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT and received his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska Medical Center under the mentorship of Prof. Alexander Kabanov.

Troy Short | Jaguar Gene Therapy

Troy Short

Mr. Short is currently the vice president of manufacturing and supply chain at Jaguar Gene Therapy. Previously, at AveXis, Inc. (now a subsidiary of Novartis AG), he served as the vice president of supply chain, building the global supply chain for the gene therapy product for spinal muscular atrophy now marketed as Zolgensma®. He was also the director of supply chain at Pfizer, where he managed all activities related to supply chain for the company’s McPherson, Kansas site. Mr. Short received his Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering at Kansas State University.

Wayne Tschetter, Ph.D. | Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University

Wayne Tschetter, Ph.D.

Dr. Tschetter is a senior research associate at the Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University. Prior to joining the Casey Eye Institute, he was an Associate Professor of Biology at Concordia University in Portland. He received his undergraduate degree in Neuroscience from the University of Lethbridge in 2006, and his Ph.D. in Physiology, Biophysics and Systems Biology from Cornell University, Weill Medical College.

Matthew Wilson, M.D., Ph.D. | Vanderbilt University

Matthew Wilson, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Wilson is an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. His clinical expertise is in treating patients with chronic kidney disease, and his research group is focused on introducing new therapeutics approaches harnessing the biology of transposons for gene transfer for preventing kidney disease progression and complications.

Dr. Wilson earned his medical degree and his Ph.D. in pharmacology from Vanderbilt University.

Jonathan Yen, Ph.D. | St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Jonathan Yen, Ph.D.

Jonathan Yen is a director in the Department of Hematology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and his Ph.D. in bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. His postdoctoral training took place in the Engineering Therapeutics group in the Chemical Biology & Therapeutics at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. He worked on the application and development of non-viral delivery modalities and CRISPR-Cas9 for the treatment of sickle cell disease. After his postdoctoral training, he joined Beam Therapeutics as a scientist to develop the therapeutic application of base editors for the treatment of hemoglobinopathies. He is currently at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to continue to develop and apply novel genome editing tools and new delivery modalities for the treatment of sickle cell disease.

Collaborators

Frederick Dyda, Ph.D.

Jaguar Gene Therapy

Frederick Dyda, Ph.D.

Dr. Dyda is a senior investigator at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. His scientific areas of focus include molecular biology, biochemistry and structural biology. Currently, his research at the NIH is focused on molecular and structural biology of mobile genetic elements. Dr. Dyda received his undergraduate education at Eötvös Lóránd University and his Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh in 1992.

Alison B. Hickman, Ph.D.

National Institutes of Health

Alison B. Hickman, Ph.D.

Dr. Hickman is a staff scientist in Dr. Frederick Dyda’s research group at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Hickman received her Bachelor of Science degreefrom McGill University, and her Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1990.

Investors

General Inception
Superstring Capital
Yonjin Venture
SSI Accelerator