Skip to Main Content

The Editas Medicine Mission

Our mission is to translate the power and potential of genome editing into a broad class of gene editing medicines that transform lives of people living with serious diseases.

What We’re Working On

We’re using CRISPR, a powerful genome editing technology to develop new gene edited medicines. We are researching and developing both in vivo gene editing medicines, which edit genes inside the body, and ex vivo gene editing cell medicines, where editing occurs in cells outside the body and those edited cells are transferred into patients.

Hear about some of our work featured in the news on NPR.

Dive into our work

Download

Gene editing has the potential to change outcomes within a broad range of diseases. Right now, we’re concentrating our efforts on hemoglobinopathies and in vivo editing, including hematopoietic stem cells and other tissue types.

Blood diseases

Sickle cell disease (SCD), Beta thalassemia

Oncology

Advancing cellular therapy assets through partnerships, including continued development of alpha-beta T-cells medicines with Bristol-Myers-Squibb and gamma-delta T-cell medicines with Immatics N.V.


Executive Leadership

  • Gilmore O’Neill, M.B, M.M.Sc.,

    President and Chief Executive Officer

  • Gilmore is President and Chief Executive Officer of Editas Medicine and a member of the Editas Board of Directors. He joined Editas Medicine in June 2022.

    Gilmore brings to Editas more than 20 years of experience in genetic medicine, neurobiology, and clinical development. Gilmore also has a track record of driving and leading several of biotech’s most successful clinical programs and achieving marketing approvals for several medicines, including Amondys®, Vyondys®, Spinraza®, Plegridy®, and Tecfidera®.

    Gilmore most recently served as Executive Vice President of R&D and Chief Medical Officer at Sarepta Therapeutics. During his tenure at Sarepta, he led the R&D leadership team accountable across the value chain from creating and driving discovery, preclinical and clinical development, and global regulatory strategy of its RNA and gene therapeutic portfolio through to Medical Affairs support of the marketed products. Prior to that, Gilmore held several leadership roles at Biogen over a 15-year period, most recently serving as Senior Vice President responsible for all late-stage clinical development. During his tenure at Biogen, Gilmore oversaw development programs for rare disease, gene and cell therapy, neuromuscular disease, pain, multiple sclerosis, acute neurology, movement disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease.

    Gilmore currently serves on the Board of Directors at UNITY Biotechnology, Inc., a biotechnology company developing therapeutics to slow, halt, or reverse diseases of aging, and at Aptinyx Inc., a biotechnology company developing therapies for the treatment of brain and nervous system disorders.

    Gilmore received a Bachelor of Medicine degree from University College Dublin, a Master of Medical Sciences degree from Harvard University and completed his Neurology Residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is licensed to practice medicine in the state of Massachusetts.

  • Linea Aspesi,

    Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer

  • Linea is Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Editas Medicine. She joined Editas in February, 2023, and is responsible for developing and implementing the strategic Human Resources vision and the people strategy in support of the mission and goals of the Company.

    Linea is an influential human resources business executive and leader with more than 25 years of proven success defining, shaping, and implementing equitable, inclusive, and dynamic talent strategies for accelerated company growth that align to company vision, mission, and values.

    Linea brings to Editas 15 years of experience in the life sciences sector, from discovery through commercialization, particularly in rare diseases, and has partnered with senior leaders to define and scale human capital strategies in areas including diversity, equity, and inclusion; employee experience, advocacy, and well-being; mergers and acquisitions; talent acquisition and retention; succession and performance planning; cultural innovation; transformation integration; and organizational design.

    Linea joins Editas from Forma Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on transforming the lives of patients with rare hematologic diseases and cancers. Linea served as Chief Human Resources Officer and successfully led the negotiations related to the people elements of the US $1B acquisition of Forma by Novo Nordisk in late 2022. Prior to joining Forma, Linea served as Saniona’s first Chief Human Resources Officer, where she established the HR value model and shaped a dynamic culture around the core value of “Put People First” to prepare the organization for commercial launch. Previously, she also served as Vice President and Head of Human Resources and Office Management for North America at Sobi, Inc. At Sobi, Linea focused on a significant expansion and acquisition strategy for the region, integrating more than 130 employees from the $2.5 billion acquisition of immunology therapy Synagis® from AstraZeneca, and building the commercial organization and capabilities in 90 days to launch Gamifant® to treat an ultra-rare genetic disease.

    Earlier in her career, Linea held positions of increasing responsibility at Sanofi and Genzyme, including her most recent position as Head of Human Resources to the Industrial Affairs organization in North America. Here, she led an HR team of more than 25 HR practitioners and focused on manufacturing plant optimization, business development, and expansion. Additionally, Linea led the HR team supporting the Boston Hub R&D organization and Sanofi Genzyme, delivering strategic HR services for the launch of Kevzara® and Dupixent®, in the newly formed Immunology franchise in 2017.

    Linea earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

  • Linda C. Burkly, Ph.D.,

    Executive Vice President and
    Chief Scientific Officer

  • Linda is Chief Scientific Officer of Editas Medicine. She joined Editas Medicine in July 2023 and is responsible for leading the drug discovery team and activities related to Editas Medicine’s pipeline of experimental medicines across all therapeutic areas and indications.

    Linda brings to Editas more than 35 years of experience in biotechnology as a research leader spanning the breadth of the drug discovery and development value chain in therapeutic areas of immunological, neurological, and rare genetic disorders. Linda also has a track record of contributing to the foundations of approved medicines and late-stage clinical candidates, including Trogarzo®, Tysabri®, and Dapirolizumab (currently in Phase 3 development), her role ranging across inventing therapeutic compositions, discovering novel pathway biology and uses of therapeutic compositions, co-authoring INDs, and leading project teams.

    Prior to joining Editas, Linda held positions of increasing responsibility over a 37-year tenure at Biogen. She most recently served as Vice President and Senior Distinguished Investigator from 2014 to 2022. In this role, she led neuroscience-focused research teams in target identification to advancement, leveraging genetic and small molecule modalities to discover and develop differentiated medicines for genetic and neurodevelopmental disorders. Linda also developed disease area strategy and advanced programs in neuroinflammation as Head of Acute Neurology Research.

    Earlier in her career, Linda led teams to discover and develop drugs for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases as Vice President and Senior Distinguished Investigator in Immunology. During this time, Linda invented a novel anti-CD4 mAb that was developed into Trogarzo®, discovered novel VLA-4/VCAM biology and uses of VLA-4 blockers including for Crohn’s disease, an indication of Tysabri®, and was Biogen lead on a partnered collaboration with UCB and therein an inventor of Dapirolizumab. Linda also devised an AAV Vector Immunogenicity and Toxicity Mitigation project, leading contributors across five functions to deliver solutions to mitigate toxicity and enable gene therapy development.

    As a scientific innovator, Linda is an inventor on 17 issued U.S. patents. She is also a recognized scholar, featured in the Elsevier and Stanford University list of the top 2% of the most cited scientists worldwide cumulatively until August 2021, with 168 publications, including 144 peer-reviewed original papers.

    Linda holds a Ph.D. from Tufts University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Boston, MA, and a B.S. from Fairfield University. She completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the laboratory of Richard A. Flavell, Biogen Research Corp.

  • Caren Deardorf,

    Executive Vice President and
    Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer

  • Caren Deardorf is Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer of Editas Medicine. She joined Editas Medicine in September 2023 and is responsible for building and leading Editas Medicine’s commercial organization, strategy, and execution to support all launch, commercialization, and lifecycle management activities of the Company’s current and future pipeline of products.

    Caren brings to Editas more than 25 years of international biotechnology leadership experience across a range of companies and therapeutic areas. Most recently, Caren served as the Chief Commercial Officer of Magenta Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company. Prior to Magenta, she served as the Chief Commercial Officer of Ohana Biosciences where she was responsible for developing a commercial strategy, including planning for the company’s first product launch.

    Earlier in her career, Caren held a variety of commercial roles of increasing responsibility at Biogen, most recently serving as Vice President, Product Development & Commercialization, leading and executing a highly successful global launch of SPINRAZA®, a treatment for children and adults with spinal muscular atrophy. During her tenure at Biogen, Caren was instrumental in building the multiple sclerosis (MS) franchise and helping to establish Biogen’s global leadership through US and worldwide brand management, including leading the brand and launch strategy for TECFIDERA® and the successful US and EU launches of TYSABRI® and AVONEX®.

    Caren serves on the Board of Directors of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, a public pharmaceutical company focused on therapies for the field of endocrinology, and of NeuroSense Therapeutics, a public pharmaceutical company in the field of ALS and neurodegenerative diseases. She is a long-time cyclist and board member for the Pan-Mass Challenge, a non-profit organization that raises funds for Dana-Farber Center Institute.

    Caren holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Tufts University and a Master of Business Administration from the Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College.

  • Chi Li, Ph.D., MBA, RAC,

    Senior Vice President and Chief Regulatory Officer

  • Chi is Senior Vice President and Chief Regulatory Officer of Editas Medicine. He joined Editas Medicine in June 2021 and is responsible for leading Editas Medicine’s regulatory affairs strategy and activities related to its drug development programs.

    Chi brings to Editas more than 20 years of experience in drug development in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. He played an important and strategic role in the development, submission, and approval of several drugs and biologics across a number of therapeutic areas, globally and in the United States. Before joining Editas, Chi served as Chief Regulatory Officer at Celularity, and as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs at both Allergan and Bayer.

    Chi earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Purdue University and an MBA from Rutgers University. He holds a Regulatory Affairs Certification from the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society.

  • Erick Lucera,

    Executive Vice President and
    Chief Financial Officer

  • Erick is Chief Financial Officer of Editas Medicine. He joined Editas Medicine in May 2023 and oversees the finance, investor relations, corporate communications, and information technology teams and activities.

    Erick brings to Editas more than thirty years of financial, operational, and investment experience in life sciences. He most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of AVEO Pharmaceuticals, where he helped scale the company from a clinical stage entity, through FDA approval and commercial launch, to its acquisition by LG Chem. Prior to AVEO, Erick served as Chief Financial Officer of commercial stage, medical technology company Valeritas, helping develop the company’s international distribution strategy and additional indications for its insulin pump. He also has extensive business development experience from when he served as Vice President, Corporate Development at Aratana Therapeutics, where he helped significantly expand the company’s product pipeline through a series of license deals and corporate acquisitions.

    Prior to his experience in industry, Erick spent more than fifteen years in investment management as a healthcare analyst at Eaton Vance, portfolio manager of the Triathlon Life Sciences Fund at Intrepid Capital, and as head of the healthcare research team at Independence Investments. Erick has board of directors’ experience with public companies and within the non-profit community. He holds a CPH from Harvard University, an MS from Boston College, an MBA from Indiana University, and a BS from the University of Delaware.

  • Baisong Mei, M.D., Ph.D.,

    Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer

  • Baisong is Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Editas Medicine. He joined Editas Medicine in July 2022 and is responsible for leading the development activities related to Editas Medicine’s pipeline of experimental medicines across all therapeutic indications including hematology, oncology, and ophthalmology.

    Baisong brings to Editas more than 20 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, spanning the entire drug development life cycle across multiple disease areas, including hematology, neurology, and other diseases. During his career, Baisong has demonstrated a strong track record in bringing novel medicines through clinical development including global regulatory approval of Alprolix®, Eloctate ®, and Onpattro®. He has led clinical development for multiple new molecular entities (protein, siRNA, gene therapy, and small molecule), from first in human to Phase 3 studies (including pediatric studies) and to regulatory approval in the U.S., EU, Japan, China, and other regions.

    Before working in clinical development, Baisong had a successful career in drug discovery research and CMC development where his leadership and inventions led to the discoveries of one approved drug (Jivi®) and one drug candidate with recent BLA filing (efanesoctocog alfa). Baisong has also led several external strategic partnership collaborations for clinical development and drug discovery.

    Baisong joined Editas Medicine from Sanofi where he served as Senior Global Project Head in Rare Disease and Rare Blood Disorders. His leadership was critical to the clinical development in several rare diseases in hematology, neurology, and nephrology. Prior to Sanofi, Baisong was the Therapeutic Area Head for Hematology Clinical Development at Biogen where he led non-malignant hematology including hemophilia, sickle cell disease, and beta thalassemia clinical programs. Earlier in his career, Baisong held leadership positions with increasing responsibilities in drug discovery research and CMC development at Biogen and Bayer.

    Baisong earned his Ph.D. from The University of Toledo in Ohio and received his medical education at Bengbu Medical College and Wuhan University School of Medicine in China. Baisong also held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California San Francisco and the University of California Berkeley. He was a faculty member at the Wuhan University School of Medicine in his early career.

  • Charlene Stern, Ph.D., J.D.,

    Executive Vice President and General Counsel

  • Charlene is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Editas Medicine, and she was part of the team that launched Editas Medicine in 2013. As General Counsel, she oversees and manages all legal matters, including corporate governance, securities compliance and SEC reporting, partnering and licensing transactions, financings, and intellectual property strategy. She also serves as Editas Medicine’s Corporate Secretary. Prior to Editas Medicine, Charlene was senior patent counsel at AVEO Oncology, where she was responsible for developing and executing AVEO’s intellectual property strategy. Earlier in her career, she was a senior attorney in the Boston office of Goodwin LLP and a patent agent at Foley Hoag LLP. Before beginning her legal career, Charlene was an American Cancer Society post-doctoral fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She received her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School, a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from Yale University, and an A.B. in biochemistry from Mount Holyoke College.

Board of Directors

Emma Reeve joined the Editas Medicine Board of Directors in September 2021 as an independent director. She was appointed Chair of the Board in June 2023. Emma is an accomplished biopharmaceutical executive with more than 25 years of global financial experience across pharmaceutical, medical device, and bio-pharma companies.

Most recently, Emma served as Chief Financial Officer of Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a development-stage oncology company, prior to its acquisition by MorphoSys AG in 2021. Emma led Constellation’s IPO in 2018.

Prior to Constellation, Emma acted as interim Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Controller of Parexel International, a global biopharmaceutical services company, where she was responsible for all aspects of finance, investor relations, procurement, and facilities. In this role, she led the finance aspects of a sell-side process which culminated in an agreement to take the company private in a $5 billion leveraged buy-out.

Earlier in her career, Emma served as Chief Financial Officer of both Inotek Pharmaceuticals and Aton Pharma. Additionally, she held senior finance and operational roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, and Novartis.

Emma holds a B.Sc. in computer science from Imperial College, University of London and is an associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.

Dr. Meeta Chatterjee joined the Editas Medicine Board of Directors in December 2020. Meeta is an accomplished biopharmaceutical executive with more than 30 years of broad strategic and operational experience in research and development, mergers and acquisition evaluation, in-licensing, and externalization activities.

Most recently, Meeta served as Senior Vice President of Global Business Development at Legend Biotech where she provided oversight for all business development activities including prioritizing opportunities, managing evaluations, and executing transactions. Meeta also leads Alliance Management activities at Legend.

Prior to joining Legend Biotech, Meeta was Head of Strategy, Transactions, and Operations in the Business Development and Licensing (BD&L) group at Merck Research Labs. In that role, Meeta oversaw all discovery and late-stage transactions worldwide and early-stage transactions in key geographies. She was also responsible for Merck Research Labs BD&L governance as well as out-licensing efforts.

Over the course of her extensive career, she has led or contributed to numerous successful transactions and collaborations that had significant strategic and financial impact on the overall business. In her roles within research, she led programs in the areas of hypertension, atherosclerosis, and obesity, including programs leading to the discovery of ZETIA® and ZONTIVITY®.

Meeta holds a B.A. in Physics from Rutgers University, and a Ph.D. in Physiology from Rutgers University. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Physiology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

Meeta serves on the Board of Directors at Werewolf Therapeutics, Inc.

Bernadette Connaughton joined the Editas Medicine Board of Directors in October 2021. Bernadette is an accomplished pharmaceutical executive with more than 30 years of global strategic, commercial, and biopharmaceutical industry expertise.

Bernadette spent her career at Bristol Myers Squibb, building a consistent track record of achieving sales growth, improving operational models, and increasing profitability in the U.S., European, and Asian markets. She most recently served as President, Intercontinental. In this role, she developed successful, multi-year commercialization strategies for several oncology, virology, and immunology products.

Bernadette currently serves on the Board of Directors of Zealand Pharma A/S and Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Boys and Girls Club of Mercer County, New Jersey. She was previously a member of the Board of Directors of Syneos Health, Inc., and Visterra, Inc.

Bernadette received her Bachelor of Arts from Johns Hopkins University and her Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Andrew joined the Editas Medicine Board of Directors in May 2017 and holds more than 30 years of experience in a range of strategic and operating business roles, including more than 25 years in the biotech industry. Andrew currently serves as President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of C4 Therapeutics (C4T). Prior to C4T, Andrew served as Chief Financial Officer at Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and as its Head of Corporate Development. Earlier in his career, Andrew served as President and Chief Executive Officer of BIND Therapeutics, Inc., and as Chief Financial Officer at Avila Therapeutics, Inc., until its acquisition by Celgene Corporation. He also held roles of increasing responsibility during his nearly 10-year tenure at Biogen, including Vice President of Corporate Strategy and M&A and Program Executive for the Tecfidera development team.

Andrew holds an MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College and a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jessica is a scientist and business leader with more than two decades of experience in the medical and healthcare fields. She joined the Editas Medicine Board of Directors in February 2018. Jessica serves as an Independent Director on the Board of Directors of Insulet Corporation, Maravai LifeSciences, Inc., and Berkeley Lights, Inc. Jessica is also a strategic advisor to and investor in start-up healthcare firms.

Jessica is a former Partner of McKinsey & Company in its global pharmaceuticals and medical devices practice, where she led work in strategy, R&D management, and marketing across pharmaceutical, biotech, medical-device, and consumer industries. She also held management positions at Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. in clinical development, outcomes research, and marketing.

Jessica earned a BS from Yale College, an MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration as a Baker Scholar, and a Ph.D. in neuroscience/biochemistry from the Rockefeller University.

Elliott Levy, M.D., joined the Editas Medicine Board of Directors in April 2023. Elliott is an accomplished biopharmaceutical executive with more than 20 years of global research and development expertise, including leading clinical strategy and development for multiple programs at all stages of development at global biopharmaceutical companies Amgen and Bristol Myers Squibb.

Elliott served as Senior Vice President and Head of Global Development and R&D Strategy and Operations at Amgen from 2014-2021. Prior to Amgen, he was a Senior Vice President at Bristol Myers Squibb, where he held various R&D positions of increasing responsibility during his 17-year tenure at the company.

Elliott currently serves on the Board of Omega Therapeutics, Inc. and NuCana plc, both public biotechnology companies. In addition, he is a Venture Partner at 5AM Venture Management, LLC, and is a co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer of the Intrepid Alliance, an industry-led non-profit consortium whose objective is to accelerate the development of small molecule therapeutics for potential viral pandemic agents.

Elliott received his B.A. in History from Yale College and an M.D. from the Yale School of Medicine, where he also completed fellowship training in internal medicine, nephrology, and clinical research.

Gilmore is President and Chief Executive Officer of Editas Medicine and a member of the Editas Board of Directors. He joined Editas Medicine in June 2022.

Gilmore brings to Editas more than 20 years of experience in genetic medicine, neurobiology, and clinical development. Gilmore also has a track record of driving and leading several of biotech’s most successful clinical programs and achieving marketing approvals for several medicines, including Amondys®, Vyondys®, Spinraza®, Plegridy®, and Tecfidera®.

Gilmore most recently served as Executive Vice President of R&D and Chief Medical Officer at Sarepta Therapeutics. During his tenure at Sarepta, he led the R&D leadership team accountable across the value chain from creating and driving discovery, preclinical and clinical development, and global regulatory strategy of its RNA and gene therapeutic portfolio through to Medical Affairs support of the marketed products. Prior to that, Gilmore held several leadership roles at Biogen over a 15-year period, most recently serving as Senior Vice President responsible for all late-stage clinical development. During his tenure at Biogen, Gilmore oversaw development programs for rare disease, gene and cell therapy, neuromuscular disease, pain, multiple sclerosis, acute neurology, movement disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Gilmore currently serves on the Board of Directors at UNITY Biotechnology, Inc., a biotechnology company developing therapeutics to slow, halt, or reverse diseases of aging, and at Aptinyx Inc., a biotechnology company developing therapies for the treatment of brain and nervous system disorders.

Gilmore received a Bachelor of Medicine degree from University College Dublin, a Master of Medical Sciences degree from Harvard University and completed his Neurology Residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is licensed to practice medicine in the state of Massachusetts.

David joined the Editas Medicine Board of Directors in February 2019. He is a hematologist/oncologist and an expert in stem-cell biology and blood malignancies. He is the Gerald and Darlene Jordan Professor of Medicine at Harvard University. He founded and directs the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-founded and co-directs the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. He is chairman emeritus and Professor of the Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. David has published more than 350 scientific papers and book chapters, and his laboratory has made fundamental contributions in understanding the regulation of stem-cell function.

David is the recipient of numerous honors, including elected membership of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellowship at the American College of Physicians and at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and awards from the American Society of Hematology, the International Society for Experimental Hematology, the Doris Duke Charitable Trust, the Ellison Medical Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He has served on the board of scientific counselors for the National Cancer Institute; the board of external experts for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; the board of directors of the International Society for Stem Cell Research; and is an affiliate member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. He also serves on multiple editorial boards, scientific advisory boards, and corporate boards. He is a scientific founder of Fate Therapeutics, Inc., Magenta Therapeutics, Inc., and Garuda Therapeutics. David also serves on the board of directors of Agios, LifeVault Bio, and Clear Creek Bio, Inc.

David is a graduate of Bucknell University (B.A.) and Case Western Reserve University (M.D.) with honorary degrees awarded from Harvard University (A.M.), Bucknell University (Sc.D.), Case Western Reserve University (Sc.D.) and Lund University in Sweden (M.D.). He serves as a Visiting Scholar to Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, U.K.

Akshay joined the Editas Medicine Board of Directors in July 2016.  He currently serves as the President of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.  Akshay joined Alnylam in 2006 as VP Clinical Research and has then subsequently served in various R&D roles with increasing responsibility. Akshay was promoted to President of R&D in March of 2018 and was appointed as President of Alnylam in January of 2022. Prior to 2006, he was at Biogen as Senior Director, Translational Medicine.

Akshay received his M.D. from the University of Wales College of Medicine, UK, and his Ph.D. from the University of London, UK, in Molecular Immunology. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, UK. He serves on the board of directors of Scholar Rock, Inc., and previously served on the board of directors of Visterra, Inc.

Our Scientific Founders

Core Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Investigator, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute for Technology; W.M. Keck Career Development Professor, Departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Robertson Investigator, New York Stem Cell Foundation

Feng joined the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard as a core member in 2011. He is also an investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and an assistant professor at MIT with a joint appointment in the departments of brain and cognitive sciences and biological engineering. As a student, he played a major role in the development of optogenetics, a technology that allows the brain’s electrical activity to be controlled with light-sensitive proteins. He is now working to extend this molecular engineering approach to other aspects of brain function, such as gene expression, and to develop new approaches to understanding and eventually treating brain diseases. Feng is a Searle Scholar and has received both a Director’s Transformative Research Award and a Director’s Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health. In 2012, he shared the UNC/Perl Prize for his role in the development of optogenetics.

Feng holds an AB degree in chemistry and physics from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University.

Professor of Genetics, Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard University and MIT; Director of the HMS NHGRI-Center of Excellence in Genomic Science; Director of the Personal Genome Project, Broad Institute and Wyss Harvard Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering

George 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 US 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. George helped initiate the Human Genome Project in 1984 and the Personal Genome Project in 2005. George 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. George 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.

George holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Harvard University and a BA in zoology and chemistry from Duke University.

Keith currently serves as professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School and is associate chief of pathology for research and the Jim and Ann Orr Research Scholar at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He is also a member of the Center for Cancer Research and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology at MGH.

Keith has been a pioneer in the development of important technologies for targeted gene editing and epigenome editing of human cells. He has received numerous awards including an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, an NIH Director’s Transformative Research Project R01 Award, the Jim and Ann Orr MGH Research Scholar Award, and election into the American Association of University Pathologists. He is a Scientific Advisory Board member of Horizon Discovery and Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals.

Keith holds a Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and an AB degree in biochemical sciences from Harvard College.

David is an accomplished chemist, biologist, and innovator. He currently serves as professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University, investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and vice-chair of the faculty and core institute member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research has advanced the fields of therapeutics discovery, laboratory evolution, macromolecular delivery, and gene editing. David’s insight and breadth led him to be tapped to serve as a JASON, an elite group of scientists who advise the US government on matters of science and technology. He is also the recipient of numerous scientific distinctions, including the American Chemical Society Pure Chemistry and Arthur C. Cope Young Scholar Awards, the GlaxoSmithKline Chemistry Scholar Award, the AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Excellence in Chemistry Award, the Searle Scholars Award, the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award, the Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Beckman Foundation Young Investigator Award, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, and the university-wide Roslyn Abramson Award for undergraduate teaching at Harvard. David was named to the Popular Science “Brilliant 10” for young scientists in the US, as well as to the MIT TR100 for young innovators. In 2016 he was named one of the Top 20 Translational Researchers by Nature Biotechnology. His accomplishments also include groundbreaking research leading to the foundation of Ensemble Therapeutics and Permeon Biologics.

David holds a BA degree in chemistry from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.