Team

  • Dr. Floris Engelhardt
    CEO/CSO & Co-Founder
    Floris leads Kano’s corporate strategy and technology development. She holds a PhD in Physics from the Technical University of Munich, with a focus on DNA nanotechnology. Most recently, she was a postdoctoral researcher in Mark Bathe’s BatheBioNano lab at MIT. Floris was awarded with a founder stipend from Activate Global as part of Cohort 2, Pillar VCs Founder to watch in Biotech award 2021, The wave summit 21 emerging woman founders award, and MIT’s 2020 Innovative Woman in Entrepreneurship award.
  • John Vroom
    Chief Business Officer & Co-Founder
    John is co-founder, Chief Business Officer, and Board Director of Kano Therapeutics. He leads Kano’s operations, finance, and business development efforts. He holds an undergraduate degree in biology and a master’s in finance from the University of Virginia, as well as an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Previously, John worked as a life sciences strategy consultant, completing over 50 client engagements with companies ranging from pre-commercial biotech to Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies.
  • Scott Hamilton
    Director, CMC
    Scott leads Kano’s process development and manufacturing efforts. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Maine’s School of Marine Sciences. He got his start in bioprocessing over ten years ago, working primarily in the upstream process development space. He has developed processes for the production of biofuels, small molecules, proteins and synthetic microbiome based therapeutics. He has led teams in both process development and the GMP manufacturing space, delivering multiple therapeutic programs into the clinic.
  • Greg Foley
    Associate Director, Synthetic Biology
    Greg leads Kano’s synthetic biology efforts. His professional experience includes microbial engineering team lead positions at enEvolv and Joyn Bio, as well as leading genome engineering efforts at Colossal Biosciences. 
  • Dr. Alline Pacheco
    Associate Director, Discovery Research
    Dr. Alline Pacheco spearheads Kano Therapeutics’ pipeline efforts. With a PhD from UT Southwestern and postdoctoral training at UC Davis and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, she honed her expertise in CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Alline has nearly a decade of experience in genome engineering, having worked at leading gene editing companies such as Intellia and Verve. She has led preclinical research projects, contributed to clinical filings, and has a vast range of experience in therapeutic areas including cardiovascular diseases, immuno-oncology, infectious disease, and rare diseases.
  • Dr. Kimberly Wong
    Senior Scientist, Discovery Research
    Kim is part of the pipeline team and oversees Kano's in vitro and in vivo discovery efforts. Her expertise in gene engineering and disease biology spans multiple therapeutic areas, including immunology and neurodegeneration. She earned her PhD at Upstate Medical University and has led preclinical and translational research efforts at Boston Children’s Hospital, Biogen, and ReNAgade Therapeutics.
  • Christian Burns
    Senior Scientist, Process & Analytical Development
    Christian is part of Kano’s process development team, leading downstream and analytical development efforts. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Denver. He has honed his expertise in nucleic acid biochemistry, design and manufacturing across the gene editing landscape at leading companies such as 4DMT, Mammoth Bio and Chroma Medicine; leading various efforts from early drug discovery and design to process development and GMP manufacturing.
  • Nicholas Gentile
    Senior Research Associate
    Nicholas graduated from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with a Bachelor's degree in Biology. His previous work at Elevate Bio has been focused on Downstream Process Development with scalability for manufacturing in mind.
  • Beaven Ankner-Edelstein
    Research Associate
    Beaven is part of Kano’s platform team, focused on synthetic biology. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Genetics from Trinity College Dublin.
  • Zea Segnitz
    Undergraduate Co-op
    Zea is supporting Kano’s process development team. She is a senior at Northeastern University pursuing a B.S. in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology. Her previous work with the Lotterhos Lab at Northeastern’s Marine Science Center focused on building a seascape genomics database to inform predictive models.

Board of Directors

  • Dr. Floris Engelhardt
    CEO/CSO & Co-Founder
    Floris leads Kano’s corporate strategy and technology development. She holds a PhD in Physics from the Technical University of Munich, with a focus on DNA nanotechnology. Most recently, she was a postdoctoral researcher in Mark Bathe’s BatheBioNano lab at MIT. Floris was awarded with a founder stipend from Activate Global as part of Cohort 2, Pillar VCs Founder to watch in Biotech award 2021, The wave summit 21 emerging woman founders award, and MIT’s 2020 Innovative Woman in Entrepreneurship award.
  • John Vroom
    Chief Business Officer & Co-Founder
    John is co-founder, Chief Business Officer, and Board Director of Kano Therapeutics. He leads Kano’s operations, finance, and business development efforts. He holds an undergraduate degree in biology and a master’s in finance from the University of Virginia, as well as an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Previously, John worked as a life sciences strategy consultant, completing over 50 client engagements with companies ranging from pre-commercial biotech to Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies.
  • Dr. Vinny Beranek, The Engine Ventures
    Board Member
    Vinny is a Principal at Engine Ventures. He serves as a Board Member for Terragia, and Board Observer for Anthology, and Matrisome Bio. He was previously at Bain & Company where he advised private equity and corporate clients on investments across industry sectors with a primary focus on healthcare. He holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from, the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Biomedical Engineering, from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a BS in Biomedical Engineering, from the Czech Technical University.
  • Dr. Ann DeWitt, The Engine Ventures
    Board Observer
    Ann is a General Partner at The Engine. She serves as a Board Member for Biobot Analytics, Cellino, Kano Therapeutics, Kytopen, Lucy Therapeutics, Quaise, Syzygy Plasmonics, and Vaxess Technologies. Ann was most recently at Sanofi where she held senior roles in business development and strategic venture investment. Prior to Sanofi, she was at Flagship Pioneering. Ann started her career in R&D at 3M Company, working across fields of materials, biology and engineering. Ann holds an MBA from Harvard and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT. She served on the Board of Women in the Enterprise of Science and Technology and is on the Life Science Council of Springboard Enterprises.
  • Dr. Lise Rechsteiner
    Board Observer
    Lise is a General Partner at Vsquared Ventures. Most recently, she was Founding Partner of Propagator Ventures, an early-stage deep tech VC with investments in North America and Europe. Before that, she was Investment Director at Nordic Impact and Investment Manager at the German Corporate VC Bauer Venture Partners. She also worked operationally at the company-builder Rocket Internet, being MP in several Nordic markets. She has a Ph.D. in Management, Technology & Economics (MTEC) from ETH Zurich.

Advisors

  • Professor Mark Bathe, MIT
    Academic Co-Founder
    Dr. Bathe is a Professor in the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT, a Member of the Harvard Medical School Initiative for RNA Medicine, and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard. His research is at the interface of nucleic acid technologies, therapeutics, and vaccines. He obtained his undergraduate and doctoral degrees at MIT working in the Departments of Mechanical, Chemical, and Biological Engineering. He has published over 90 research articles and filed more than ten patents.
  • Dr. Stephen Sofen
    Scientific Advisor
    Dr. Sofen is an accomplished CMC leader and CTO at Abata Therapeutics with over 20 years of experience in technical innovation, product development, and manufacturing alliance management and strategy. Prior to Abata, he was an independent CMC consultant primarily focused on supporting biotech companies in the cell and gene therapy space and vice president of technical operations at CRISPR Therapeutics, where he built the manufacturing organization and led CMC efforts, which resulted in filing an IND for a hemoglobinopathy cell therapy in less than 18 months and transferring an allogeneic, gene edited CAR-T program to external CDMOs. Steve holds a Ph.D. in bioinorganic chemistry from the University of California.
  • Professor Brian Shy
    Scientific Advisor
    Dr. Shy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at UCSF, a Member of the Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology, and Director of the UCSF Investigational Cell Therapy Program. His research applies genome and epigenome engineering tools to enhance the safety and potency of cellular therapies, improve GMP manufacturing methods, and develop new cellular therapies targeting cancer, immune disorders, and infectious disease.
  • Professor Jacob Corn
    Scientific Advisor
    Jacob Corn is the Professor of Genome Biology at the ETH Zurich. His research aims to better understand and treat disease through next-generation genome editing technologies. Jacob’s career has bridged academia and industry, working in therapeutic areas that include infectious disease, neurobiology, and oncology. His research takes a multidisciplinary approach, combining cellular biochemistry, functional genomics, computational biology, bioengineering, and biophysics.

Spun out of MIT, Kano is founder-led, science-driven, and committed to environmental stewardship. If you’re interested in joining a team passionately committed to pushing gene editing toward cures, check out our Open Positions.

Winner of

  • Golden Ticket 2021
  • Sloan Healthcare Innovation Prize 2021
  • Founders to Watch, Biotech 2021
  • Global Founder Fellowship 2021
  • Activator Most Innovative Award 2021