Biotech Emerging Science Summit

Kevin Grimes, MD, SPARK Co-Director, Professor, Stanford University

Dr. Grimes's research interests include translation of promising research discoveries into novel therapeutics and diagnostics; discovery and development of new drugs, biologics, and diagnostics; repurposing existing drugs against new targets for new clinical indications; and developing novel therapeutics and diagnostics for neglected global health problems. He is Co-Director of The Spark Translational Research Program and a Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford Medical School.

Lori Muffly, MD, MS, Assistant Professor, Stanford University

Dr. Muffly is a hematologist/oncologist trained in blood disorders and the medical treatment of malignancies. Dr. Muffly specializes in blood and marrow transplant and cellular therapies. Her interests include clinical research with a focus on improving outcomes in acute leukemia with blood and marrow transplantation.

Ed Engleman, MD, PhD, Professor, Stanford University

Dr. Engleman's research is directed at understanding the role of the cellular immune system in cancer and other life threatening conditions and in evaluating the potential to manipulate immune cells for the treatment of these diseases. More recently, his lab has been studying functionally distinct Dentritic Cell (DC) populations, including DCs that promote tumor formation and metastases, as well as DCs that can induce anti-tumor immunity. Ed is a founder of Bolt Therapeutics.

Jin Billy Li, PhD, Associate Professor, Stanford University

Dr. Li, started his laboratory at Stanford in 2010 after his postdoctoral training with Professor George Church at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Li has focused on studying RNA editing mediated by ADAR enzymes with a focus on the major biological function of RNA editing to evade dsRNA-mediated autoimmunity, which has led to new approaches to treating cancer and autoimmune diseases. He also seeks to harness the ADAR enzyme for site-directed RNA base editing that overcomes the challenges of CRISPR/Cas-based DNA editing and holds great potential for treating rare and common diseases.

Moderator:

Simone Fishburn, PhD, VP & Editor in Chief, BioCentury, Inc.

Panelists:

Andrew Chan, MD, SVP, Research Biology, Genentech, Inc.

Karl Handelsman, PhD, Founder and General Partner, Codon Capital Management

Camille Samuels, PhD, Partner, Venrock

Gayathri Swaminath, PhD, VP Research, Greenfire Bio LLC

William Shrader, PhD, Founder & CEO AccureX Therapeutics

Prior to AcureX, Dr. Shrader led R&D at Edison Pharmaceuticals, where he and his team advanced three drugs into the clinic for ALS, Parkinson’s disease, and orphan neurodegenerative diseases. Previously, while at Celera Genomics, Dr. Shrader invented, advanced, and partnered with AbbVie, the tissue factor/factor VIIa inhibitor (PCI-27483) for pancreatic cancer.

Carole Ho, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Denali Therapeutics

Dr. Ho has been Chief Medical Officer and Head of Development at Denali since 2015. Prior to joining Denali, Dr. Ho spent 8 years at Genentech where she served as Vice President of Early Clinical Development and was responsible for the delivery of pivotal trial-ready therapeutic candidates for all non-oncology indications, including CV-metabolism, ophthalmology, neurology, infectious disease, respiratory, rheumatology and gastroenterology.

Lisa Michaels, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Editas Medicine

Dr. Michaels leads clinical research and drug development for the Company’s pipeline of experimental medicines. Dr. Michaels joined Editas in 2020 from Bayer Pharmaceuticals where she spent more than 10 years in drug development, leading teams from early research and drug discovery through regulatory approval, commercial launch, and life cycle management. Most recently, she served as head of Bayer’s Rare Diseases, Cell & Gene Therapy therapeutic area.