Obsidian Therapeutics, founded by Atlas Venture in 2016 and located in Cambridge, MA, is developing next-generation cell and gene therapeutics that employ precise exogenous control of transgenes for improved safety and efficacy.

Juno Therapeutics is a clinical-stage company developing novel cellular immunotherapies based on two distinct and complementary platforms – Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CARs) and T Cell Receptors (TCRs) technologies. The company's goal is to revolutionize medicine by re-engaging the body’s immune system to treat cancer. The Cell and Protein Sciences group within Juno encompasses the human antibody discovery platform that drives the company's CAR-T discovery pipeline, and provides full support across the organization for all peptide, protein, and cell line applications. As a member of the company's Research Leadership Team, I managed cell and protein sciences groups in both Seattle and Waltham and was responsible for all operations at the Juno-Waltham site, including the buildout of the company's new state-of-the-art research facility in Waltham completed in July, 2016.

Juno Therapeutics is a clinical-stage company developing novel cellular immunotherapies based on two distinct and complementary platforms – Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CARs) and T Cell Receptors (TCRs) technologies. The company's goal is to revolutionize medicine by re-engaging the body’s immune system to treat cancer. With the acquisition of X-BODY Biosciences, Juno brought in-house an innovative discovery platform that interrogates the complete human antibody and TCR repertoires, rapidly selecting fully human antibodies for direct conversion into CARs or TCRs and fueling the company's adoptive immunotherapy pipeline. Under my leadership, the cell biology team developed novel cell lines for the company's live cell selection technology, assays for lead discovery and characterization, and screening strategies for both CAR and TCR therapeutic programs.

X-Body Biosciences was a privately held company applying its novel display technology for the discovery of fully human lead therapeutic antibodies until its acquisition by Juno Therapeutics in June 2015. Our team developed the platform to be compatible with antibody selections against targets expressed on live cells, enabling the identification of antibodies against normally intractable target classes such as GPCRs and ion channels. The discovery platform was successfully applied to the highly promising field of adoptive immunotherapy where fully human antibodies are now in development as oncology therapeutics at Juno. I served on the senior management team and was responsible for implementing broad strategic directives, representing the company at prospective partnering discussions, and managing all aspects of the company's cell biology team, including assay development, antibody screening and cell line generation.

At SRU Biosystems, my team developed novel cell-based assays and applications for the company's high throughput, label-free BIND screening platform. As a member of the senior management team and director of the cell biology group, I participated in strategic planning and partnering negotiations and was responsible for assay development and sales support for the company's platform offerings. In particular, my team integrated multiple novel cell imaging applications for the BIND Scanner, including cell migration, stem cell differentiation, and cardio- and hepatotoxicity assays.

I initially joined Archemix' Technology Development group where I integrated live cell selections into the company's SELEX technology platform for the development of aptamers (structured oligonucleotides) as therapeutics. Once in the Aptamer Discovery group, I served as Project Leader on four portfolio programs responsible for coordinating cross-functional efforts across Aptamer Discovery, Chemistry and DMPK groups. I was also Alliance Manager for one of the company's key strategic collaborations and was responsible for all early discovery activities involving two large pharmaceutical collaborators, including two projects that achieved Lead Nomination.

At Hydra Biosciences, I led and coordinated all activities of the Cardiac Regeneration High-Throughput Screening Group. My team developed and miniaturized a high-throughput automated imaging assay to screen for proliferation of primary cultured cardiomyocytes, leading to the identification of several lead protein therapeutics for the company's cardiac regeneration drug discovery effort.

At Phylos, I was responsible for developing and validating high-throughput cellular assays to identify lead therapeutics from the company's mRNA display technology. Through these efforts, I identified neutralizing antibody mimics for multiple receptor tyrosine kinase targets through the development of high throughput receptor competition ELISAs and cell proliferation screening assays. I also developed high-throughput transient transfection screens for identifying compatible VH/VL pairs with target-binding activity for the company's antibody discovery platform.

Working in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Greenberg in the Neurobiology Department at Children's Hospital, I studied the molecular mechanisms involved in the guidance of neuronal axons during the development of the nervous system. My work on Eph receptor tyrosine kinase signaling pathways included the cloning and characterization of Ephexin, a novel guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Rho family GTPases, and provided the first direct link between repulsive axon guidance receptors and the actin cytoskeleton.

Working in the laboratory of Dr. Charles Stiles in the Division of Cellular and Molecular Biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, I studied the role of the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) signaling axis in the development and proliferation of human malignant glioblastoma. My work on the characterization of dominant negative mutants led to the demonstration that neutralizing PDGF autocrine loops in astrocytoma cell lines could revert oncogenic growth properties, and implicated PDGF as a therapeutic target for malignant glioblastoma.