Keynote Speaker
CRISPR Genome Editing: From Biology to Biotechnology
Fundamental research to understand how bacteria fight viral infections uncovered the function of CRISPR-Cas programmable proteins that detect and cut specific DNA or RNA sequences. CRISPR technology is now an indispensable tool in human, animal and agricultural research. The FDA’s approval of a CRISPR therapy for sickle cell disease marked the beginning of a new era in healthcare. I will discuss the science and societal advances that will expand both the applications and access of genome editing across the globe.
Gregory Verdine is a pioneering scientist, educator, investor, and entrepreneur widely regarded as a founder of the field of chemical biology and one of the world’s leading innovators in new drug discovery. He is Founder President, and CEO of LifeMine Therapeutics, Executive Chairman of VidaVinci, Erving Professor of Chemistry and Harvard College Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School, Managing General Partner of LoLa Capital, and a Venture Partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
Over a distinguished career spanning more than three decades, Dr. Verdine has co-founded more than a dozen biotechnology companies—including Parabalis Medicines (formerly FogPharma), WaVe Life Sciences, Warp Drive Bio, Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Eleven Biotherapeutics, Variagenics, Tokai Pharmaceuticals, Aileron Therapeutics, and Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Celgene—which collectively have brought multiple FDA-approved medicines to patients and advanced numerous new drug modalities into clinical development. He is credited with coining the phrase “drugging the undruggable” to describe his life’s mission: transforming previously intractable disease targets into treatable ones through bold scientific innovation.
Dr. Verdine earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Columbia University, his B.S. in chemistry from St. Joseph’s University, and trained as an NIH postdoctoral fellow at MIT and Harvard Medical School. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has received numerous awards and honorary degrees recognizing his groundbreaking contributions to science and medicine.
More program details to come!
Gregory Verdine, Ph.D.
Gregory Verdine, Ph.D.
Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Board Member
Banquet Speaker
New Initiatives and Drug Development Projects from the NCI Program for Natural Product Discovery
Dr. Barry O’Keefe received a B.S in Botany from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. O’Keefe immediately started post-doctoral research in the National Cancer Institute’s Laboratory of Drug Discovery Research and Development to study novel proteins from natural products extracts; studies he continues as Head of the Protein Chemistry and Molecular Biology Section in the Molecular Targets Program of the NCI Center for Cancer Research. In 2015 Dr. O’Keefe accepted a joint position and was also appointed Chief of the Natural Products Branch, DTP, DCTD, NCI which is responsible for the collection, extraction, pre-fractionation and discovery of bioactive natural products. He was appointed Director of the Molecular Targets Program in the CCR in 2020. Dr. O’Keefe is an inventor on over 50 U.S. and international patents and is an author 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts.
Dr. Barry R. O’Keefe
Dr. Barry R. O’Keefe
National Cancer Institute