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Past Event

Guppy Tank: Xera Bio

November 15th, 2023 ~ 04:00pm - 06:00pm

LabCentral, 700 Main Street Cambridge, MA 02139 MAP

Harvard's Office of Technology Development and LabCentral invite you to the latest event in the Guppy Tank series, where Harvard life-science innovators will pitch their super-early-stage concepts to a panel of entrepreneurs and investors for constructive, in-depth feedback.

Please join us on Wednesday, November 15, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at LabCentral to hear the presentation, learn from experts on startup formation, and participate in giving audience feedback. The event is accompanied by a reception with food and drinks. All are welcome!

Register Here


About The Project:

Efficient and targeted genomic insertions of large DNA payloads is the holy grail for genome engineering: once achieved, it would help unlock treatments for a wide range of congenital and acquired disorders. Xera Bio is developing a novel gene writing platform based on site-specific recombinases — small yet highly potent enzymes capable of catalyzing insertions of genes and multi-gene cassettes into precise genomic locations with high precision and safety. Exploiting advanced protein engineering methods we learned to reprogram recombinases to conduct therapeutic gene insertions at genomic sites of interest, thus providing an ultimate lifelong solution to rare and common diseases.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Erik Aznauryan

Wyss Technology Development Fellow

Erik A Headshot

Erik received his B.Sc. in Biomedical Sciences from Newcastle University, M.A. in Biotechnology from Columbia University, and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from ETH Zürich. In his Ph.D. work Erik identified novel genomic safe harbors — sites suitable for safe and long-term therapeutic gene insertion and expression. As a Technology Development Fellow, he is exploring and validating new genome editing tools for efficient insertion of large genes into genomic safe harbors, with applications in gene and cell therapies as well as mammalian synthetic biology.

Tags: Guppy Tank

Press Contact: Kirsten Mabry | (617) 495-4157


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