Team

  • Beaven Ankner-Edelstein
    Research Associate
    Beaven holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Genetics from Trinity College Dublin.
  • Steph Barr
    Senior Research Associate
    Steph oversees mammalian cell culture and is running Kano’s in vitro testing programs. Most recently, she was a Research Associate at Lucy Therapeutics.
  • Dr. Jared Eller
    Scientist, Process Development
    Jared leads upstream and downstream process development for Kano. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin.
  • 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. 
  • 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.
  • 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.

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.
  • Ann de Witt, The Engine
    Board Member
    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.

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