Team

Team

Epicrispr Biotechnologies is building the world’s leading therapeutic platform based on the exciting new technology of epigenetic editing.

Team
We were founded by genetic medicine pioneer Stanley Qi, Ph.D., whose fundamental work in epigenetic editing includes the invention of CRISPRa (activation) and CRISPRi (interference). We are translating the powerful potential of epigenetic editing into transformative therapies that can expand the promise of genetic medicine and improve the lives of people with serious diseases.

Our scientific founder

Lei Stanley Qi, Ph.D.

Scientific Founder

Lei Stanley Qi, Ph.D., is one of the leading CRISPR pioneers. He is a named co-inventor on the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR patent held by the University of California, where he served as a doctoral candidate in the lab of Jennifer Doudna.

Lei Stanley Qi, Ph.D., is one of the leading CRISPR pioneers. He is a named co-inventor on the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR patent held by the University of California, where he served as a doctoral candidate in the lab of Jennifer Doudna. Since that time, his primary research focus has been the development of tools to modulate gene expression without changing the underlying DNA. He is an associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering and the Department of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University, where his lab has invented numerous technologies combining genome engineering with synthetic biology to probe biological processes and discover new therapeutic approaches.

One of the most notable discoveries made by Dr. Qi was the first demonstration of the nuclease-deactivated Cas9 (dCas9) for sequence-targeted gene regulation in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. His lab has further developed a broad CRISPR toolbox of technologies for precise gene regulation, including epigenome editing (CRISPRa and CRISPRi), live cell DNA/RNA imaging (LiveFISH), 3D genome manipulation (CRISPR-GO), CRISPR antivirals for targeting RNA viruses (PAC-MAN), and the development of CasMINI, the smallest Cas protein created to work in human cells.

Dr. Qi holds a B.S. in math and physics from Tsinghua University, an M.A. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of California Berkeley. He is an associate editor of The CRISPR Journal, a member of the scientific advisory board of the NIH Center for Genome Editing and Recording, and serves on the board of reviewing editors for Science.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lei-stanley-qi-99484239/

Leadership

  • Amber Salzman, Ph.D.

    Chief Executive Officer

    Amber Salzman, Ph.D., is Epicrispr’s chief executive officer and director. Dr. Salzman is a leader with more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceuticals industry. Before joining Epicrispr, Dr. Salzman served as the president and CEO of Ohana Biosciences, pioneering the industry’s first sperm biology platform. Before Ohana, she served as the president and CEO of Adverum Biotechnologies and was a co-founder of Annapurna, SAS, where she served as president and CEO before its merger with Avalanche Biotechnologies to become Adverum. In that role, she saw the company’s stock price double.

    Dr. Salzman began her career as a member of the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) research and development executive team, where she was responsible for operations in drug development across multiple therapeutic areas, overseeing global clinical trials with over 30,000 enrolled patients, managing 1,600 employees and a $1.25B budget. Following her time at GSK, Dr. Salzman served as the CEO of Cardiokine, a pharmaceutical company that developed treatments for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and saw the successful sale of the company to Cornerstone Therapeutics. Dr. Salzman currently serves on the Osler Diagnostics (UK) and AviadoBio (UK) Boards.

    Dr. Salzman received her bachelor’s degree from Temple University and holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Bryn Mawr College.

    In addition to advocating for patients living with rare diseases, Dr. Salzman leads the Stop ALD Foundation, a non-profit medical research foundation focused on developing novel gene therapies for adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD).

    Fun fact: As a child, Amber had several pet lizards, and they were all named Pete.

  • Weston Miller, M.D.

    Chief Medical Officer

    Weston (Wes) Miller, M.D., is Epicrispr’s chief medical officer. His experience in the pharmaceutical industry has focused on the clinical development of in vivo and ex vivo genomic medicines for patients with rare, severe genetic disorders.

    Dr. Miller began his career as an associate professor of pediatrics in the division of pediatric blood and marrow transplantation (BMT) at the University of Minnesota. While at Sangamo Therapeutics, he led programs investigating ex vivo disruptive gene editing of autologous hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells for patients with severe beta globinopathies, as well as in vivo gene editing for patients with mucopolysaccharidosis types I and II. While at Astellas Gene Therapies, he and his team led programs investigating in vivo gene transfer for patients with X-linked myotubular myopathy and Pompe disease. Most recently at Graphite Bio, he led the investigation of an ex vivo gene-corrected autologous hematopoietic stem cell product for patients with severe sickle cell disease.

    Dr. Miller received his B.S. in chemistry from Stanford University and his M.D. from Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans.

    Fun fact: True to his South Louisiana roots, Wes enjoys Cajun cooking. While making a roux, his favorite diversion is Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, during which an ideal dark brown gumbo color is typically achieved mid-“Gold Dust Woman.”

  • Benson Cheng, Ph.D.

    Vice President, Strategy and Operations

    Benson Cheng, Ph.D., is Epicrispr’s vice president of strategy and operations. Dr. Cheng leads corporate strategy, business and technical operations at the company. Most recently, Dr. Cheng served as a consultant at Navigant Consulting (acquired by Guidehouse), a global management consulting firm where he provided product launch strategy for multiple innovative therapies and established pipeline roadmaps for biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Cheng began his career in early-stage investment roles, including as a senior analyst at Excell Partners, a pre-seed- and seed-staged biotechnology and high-tech venture capital firm.

    Dr. Cheng received his B.S. at University of California, Berkeley and his Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of Rochester Medical Center.

    Fun fact: Benson is an avid endurance athlete and has competed in several Ironman triathlons.

  • Alexandra Collin de l’Hortet, Ph.D.

    Vice President, Therapeutics

    Alexandra (Alex) Collin de l’Hortet is Epicrispr’s vice president of therapeutics. Dr. Collin de l’Hortet leads the efforts to transform the powerful technology platform of epigenomic engineering into a new class of gene therapy medicines.

    Dr. Collin de l’Hortet has over ten years of experience managing biomedical research. Prior to joining Epicrispr, she worked at Krystal Biotech, where she provided scientific and strategic leadership to the product development team, and managed several gene therapy programs from discovery through to Phase III. Prior to Krystal, Dr. Collin de l’Hortet served as a research assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

    Dr. Collin de l’Hortet earned her M.Sc. in genetics and her Ph.D. in molecular biology and therapeutics from the University of Paris.

    Fun fact: Alex’s cat only understands French, and her dog responds only to English. Amazingly, they understand each other very well!

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandracollin/

  • Daniel Hart, Ph.D.

    Head of Platform

    Daniel Hart, Ph.D., is head of platform at Epicrispr. Dr. Hart completed postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Michael R. Green at the University of Massachusetts. Previously, he was an assistant professor in the Cardiovascular Research Institute at University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Hart’s laboratory used genome engineering approaches, including CRISPR and CRISPRa/i, to study gene regulatory networks in vertebrate cardiovascular development.

    Dr. Hart received his B.Sc. in biochemistry from the University of Manchester, his M.Sc. in biotechnology from the University of Abertay Dundee, and his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

    Fun fact: Dan has lived and studied in 8 different countries.

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-hart-phd/

  • Yanxia Liu, Ph.D.

    Scientific Lead

    Yanxia Liu, Ph.D., is Epicrispr’s head of functional genomics. Dr. Liu has more than eight years of experience in CRISPR gene editing and expression regulation. She received her Ph.D. in molecular cell biology from Peking University in Beijing, and completed her postdoc research at Stanford University. Previously she was a researcher at Beijing Huayuanbochuang Technology Co., where she worked on differentiating iPS cells into functional hepatocytes.

    Fun fact: Yanxia enjoys cooking and trying new and exciting foods.

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanxia-liu/

  • Dipali Patel, Ph.D.

    Vice President, Technical Operations

    Dipali Patel oversees all aspects of CMC development at Epicrispr ranging from tech transfer to supply chain management. Prior to joining Epicrispr, Dr. Patel held roles of increasing responsibility at SanBio, Inc. in quality control, process, and analytical development for the generation of validated release assays, including potency, and a new automated closed system manufacturing platform for allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell therapy. She played a crucial role in the successful J-BLA filing of SanBio’s lead product, SB623, in Japan. Previously Dr. Patel worked in analytical development at Aduro Biotech where she drove CMC development of their personalized attenuated L. mono vaccine. Dr. Patel received her B.Sc. and Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of California, Davis.

  • Stacia Wyman, Ph.D.

    Head of Biological Data Science

    Stacia Wyman, Ph.D., is the head of biological data science at Epicrispr. Dr. Wyman leads the company’s data science efforts, bringing over 20 years of experience to overseeing the application of computational biology and genomics to advance therapeutic research. Previously, Dr. Wyman was a principal investigator at the Innovative Genomics Institute at UC Berkeley (IGI), where she led IND-enabling studies for sickle cell disease and other genetic disorders using CRISPR-Cas9. She developed computational algorithms to assess CRISPR editing outcomes and off-target analyses. Prior to IGI, Dr. Wyman worked on whole genome sequencing of neurodegenerative disease to identify biomarkers at Gladstone Institutes. Dr. Wyman holds a Ph.D. in computational biology from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.S. in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

    Fun fact: Stacia has been to all 50 states, and six of seven continents with just Antarctica left to visit.

Our full team

  • Abhinav Adhikari

    Senior Scientist

    Hobbies: Hiking, music, movies, outdoor sports

    Favorite movie: A Beautiful Mind

  • Vishi Agarwal

    Associate Scientist

    Fun Fact: My face was once featured on a Times Square building!

    Why I work at Epicrispr: My favorite part about working at Epicrispr is how supportive and cooperative everyone is, always willing to help others when needed. Plus, we get to do really cool and fun science!

  • Sid Boregowda

    Principal Scientist

    Fun fact: My favorite sport to play is Kabaddi, a South Asian game which is like American football without the ball but only tackling.

    Why I’m at Epicrispr: I believe Epicrispr’s scissorless next-gen CRISPR technology will do to science-based drug discovery what biologics did in the last three decades.

  • Tyler Borrman

    Biological Data Scientist II

    Why I Chose Epicrispr: The opportunity to work and problem-solve with such a rad group of people!

    Hobbies: Skateboarding

     

  • Libby Cooper

    Associate Director, Program Management

    Why I Joined Epicrispr: Rare diseases impact so many families. I joined Epicrispr to be part of a team looking for treatments that improve the overall quality of life for patients.

    Favorite Author: Ann Patchett

  • Trevor Downs

    Lab Manager

    Why I Chose Epicrispr: Epicrispr’s modern work culture, work-life balance, extracurricular events, and kind people make working there fun and exciting.

    Fun Fact: I taught high school English in Beijing.

     

  • Aayushma Gautam

    Senior Research Associate

    Favorite quote: “If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”

    Why I’m at Epicrispr: Everyone at Epicrispr is friendly and wants you to succeed.

  • Surabhi Godbole

    Scientist I

    Why I Chose Epicrispr: My favorite part about working at Epicrispr is the close-knit feel I get from everyone. It fuels me to be around others who are motivated to build relationships!

    Favorite Book: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

  • Kenneth Harvey

    Director, Clinical Operations

    Professional Bio: Ken oversees all Clinical Operations activities in support of our clinical trials. He has a background working directly with patients in hospitals as well as research-focused clinics, but for the last 20 years he has led cross-functional teams, in Global multicenter trials, in all phases of drug development.  

    For the last decade he has been focused primarily on building infrastructure and capabilities for startup Biotechs to work with rare and ultra-rare diseases. In the past he has helped launched first-in-human therapeutics for companies like Genentech, Audentes, Cytokinetics and Kezar Life Sciences. Ken really believes in the potential of AAV therapies and the novel application of CRISPR-based technology. Ken received an International Executive MBA in Business and Finance from the International School of Management (ISM) in Paris, France. 

    Fun fact: Ken has way too many hobbies for someone that busy, but definitely enjoys mountain biking, kayaking, playing music and writing. 

  • Kavita Jadhav

    Senior Scientist

    Favorite Quote: “No man is an island; every book is a world.” – Gabrielle Zevin

    Fun Fact: I recently discovered the joys of backcountry backpacking!

  • Kirsty Jamieson

    Senior Scientist

    Why I joined Epicrispr: Epicrispr is the perfect place to pursue my enthusiasm for epigenetics.

    Hobbies: Cooking and exploring the Presidio in San Francisco.

  • Zaki Jawaid

    Senior Biological Data Scientist

    Hobbies: Soccer

    Favorite Movie: Jojo Rabbit

  • Nina Juan-Sing

    Senior Research Associate

    Why I joined Epicrispr: I get the opportunity to collaborate with such genuine and talented team members. I believe in the potential to revolutionize medicine through epigenetic editing and make a real impact on patients’ lives.

    Guilty pleasures: Pastries, especially kouign amanns and croissants.

  • James Kim

    Associate Scientist

    Why I Joined Epicrispr: Cool use of CRISPR to target gene expression without actually editing the “hard coded” genome

    Fun Fact: I have perfect pitch

  • Courtney Klappenbach

    Senior Research Associate

    Favorite Book: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

    Fun Fact: My two tabby cats, Rosie and Franky, are named after Rosalind Franklin.

  • Danny Ko

    Senior Scientist

    Why I joined Epicrispr: Many diseases are associated with changes in epigenome. Epicrispr’s GEMS platform has significant potential to treat those diseases and more. It’s exciting to be on this journey with Epicrispr.

    Hobbies: Badminton and cooking

  • Jimmy Liang

    Senior Lab Manager

    Hobby: Working out and going to the gym

    Why I’m at Epicrispr: The idea of working to solve these rare diseases without a cure sounded like a life-saving and -changing process I wanted to be involved in.

  • Spencer Lopp

    Bioinformatics Engineer II

    Favorite movie: Princess Mononoke

    Why I’m at Epicrispr: It’s incredibly exciting to work in such a fast-moving and interdisciplinary environment.

  • Andrew Norton

    Scientist II

    Hobbies: Home brewing and baking

    Why I joined Epicrispr: Epicrispr’s exciting technology, open culture, and the opportunity to move this promising gene therapy approach forward.

  • Sophia Paspal

    Vice President, Regulatory Affairs

    Why I joined Epicrispr: With over 25 years of experience in Pharmaceutical/Biotech industries and 18 years specializing in regulatory affairs for new drug development, I am passionate about accelerating to bring innovative medicines to global markets to treat patients and save lives.

    Hobbies: In my free time, I enjoy reading, gardening, meditating, and learning Spanish. I also have two dogs, Kusho and Snowball, with Snowball having a particular fondness for hunting rabbits.

  • Kaitlin Pensabene

    Senior Research Associate

    Hobbie: Hiking

    Favorite Book: The Catcher in the Rye

  • Jackson Powell

    Senior Research Associate

  • Melanie Silvis

    Senior Scientist

    Favorite Movie: Sleepless in Seattle

    Why I’m at Epicrispr: The opportunity to work on the newest and most exciting technologies for treating genetic diseases!

  • Hardeep Singh

    Senior Scientist

    Why I Joined Epicrispr: I believe in Epicrispr’s approach to treating diseases. I have the necessary skill set to apply this approach to retinal diseases.

    Fun Fact: I hiked to school for an hour every day at the foothills of the Himalayas, and I wasn’t alone, several others did it too!

  • Linsin Smith

    Scientist II

    Favorite Book: The Little Prince

    Why I’m at Epicrispr: The opportunity to work on a dynamic, highly collaborative, and interdisciplinary team in order to research and develop cutting-edge technologies to treat genetic diseases.

  • Nalinda Wasala

    Associate Director, Therapeutics

    Why I Joined Epicrispr: I joined Epicrispr because of the strength of the technology it has developed, and I enjoy the collaborative nature of cross-functional teams at Epicrispr.

    Favorite Movie: A Beautiful Mind

  • Xiao Yang

    Principal Scientist

    Favorite part of Epicrispr: I really enjoy outdoor 1-on-1 discussions walking along the beautiful waterfront right outside of the company building.

    Hobby: Scuba diving

  • Hao Zhang

    Senior Research Associate

    Fun Fact: I’m pretty good at claw machines

    Why I’m at Epicrispr: My favorite part about working at Epicrispr is the people! Everyone here is so smart and friendly.

Board of Directors

  • Dr. Eric Crombez is Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President at Ultragenyx, where he provides strategic leadership for clinical development and translational research programs. Prior to joining Ultragenyx, Dr. Crombez was Chief Medical Officer at Dimension Therapeutics where he led clinical development efforts for multiple clinical gene therapy programs. Dr. Crombez also served as an appointed industry representative on the FDA Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee from January 2020 to June 2024. Before joining industry, he was Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Medical Genetics, at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Crombez is a board-certified clinical geneticist and completed residencies in pediatrics and medical genetics at UCLA.

  • Dr. Jennifer King is an accomplished biotech executive and consultant with extensive experience in product development, new product planning, and business development. She currently operates her own independent consulting firm, specializing in addressing the unique challenges associated with genetic medicines and rare diseases. Previously, Dr. King held senior leadership roles in business development, including Senior Vice President of Business Development at Intellia Therapeutics and within the rare disease business unit of Shire Pharmaceuticals, where she held key positions in business development and global strategic marketing. Dr. King earned her Ph.D. in developmental biology from Stanford University School of Medicine, and her MBA from Northeastern University.

  • Dr. Andrew Lam is Managing Director, Head of Biotech Private Equity at Ally Bridge Group, a leading global life science-dedicated investment group, where he leads private equity therapeutics investments. Dr. Lam has over 15 years of biopharma-focused experience across industry, equity research and investment banking. He joined Ally Bridge Group in 2021 from Intercept Pharmaceuticals, where he was Senior Director of Business Development. Prior to joining Intercept, Dr. Lam served as Vice President of Healthcare Investment Banking at Jefferies, where he completed over 30 biopharma financing and M&A transactions, and as an equity research associate at BMO Capital and Canaccord Genuity, where he covered biotech. Before his time on Wall Street, Dr. Lam spent a decade in medical affairs at several biotech companies including Celgene and Shire. He holds a PharmD from Long Island University and an M.B.A from Drexel University.

  • Patrick Zhang leads and manages biotechnology and healthcare-related investments at Horizons Ventures. He trained as a chemical engineer and has worked across various industries such as energy, financial institutions, and investment management. Prior to joining Horizons, Patrick was an investment banker with Morgan Stanley providing financial advisory services on capital raising and cross-border M&A to his clients. He received his BS degree in Chemical Engineering from UCLA and M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

  • Amber Salzman, Ph.D., is Epicrispr’s chief executive officer and director. Dr. Salzman is a leader with more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceuticals industry. Before joining Epicrispr, Dr. Salzman served as the president and CEO of Ohana Biosciences, pioneering the industry’s first sperm biology platform. Before Ohana, she served as the president and CEO of Adverum Biotechnologies and was a co-founder of Annapurna, SAS, where she served as president and CEO before its merger with Avalanche Biotechnologies to become Adverum. In that role, she saw the company’s stock price double.

    Dr. Salzman began her career as a member of the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) research and development executive team, where she was responsible for operations in drug development across multiple therapeutic areas, overseeing global clinical trials with over 30,000 enrolled patients, managing 1,600 employees and a $1.25B budget. Following her time at GSK, Dr. Salzman served as the CEO of Cardiokine, a pharmaceutical company that developed treatments for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and saw the successful sale of the company to Cornerstone Therapeutics. Dr. Salzman currently serves on the Osler Diagnostics (UK) and AviadoBio (UK) Boards.

    Dr. Salzman received her bachelor’s degree from Temple University and holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Bryn Mawr College.

    In addition to advocating for patients living with rare diseases, Dr. Salzman leads the Stop ALD Foundation, a non-profit medical research foundation focused on developing novel gene therapies for adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD).

    Fun fact: As a child, Amber had several pet lizards, and they were all named Pete.

  • Lei Stanley Qi, Ph.D., is one of the leading CRISPR pioneers. He is a named co-inventor on the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR patent held by the University of California, where he served as a doctoral candidate in the lab of Jennifer Doudna. Since that time, his primary research focus has been the development of tools to modulate gene expression without changing the underlying DNA. He is an associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering and the Department of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University, where his lab has invented numerous technologies combining genome engineering with synthetic biology to probe biological processes and discover new therapeutic approaches.

    One of the most notable discoveries made by Dr. Qi was the first demonstration of the nuclease-deactivated Cas9 (dCas9) for sequence-targeted gene regulation in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. His lab has further developed a broad CRISPR toolbox of technologies for precise gene regulation, including epigenome editing (CRISPRa and CRISPRi), live cell DNA/RNA imaging (LiveFISH), 3D genome manipulation (CRISPR-GO), CRISPR antivirals for targeting RNA viruses (PAC-MAN), and the development of CasMINI, the smallest Cas protein created to work in human cells.

    Dr. Qi holds a B.S. in math and physics from Tsinghua University, an M.A. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of California Berkeley. He is an associate editor of The CRISPR Journal, a member of the scientific advisory board of the NIH Center for Genome Editing and Recording, and serves on the board of reviewing editors for Science.

  • Dr. Paresh Kumar is a Vice President of Biotech Private Equity at Ally Bridge Group. With over a decade of biopharma-focused experience, Dr. Kumar has developed expertise across the drug development timeline, including venture capital, corporate strategy, patent strategy, IP licenses and collaborations, IP litigation, commercial contracts, M&A transactions, and FP&A and BD finance. Prior to joining Ally Bridge Group, Dr. Kumar was an attorney at Goodwin Procter in its Life Sciences practice, where he executed complex corporate transactions for biopharma companies. He also practiced law at Morrison & Foerster and McDermott Will & Emery. Additionally, Dr. Kumar gained valuable experience at MPM Capital and Boston University’s technology transfer office during his law school tenure. He began his career as a Financial Analyst at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Kumar holds a Bachelor of Science and a PharmD from Northeastern University, and a J.D. from Boston University.

  • Noah Chong is an investment advisor at Horizons Ventures. He was trained as a corporate lawyer and admitted into the Dutch Bar Association in 2016. He practiced law at a leading international law firm where he represented primarily large cap companies and private equity firms in private and public M&A transactions and commercial litigation. He graduated cum laude in corporate law at the University of Amsterdam (LL.B and LL.M). Mr. Chong joined Horizons Ventures in 2022.

Scientific Advisory Board

  • Claire M. Fraser, Ph.D.

    Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine

  • David Schaffer, Ph.D.

    University of California, Berkeley

  • Yang Shi, Ph.D.

    Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of Oxford