Dr. C.B. Gurumurthy

Director Transgenic Core Facility

Guru (CB Gurumurthy) received his BVSC (DVM) from Bangalore Veterinary College, India and MVSC & PHD in Veterinary Virology from Indian Veterinary Research Institute, with a Gold Medal distinction in MVSC, and an Executive MBA from University of Nebraska at Omaha. He is currently an Associate Professor of Developmental Neuroscience, Munroe Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He is also the Director of the UNMC’s Mouse Genome Engineering Core Facility. His research interests are improving and development of novel genome engineering technologies. He is a co-developer of popular technologies such as Easi (Efficient additions with ssDNA-inserts)-CRISPR, CRISPR-first: PITT-next and GONAD (Genome Editing via Oviductal Nucleic Acids Delivery). Some of these technologies have already been adapted in many labs worldwide.

Dr. John Feder

Associate Director, Genome Biology, Bristol-Myers Squibb, NY

Dr. Feder leads a group responsible for the evaluation and implementation of emerging genomic engineering approaches across all aspects of the drug discovery process. This includes evaluating ‘bleeding edge’ technologies with the goal of developing a gene editing platform to serve multiple functions within the organization.   Prior to this, his work at Bristol-Myers Squibb focused on the development and execution of RNAi loss of function genetic screens for target and biomarker discovery using relevant and translational human primary cell models.  Dr. Feder is also known for the application of positional cloning methodologies to identify the gene responsible for Hereditary Hemochromatosis.

Dr. Phillippe Duchateau

Chief Scientific Officer, Cellectis Inc., France

Philippe Duchateau, Ph.D., joined Cellectis in April 2001. He has leaded the Research department since 2004. Dr. Duchateau received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of Lille / Institut Pasteur. Dr Duchateau joined the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco in 1993 and spent 9 years (1993-2001) working on reverse cholesterol transport mechanism.

Dr. Rob Howes

Director AstraZeneca, UK

Jeffrey Wallin

Senior Director, Biomarkers and Diagnostics Seattle Genetics, San Francisco

Jeffrey Wallin, PhD, serves as the Diagnostics and Biomarkers Group Leader at Seattle Genetics Inc.  In industry, Dr. Wallin has been involved in drug discovery and development efforts spanning diverse mechanisms such as oncogenic signal transduction, DNA damage/repair, and immuno-oncology at various stages including target identification and validation, translational research, and clinical support of phase I-II clinical programs. Dr Wallin obtained a PhD degree in the laboratory of Dr Marian Koshland at the University of California-Berkeley and conducted his post-doctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr William Sha also at the University of California-Berkeley.

Mark R. Chance

School of Medicine Vice Dean for Research, Center for Proteomics and Bioinformatics: Director, Department of General Medical Sciences: Professor (Primary) Case Western Reserve University, Ohio

Dr. Chance is an internationally recognized expert in proteomics and structural biology with over 270 publications who has built multiple internationally recognized science and training programs over a 30-year career in academia. He is currently Vice Dean for Research and holds the title of Professor in the Departments of Nutrition, Genetics & Genome Sciences, and General Medical Sciences at the School of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). At CWRU, he directs the Center for Proteomics and Bioinformatics, the Center for Synchrotron Biosciences, and the Systems Biology Graduate Program. He is also holder of the Charles W. and Iona A. Mathias Chair in Cancer Research. Dr. Chance has led dozens of Federally funded research projects over his career is a member of many national and international advisory panels in a wide range of research and training areas. In 2014 he was awarded the Naomi Kanof Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Clinical Investigation (from the Society of Investigative Dermatology) and in 2016 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (in the field of chemistry).

Michael Gillette

Instructor/Senior Research Fellow, Proteomics and Biomarker Discovery, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Broad Institute, Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dr. Gillette is Senior Group Leader in Proteomics and Biomarker Discovery at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Attending at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. At the Broad he has been involved in the development and implementation of all aspects of a coherent biomarker discovery – to – verification pipeline, and with Dr. Carr has led Broad Institute efforts in breast and ovarian cancer proteomic biomarker discovery and in molecular characterization of infectious diseases of high international health import. Dr. Gillette holds an M.D. and Ph.D. (neurophysiology) from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and the M.Sc. (Human Biology) and M.A. (Psychology and Philosophy) degrees from Oxford University, Oxford, UK.  He brings a blend of clinical knowledge, experimental design, biospecimen, mass spectrometry laboratory expertise, and over a decade of experience to leadership roles in proteomic tumor analysis and biomarker development.

Raghu Kalluri

chairman and professor,Department of Cancer Biology, Director, Metastasis Research Center, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

He has been directly involved in cellular microenvironment research for the past 17 years and participated in studies related to basement membranes and matrix biology, unraveled mechanisms associated with tissue injury and regeneration, and discovered new therapy targets to combat organ fibrosis and suppress cancer progression and metastasis. My initial work discovered the pathogenic role of anti-type IV collagen autoantibodies in the etiology of Good pasture syndrome, a classic autoimmune disease that affects kidneys and lungs. His interest in organ fibrosis and its similarities to reactive tumor stroma led to key discoveries related to tumor microenvironment, including the seminal finding that stromal programs in the tumor are essential drivers of metastasis. Our recent discoveries related to exosomes unraveled their role in tumor angiogenesis and cancer progression.