At Arbor, we envision a world free of disease by using genetic medicines to fundamentally shift the paradigm from treatment to functional cure, and ultimately to prevention. We aim to accomplish this through the development of programmable DNA editors with the power to enable bespoke genetic medicines for patients.
United by this shared vision and driven by a passion to deliver for patients, we have amassed one of the most talented and dedicated teams in the field to continue building upon the groundbreaking work of our founders.
The result is a wholly owned portfolio of proprietary DNA editors capable of addressing more than 90% of the human genome, enabling us to select the optimal gene editing approach for each disease and unlocking opportunities to treat a broad range of diseases. We believe this approach can yield medicines with the potential to put functional cures within reach for patients.
May: Closed on $15.6M Series A raise
2017
2019
2021
2023
2016
Arbor founded by Feng Zhang, David Walt, David Scott, and Winston Yan
2020
2022
2024
2016
Arbor founded by Feng Zhang, David Walt, David Scott, and Winston Yan
2017
May: Closed on $15.6M Series A raise
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
Iya Kessler
Senior Vice President, Head of Legal
Mat Lindenmayer
Senior Vice President, Finance
David Cheng
Chief Technology Officer
Lee Ann Marchionna
Chief People Officer
John Murphy, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer
Dan Ory, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Devyn Smith, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Pam Stetkiewicz, Ph.D.
Chief Operating Officer
Feng Zhang, Ph.D.
Arbor Co-founder and Scientific Advisory Board Chair; Core Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Investigator
David Walt, Ph.D.
Arbor Co-founder; Core Faculty, Wyss Institute at Harvard University; Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Associate Member at the Broad Institute; Institute Professor, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
David Scott, Ph.D.
Arbor Co-founder, Head of Innovation
Winston Yan, M.D., Ph.D.
Arbor Co-Founder, Head of Translational Strategy
Feng Zhang, Ph.D.
Arbor Co-founder and Scientific Advisory Board Chair; Core Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Investigator
David Walt, Ph.D.
Arbor Co-founder; Core Faculty, Wyss Institute at Harvard University; Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Associate Member at the Broad Institute; Institute Professor, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
David Scott, Ph.D.
Arbor Co-founder, Head of Innovation
Winston Yan, M.D., Ph.D.
Arbor Co-Founder, Head of Translational Strategy
Nolan Townsend, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, LEXEO Therapeutics
Paul Meister, MBA
Chairman of the Board; Co-Founder, Liberty Lane Partners
David Walt, Ph.D.
Arbor Co-founder; Core Faculty, Wyss Institute at Harvard University; Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Associate Member at the Broad Institute; Institute Professor, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Keith Crandell, MBA
Co-Founder & Managing Director, Arch Venture Partners
Mark Angelino, Ph.D.
Venture Partner, Third Rock Ventures
Devyn Smith, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Ira Magaziner
President, SJS Inc.
Chen Yu, M.D., MBA
Founder & Managing Partner, TCG X
Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School; Associate in Neuroscience, Massachusetts General Hospital; Healey Family ALS Endowed Chair for Research
Le Cong, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pathology and Genetics, Stanford University
Britt Adamson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University
Guangping Gao, Ph.D.
Co-Director, Li Weibo Institute for Rare Disease Research; Director, Horae Gene Therapy Center and Viral Vector Core; Professor of Microbiology and Physiological Systems; Penelope Booth Rockwell Professor in Biomedical Research, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Malin Parmer, Ph.D.
Professor, New York Stem Cell Foundation - Robertson Investigator; Research Team Manager, Professor, Developmental Regenerative Neurobiology, Lund University
Kevin Alexander, M.D., F.A.C.C., F.H.F.S.A.
Assistant Professor of Medicine - Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine
Patrick Hsu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor and Deb Faculty Fellow, University of California, Berkeley
Yizhou Dong, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology, Ohio State University, College of Pharmacy
Stephen Goff, Ph.D.
Higgins Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University
Osamu Nureki, Ph.D.
Professor, Dept of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Dept of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo School of Science
We have attracted capital from top investors in the industry including:
Senior Vice President, Head of Legal
Iya Kessler is a solution-oriented legal executive with more than 15 years of experience in business development, securities, corporate governance, and global operations. Iya joined Arbor from 2seventy bio, a commercial-stage cell therapy biotech company, where she was Head of Legal and Corporate Secretary, driving the company’s strategy, advising on critical business matters, and overseeing all aspects of legal and compliance. Prior to her role at 2seventy bio, Iya led the global legal function of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s cell and gene therapy division. Before joining Thermo Fisher Scientific, she held positions of increasing responsibility in the legal department of State Street Corporation. Iya started her career as a business lawyer at Ropes & Gray LLP. She received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law and her B.S. from Ithaca College. Outside of Arbor, Iya enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling, and gardening.
Senior Vice President, Finance
Mat Lindenmayer brings more than 15 years of diversified financial, operations, and leadership experience to Arbor. Mat joined Arbor from Thermo Fisher Scientific where he led the global finance function for the gene therapy CDMO business. Prior to his time at Thermo Fisher Scientific, Mat was the Corporate Controller at viral vector CDMO, Brammer Bio, where he oversaw the accounting, tax and treasury functions through a period of rapid growth and expansion. Mat began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he spent more than a decade advising companies on complex mergers and acquisitions and capital raising transactions in the biotechnology and technology industry sectors. Mat received his MS in Accounting from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College and his BS in Business Administration from Stonehill College, where he also played baseball. A native of Upstate New York, Mat enjoys spending time with family and friends outside of work and is an avid sports fan.
Chief Technology Officer
David Cheng brings over 15 years of experience in technology and computer science to Arbor. David joined Arbor as its third employee and Head of Computational Search. He co-developed the Arbor computational discovery platform and is a leading contributor to the discovery of Arbor’s CRISPR nucleases and CRISPR-associated transposases. From 2019 through April 2021, David led Arbor as CEO. Prior to Arbor, David developed market-leading quantitative, automated trading strategies at JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Previously, David worked on parallel computing and information retrieval algorithms, and was an inventor of “autocomplete” predictions. David was also a member of the 4-person team that represented the United States at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). David received his M.Eng. and B.S. in Computer Science from MIT.
Chief People Officer
A 25-year veteran of Human Resources, Lee Ann Marchionna has extensive experience in leading transformations, driving company-wide organizational effectiveness initiatives, and establishing talent, culture, and engagement practices. Before joining Arbor in July 2022, Lee Ann was a principal at Vitality HR, a consultancy she founded to support both start-ups and growing biotechnology companies. At Vitality, she was instrumental in leading strategies to help attract top talent, bolster organizational culture, and establish people practices that are essential for business growth for a range of VC-backed life sciences companies, including many within portfolios of Atlas, Third Rock, 5AM, Versant, Polaris and OrbiMed. Prior to founding Vitality, Lee Ann served as Vice President of Human Resources at ThermoFisher Scientific, where she was responsible for the organizational development and talent strategy to help the company scale. Prior to ThermoFisher, she held HR leadership roles at Hologic, Dell EMC, Biogen Idec, Sanofi Genzyme, Jabil Circuit, Inc., and Kimberly-Clark. Lee Ann earned an MBA from Binghamton University and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources Management from the State University of New York. Outside of work, Lee Ann enjoys spending time with her three children, traveling to new places, and is an avid runner and triathlete.
Chief Scientific Officer
John Murphy brings over 20 years of experience in biotech and pharma to Arbor. His breadth of experience includes work on viral and non-viral gene therapy, genetic medicines, antibodies, and small molecules, as well as preclinical and process sciences into Phase 3 clinical trials and following FDA approval. John previously led the Discovery Biology Group in Rare Disease Research at Pfizer focused on hemophilia, sickle cell disease, beta-thalassemia, DMD, Friedreich’s Ataxia, Myotonic Dystrophy, and familial ALS. John has played key roles in developing Pfizer’s gene therapy collaborations with Spark, Bamboo, and Sangamo. Prior to Pfizer, John spent 15 years at Bayer, where he was an inventor of Jivi, a marketed third-generation FVIII product for treatment of hemophilia, worked in process sciences, and led a large group focused on large molecule discovery for non-malignant hematology. John began his career at Chiron working on gene therapies and non-viral delivery agents. John was a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Harold Varmus’ lab at UCSF and received a Ph.D. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Brown University. John is a native New Yorker who enjoys taking long walks and runs to explore the side streets and hidden neighborhoods of Boston and whatever town he visits.
Chief Medical Officer
Dan Ory comes to Arbor from Casma Therapeutics, a Third Rock Ventures start up, where he served as Senior VP of Translational Medicine and later as Chief Medical Officer. While at Casma, Dan oversaw programs in muscular dystrophy and rare oncology indications. Prior to joining Casma, Dan was on faculty at Washington University in St. Louis, where he was an endowed, tenured professor of medicine and cell biology. During his more than two decades at the University, Dan’s research centered on cholesterol homeostasis and its role in cardiovascular disorders and Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC) disease, a rare, neurodegenerative disorder. He led multiple clinical trials in NPC disease and was scientific co-founder of Vtesse Therapeutics, which developed the Phase 2b/3 adrabetadex trial for NPC patients. Dan has authored over 160 peer-reviewed publications and holds numerous patents. He is a valued consultant in the scientific community and has served on scientific advisory boards of biotech companies – Kisbee Therapeutics and Stride Bio – and disease foundations – Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation, and Salla Treatment and Research Foundation, among others. As a champion of rare disease research, Dan has been honored many times for his work, including the Global Genes RARE Champion of Hope Award. Dan has an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, his fellowship in Cardiology at MGH, and his postdoctoral studies at the Whitehead Institute at MIT. Outside of Arbor, Dan enjoys traveling with his wife and family, running, tennis, and spending time at the beach.
Chief Executive Officer
Devyn Smith, Ph.D., joined Arbor in April, 2021 as Chief Executive Officer and as a board member. Previously, Devyn served as Chief Operations Officer and Head of Strategy at Sigilon Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotechnology company. At Sigilon, he helped grow the company from 10 to over 100 FTEs in four years, build an IND engine with a novel platform focused on delivering 5 INDs in three years and move from product concept to a product entering clinical trials. Prior to this, he was head of Business Operations and Strategy at the Medicinal Sciences Division at Pfizer R&D. He was previously at Pfizer’s Neusentis Research Unit in the UK from 2011-2014 as Chief Operating Officer, responsible for strategy and operations for the unit where he helped bring two novel cell therapies and several small molecules from discovery through to clinical trials. Prior to joining Pfizer, Devyn was a principal for The Frankel Group, a boutique management consulting firm in New York City and Cambridge. In his consulting experience, he led a wide range of projects, across multiple therapeutic areas and a host of technology platforms, including basic R&D tools, regenerative medicine, gene therapy, and macromolecules/biologic products. Devyn currently serves as chairman of the Alliance of Regenerative Medicine (ARM), the industry group for nearly 400 gene and cell therapy companies and as an advisor/board member to several companies in the advanced therapies space. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, M.S. from Idaho State University, and a B.S. from Brigham Young University. For relaxation, Devyn likes to climb high peaks, garden and raise chickens.
Chief Operating Officer
Pam Stetkiewicz is a 20-year drug development executive with a proven track record in building organizations, implementing right-size processes/governance, assessing business development opportunities, building portfolio strategy, and driving drug development programs from research through clinical proof of concept. Pam joined Arbor in July 2021 from Flagship Pioneering Ventures, where she was Senior Vice President, Global Program Leader responsible for driving the implementation of a newly formed innovation unit that spanned across early portfolio of Flagship platform companies. Prior to Flagship, Pam was at Editas Medicine where she was Vice President of Program and Alliance Management. Pam was brought into Editas to build the development organization, drive productive collaborations, and notably led the team that filed the first IND for an in vivo CRISPR therapeutic (EDIT-101 for LCA10). Prior to that, Pam worked at Novartis Institute of Biomedical Research (NIBR) for 13 years in a variety of roles across science, alliance, program, and portfolio management. While at Novartis, she founded and led the New Indication Discovery Unit that brought five novel drug discovery programs into development. Her last role at Novartis was as Executive Director of Strategic Alliances, which proposed business development partnerships and oversaw external collaborations for NIBR. Pam received her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. from the University of Rhode Island. Outside of work, Pam enjoys spending time with her husband and two sons, relaxing at the beach and is an avid golfer.
Chief Executive Officer
Devyn Smith, Ph.D., joined Arbor in April, 2021 as Chief Executive Officer and as a board member. Previously, Devyn served as Chief Operations Officer and Head of Strategy at Sigilon Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotechnology company. At Sigilon, he helped grow the company from 10 to over 100 FTEs in four years, build an IND engine with a novel platform focused on delivering 5 INDs in three years and move from product concept to a product entering clinical trials. Prior to this, he was head of Business Operations and Strategy at the Medicinal Sciences Division at Pfizer R&D. He was previously at Pfizer’s Neusentis Research Unit in the UK from 2011-2014 as Chief Operating Officer, responsible for strategy and operations for the unit where he helped bring two novel cell therapies and several small molecules from discovery through to clinical trials. Prior to joining Pfizer, Devyn was a principal for The Frankel Group, a boutique management consulting firm in New York City and Cambridge. In his consulting experience, he led a wide range of projects, across multiple therapeutic areas and a host of technology platforms, including basic R&D tools, regenerative medicine, gene therapy, and macromolecules/biologic products. Devyn currently serves as chairman of the Alliance of Regenerative Medicine (ARM), the industry group for nearly 400 gene and cell therapy companies and as an advisor/board member to several companies in the advanced therapies space. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, M.S. from Idaho State University, and a B.S. from Brigham Young University. For relaxation, Devyn likes to climb high peaks, garden and raise chickens.