We look forward to learning from these experts.

Jennifer Doudna, PhD—UC Berkeley
CRISPR Chemistry and Applications in the Clinic

Jennifer Doudna, PhD, is a Nobel Laureate in chemistry, and a professor of biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology at the University of California-Berkeley. She is the co-inventor of CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology, and earned the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, PhD. Her research focuses on RNA as it forms a variety of complex globular structures, some of which function like enzymes or form functional complexes with proteins. Dr. Doudna is also a leader in public discussion of the ethical implications of genome editing for human biology and societies, and advocates for thoughtful approaches to the development of policies around the safe use of CRISPR technology.

Crystal Mackall, MD—Stanford University
Expanding the Reach and Efficacy of CAR T Cell Therapies

Crystal Mackall, MD, is the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Stanford University. Her work has advanced understanding of fundamental immunology and translated this understanding for the treatment of human disease with a major focus on children’s cancers. In her lab, current areas of major focus include in depth studies of the molecular and cellular processes that govern T-cell exhaustion, identification of new immune targets expressed by cancer and leveraging emerging synthetic biology platforms to create next generation chimeric antigen receptors that manifest enhanced potency, regulatability, multispecificity, and exhaustion resistance. (Image: Stanford Medicine)

David R. Liu, PhD—Broad Institute, Harvard University, HHMI
Base Editing and Prime Editing: Precise Gene Correction Without Double-Strand DNA Breaks

David R. Liu, PhD, is the Richard Merkin Professor and director of the Merkin Institute of Transformative Technologies in Healthcare, vice-chair of the faculty at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard University, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. His major research interests include the engineering, evolution, and in vivo delivery of genome editing proteins such as base editors and prime editors to study and treat genetic diseases; the evolution of proteins with novel therapeutic potential using phage-assisted continuous evolution (PACE); and the discovery of bioactive synthetic small molecules and synthetic polymers using DNA-templated organic synthesis and DNA-encoded libraries.

Stanley Riddell, MD—Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Realizing the Potential of Genetically Engineered Immune Cells in Cancer Therapy

Stan Riddell, MD, is the Burke O’Reilly Family Endowed Chair in Immunotherapy and an immunology professor at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. His research focuses on detailing the complex biology of T cells and pioneering therapies that use genetically reprogrammed T cells to specifically recognize and destroy diseased cells. In the 1990s, Dr. Riddell and colleagues in his lab performed the first studies of T-cell therapy to block life-threatening reactivation of cytomegalovirus after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT). This work provided the proof-of-principle that antigen-specific T cells can be used in humans to boost T-cell immunity to a virus, and paved the way for studies using T-cell therapy to treat cancer. (Image: Fred Hutch Cancer Center)