WATERTOWN, Mass., July 30, 2024 – Orna Therapeutics, a biotechnology company dedicated to designing and delivering a new class of circular RNA medicines, including panCAR™ in vivo CAR therapies for oncology and autoimmune diseases, today announced the appointment of Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., a 2022 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, as Co-Chair of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), joining Orna former Chief Executive Officer Tom Barnes, Ph.D., as Co-Chair. As a pioneer in emerging technologies, Dr. Bertozzi has cofounded 14 biopharmaceutical companies and guided more than a dozen academic and professional organizations and life sciences companies through her leadership and board positions.
“Dr. Bertozzi is a visionary scientist whose discoveries have led to multiple biotech innovations, and we are very excited for her to co-lead our new Scientific Advisory Board with Dr. Barnes,” said Amit D. Munshi, Chief Executive Officer of Orna. “Her appointment will provide deep expertise across Orna’s established circular RNA expression technologies and support the expansion of our delivery technology, further solidifying our leadership position in gene editing. Dr. Bertozzi will play a crucial role in building out our SAB and advising our team to realize the full potential of RNA therapeutics for cancer and autoimmune diseases.”
“Orna is advancing a truly innovative RNA engine with the potential to overcome the current limitations of cell therapies,” said Dr. Bertozzi. “I am very pleased to join Tom on Orna’s SAB and look forward to working closely with Amit and the company’s leadership team to lend my experience in support of their quest to develop paradigm-shifting RNA medicines.”
Dr. Bertozzi is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Chemical & Systems Biology and Radiology, the Baker Family Director of the Sarafan ChEM-H institute at Stanford University, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.
In addition to her academic work, Dr. Bertozzi has founded multiple biotechnology start-ups based on her research. An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she has been awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize, Heinrich Wieland Prize, ACS Award in Pure Chemistry, Chemistry of the Future Solvay Prize, Wolf Prize in Chemistry, and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, among other awards and honors during her distinguished career.
About Orna Therapeutics
Founded on research by Alex Wesselhoeft, Ph.D., and Daniel G. Anderson, Ph.D., of MIT, Orna Therapeutics is dedicated to designing and delivering a new class of fully engineered circular RNA (oRNA®) therapeutics to unlock the potential of RNA medicine to treat diseases anywhere in the body. Orna’s circular RNA transcripts have advantages over traditional mRNA approaches, including simplified production, improved formulatability, and superior protein expression. Its industry-leading LNP-based delivery systems and comprehensive editing programs position Orna to advance novel RNA medicines with vast potential to transform patient care. To learn more, visit www.ornatx.com and follow Orna Therapeutics on X and LinkedIn.
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