From Bacterial Immunity to Genome Editing: The 2014 Dr. Paul Janssen Award Symposium

Speakers

Featuring

Emmanuelle Charpentier, PhD

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research
website

Emmanuelle Charpentier studied biochemistry and microbiology at the University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France where she received her PhD in Microbiology for her research performed at the Pasteur Institute. She then moved to the United States, where she held Research Associate positions at the Rockefeller University, New York University Langone  Medical Center, and the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine (all in New York, NY) and at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital (in Memphis, TN). Charpentier returned to Europe to establish her own research group at the Max F. Perutz Laboratories of the University of Vienna in Austria where she habilitated in the field of Microbiology. She was then recruited as an Associate Professor at the Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS, Swedish Node of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Partnership for Molecular Medicine) at Umeå University where she habilitated in the field of medical microbiology. In 2012 she was appointed Professor at Hannover Medical School and head of the department “Regulation in Infection Biology” at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research. In 2013, Charpentier was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship. Charpentier is an EMBO Member and a recipient of the Erik K. Fernström Prize and the Göran Gustafsson Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Dr. Charpentier’s international research has been supported by a number of national (Austria, Germany, Sweden) and European funding organizations. Dr. Charpentier’s entrepreneurial activities include the recent founding of CRISPR Therapeutics.

Speaker Disclosures:
Emmanuelle Charpentier, PhD is Consultant for CRISPR Therapeutics and Horizon Discovery and a Shareholder of CRISPR Therapeutics.

Jennifer Doudna, PhD

Howard Hughes Medical Institute
University of California, Berkeley
website

A native of Hawaii, Jennifer Doudna studied biochemistry at Pomona College, where she received her BA degree. Moving eastward, she conducted her PhD research with Dr. Jack Szostak at Harvard University. She then pursued postdoctoral research with Dr. Tom Cech at the University of Colorado, Boulder as a Lucille Markey Fellow. Jennifer Doudna established her first research group at Yale University, where she became a full Professor and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She then joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley. Jennifer Doudna is member of the US National Academy of Sciences, a member of the Institute of Medicine, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a recipient of both the Alan T. Waterman Award from the National Science Foundation and the Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. Professor Doudna has published widely in the peer-reviewed literature, including a cover article in Nature in 2014.

Speaker Disclosures:
Jennifer Doudna, PhD is Co-Founder & Scientific Advisory Board Member of Caribou Biosciences Inc., Co-Founder of Editas Medicine, and Consultant for Monsanto.

Speakers

Charles A. Gersbach, PhD

Duke Center for Genomic and Computational Biology
website

Dr. Charles A. Gersbach is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopaedic Surgery and the Center for Genomic and Computational Biology at Duke University.  He has research interests in gene therapy, regenerative medicine, biomolecular and cellular engineering, synthetic biology, and genomics.  Dr. Gersbach received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he studied protein adsorption to biomaterials.  He received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University School of Medicine focusing on the genetic reprogramming of adult stem cells for musculoskeletal tissue regeneration.  Dr. Gersbach completed his postdoctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute in molecular biology and biochemistry.   His work at Scripps involved the engineering of synthetic enzymes for targeted genome editing in human cells, with applications in biotechnology and gene therapy.  Dr. Gersbach’s laboratory at Duke University is focused on applying molecular and cellular engineering to applications in gene therapy, regenerative medicine, and basic science.  In particular, his research aims to develop new methods to genetically modify genome sequences and cellular gene networks in a precise and targeted manner.  These new methods are then applied to directing stem cell differentiation, tissue regeneration, correction of genetic diseases, or answering fundamental biological questions regarding gene regulation and genome structure and function.  Examples of technologies used in his research include genome editing, protein engineering, directed evolution, genetic reprogramming, gene delivery, and optogenetics.  Dr. Gersbach’s recognitions include the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, the NSF CAREER Award, the Hartwell Foundation Individual Biomedical Research Award, the March of Dimes Basil O’Connor Scholar Award, and the Outstanding New Investigator Award from the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy.

Speaker Disclosures:
Charles A. Gersbach, PhD is Consultant for Editas Medicine.

Luciano A. Marraffini, PhD

The Rockefeller University
website

Dr. Marraffini received his undergraduate degree from the University of Rosario in Argentina in 1998 and his PhD from the University of Chicago in 2007, studying bacterial pathogenesis in the laboratory of Dr. Olaf Schneewind. He was a postdoc at Northwestern University from 2008 to 2010, where he begun to investigate the molecular mechanism of CRISPR-Cas immunity with Dr. Erik Sontheimer. In 2010, he joined Rockefeller University as assistant professor. He is a 2012 Rita Allen Foundation Scholar and a 2011 Searle Scholar, and is the recipient of a 2012 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award and a 2010 RNA Society Award.

Craig C. Mello, PhD

University of Massachusetts Medical School
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
website

Dr. Craig C. Mello is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine and Co-director of the RNA Therapeutics Institute at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Dr. Mello’s lab uses the nematode C. elegans as a model system to study embryogenesis and gene silencing.  His collaborative work with Dr. Andrew Fire led to the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi), for which they shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  Together they showed that when C. elegans is exposed to double-stranded ribonucleic acid – dsRNA, a molecule that mimics a signature of viral infection, the worm mounts a sequence-specific silencing reaction that interferes with the expression of cognate cellular RNAs. Using readily produced short synthetic dsRNAs, researchers can now employ RNAi to silence any gene in organisms as diverse as corn and humans.  RNAi allows researchers to rapidly “knock out” the expression of specific genes and to thus define the biological functions of those genes.  RNAi also provides a potential therapeutic avenue to silence genes that contribute to disease.

Before the Nobel Prize, Dr. Mello’s work on RNAi was recognized with several awards including the National Academy of Sciences Molecular Biology Award, the Canadian Gairdner International Award, the Paul Ehrlich-and Ludwig Darmstaedter Award, and the Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research.  He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

William R. Strohl, PhD

Janssen Research & Development, LLC

Dr. William Strohl received his PhD in Microbiology from Louisiana State University, and worked as a guest researcher at GBF, Braunschweig, Germany. From 1980 to 1997, Dr. Strohl rose from Assistant to Full Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Program of Biochemistry at The Ohio State University, researching natural product biosynthesis and generating novel polyketide natural products using genetic engineering approaches. In 1997, Dr. Strohl moved to Merck to lead Natural Products Microbiology, and was appointed as leader of Merck Monoclonal Antibody Discovery in 2001. In April 2008, Dr. Strohl joined Janssen Biologics B.V. (formerly Centocor B.V.) to lead Antibody Drug Discovery, and subsequently was promoted to VP, Biologics Research, Biotechnology COE, Janssen R&D. In October 2013, Dr. Strohl was promoted to the position of Head, Biotechnology Center of Excellence. Dr. Strohl has over 120 publications and has recently written the book: "Therapeutic Antibody Engineering: Current and Future Advances Driving the Strongest Growth Area in the Pharma Industry" (Woodhead Publishing, October, 2012).

Speaker Disclosures:
William R. Strohl, PhD is Employee of Janssen R&D, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.