Gene and Cell Therapy Research Symposium

Day 1 Keynote Speaker
Crystal Mackall, MD - Stanford University

Crystal Mackall, MD, is the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Stanford University, the Founding Director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, and Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy @ Stanford. During a 27-year tenure at NCI and since 2016 at Stanford, she has led an internationally recognized translational research program focused on immune-oncology. Her work has advanced understanding of fundamental immunology and translated this understanding for the treatment of human disease with a major focus on children’s cancers. Her group advanced understanding of T cell exhaustion and developed approaches to prevent or reverse the phenomena, identified major mechanisms of resistance to CAR T cell therapies and has conducted trials with very promising results in CAR19 refractory diseases and brain tumors. She is a Member of the National Academy of Medicine, the Academy of Immuno-oncology and AACR, and is the recipient of numerous awards.

Day 2 Keynote Speaker
Erik Sontheimer, PhD - University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

Erik J. Sontheimer, PhD, is the Pillar Chair in Biomedical Research and a Professor at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, where he also serves as Vice Chair of the RNA Therapeutics Institute. He earned his Ph.D. from Yale in 1992, studying pre-mRNA splicing under Joan Steitz. After postdoctoral work at the University of Chicago with Joe Piccirilli, he joined Northwestern in 1999, focusing on RNA’s roles in gene expression, RNA interference mechanisms, and CRISPR systems in pathogenic bacteria. In 2008, his group was the first to demonstrate that CRISPR systems target DNA directly, pioneering RNA-guided genome engineering. He has received numerous awards, including the NSF CAREER Award, Burroughs Wellcome Fund New Investigator Award, and election to the American Academy of Microbiology. He co-founded Intellia Therapeutics in 2014 to develop clinical applications of CRISPR. At UMass Chan, he continues his research on RNA’s biomedical applications and the treatment of human disease.