WATERTOWN, Mass., July 30,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- 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.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/orna-therapeutics-appoints-nobel-laureate-carolyn-bertozzi-phd-to-scientific-advisory-board-302208897.html
SOURCE Orna Therapeutics