Genetic Agency Technology Conference (GATC) 2026

Robert Bell, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer, Ascidian Therapeutics

After eight years leading gene therapy research at Pfizer, Bob leads the science at Ascidian Therapeutics, where he took ACDN‑01, the first‑ever RNA exon editing candidate, for Stargardt disease, from bench to clinic.

Carolyn Bertozzi, PhD

Nobel Laureate & Co-founder, Grace Science LLC

Awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for inventing bioorthogonal chemistry, Carolyn directs Stanford's Sarafan ChEM-H institute and co-founded Grace Science with Matt Wilsey — turning world-class chemistry toward a cure for NGLY1 deficiency.

Elliot Hershberg, PhD

Partner at Amplify and Author of The Century of Biology

Elliot is an early-stage biotech investor and the author of The Century of Biology newsletter.

Ian Huyett, JD

Associate Director & Head of Litigation, Cornerstone (New Hampshire)

A constitutional litigator and leading voice for state-based access to experimental medicine, Ian championed New Hampshire's 2025 Right to Try expansion covering individualized treatments like customized gene therapies, and speaks widely on law and biotechnology, most recently at the 2026 Freedom Summit.

Alan Mardinly, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer, Science Corporation

Alan leads the science at Science Corporation, where his work spans retinal gene therapy and biohybrid neural interfaces aimed at restoring sight and function to patients who have no other options.

Špela Miroševič, PhD

Founding President, CTNNB1 Foundation

After her son Urban was diagnosed with CTNNB1 syndrome in 2020, Špela Miroševič, PhD, left her career in cancer and public health research to pursue a treatment. She founded the CTNNB1 Foundation and has since led its AAV9 gene therapy program from preclinical development into a Phase I/II clinical trial.

Matt Wilsey

CEO, Grace Science LLC

Founded Grace Science after his daughter's NGLY1 deficiency diagnosis and advanced the disease’s first gene therapy into the clinic, treated his daughter in 2025 as part of a clinical program.

Richard Wilson, MBA

Senior Vice President, Primary Focus Lead, Genetic Regulation, Astellas

A 30-year veteran of pharmaceutical development, Richard leads Astellas' AAV gene therapy strategy and portfolio, built on Astellas Gene Therapies (formerly Audentes), after leading BioMarin's PKU franchise through launch; he serves on the board of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine.

Andreas Borg

Founder at CURE5 Foundation and Full Stack Engineer at Jimini Health

Co-founded CURE5 Foundation after his daughter was diagnosed with CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder, and is applying his software engineering background to build AI tools that help families make decisions and accelerate therapeutic development.

Heidi Epstein

Vice Chair at Rett Syndrome Research Trust and Founder of Reverse Rett LA

When her 3 year old daughter Hannah was diagnosed with Rett syndrome in 2008, she was told a cure was impossible. Undeterred, Heidi joined the board of the Rett Syndrome Research Trust and founded Reverse Rett LA, now the world's largest Rett syndrome fundraiser. The event has played a critical role in helping to advance the field from basic science to two ongoing gene therapy trials.

Jake Heller

Co-founder, Brain Repair Foundation

Jake Heller is the co-founder of the Brain Repair Foundation, founded out of his and his wife Miki's experience applying frontier AI to their son Levi's undiagnosed genetic condition in search of a diagnosis and a path to treatment. Jake previously co-founded Casetext, the legal AI company acquired by Thomson Reuters.

Miki Heller

Co-founder, Brain Repair Foundation

Miki's son Levi started losing language and skills at two and a half, and the diagnosis was DEE-SWAS, a rare epileptic encephalopathy with no treatment; she and her husband Jake started the Brain Repair Foundation, where she is building the first DEE-SWAS patient registry and using AI to find the root cause and something that works.

Rich Horgan

Founder & CEO, Cure Rare Disease

After losing his brother Terry to an ultra-rare form of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Rich founded Cure Rare Disease, uniting world-class researchers and clinicians to pioneer a new framework for developing and financing therapies for ultra-rare genetic diseases.

Jainu Jogani

Co-founder, Child's Cure Genetic Research

A biomedical engineer whose daughter Reyna was diagnosed with CDKL5 deficiency disorder at 20 days old, JJ co-founded Child's Cure Genetic Research and is advancing an AAV9 gene therapy from preclinical work toward IND submission and a first trial at UCSF, while pursuing a repurposed small molecule with Johns Hopkins in parallel.

Jo Kaur

Founder, Riaan Research Initiative

After her son Riaan was diagnosed with Cockayne syndrome, Jo founded the Riaan Research Initiative and drove development of a gene therapy for an ultra-rare disease with no treatment, charting a path from an n-of-1 program toward a clinical trial that other families can follow.

Alex LeNail, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher at the Wyss Institute, Harvard Medical School

His father's adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) diagnosis and the shelving of its only treatment set Alex on a mission to develop a gene therapy.

Stanley Qi, PhD

Professor, Stanford University; Co-founder, Epicrispr Biotechnologies

A pioneer of CRISPR-based epigenome editing, Stanley co-founded Epicrispr Biotechnologies, whose lead program EPI-321 is bringing a one-time epigenetic therapy for FSHD into the clinic.

Stevie Ringel

Founder & CEO at Nome, President at Kizuna Foundation

Facing blindness from an ultra-rare KIZ gene mutation shared with his sister, Stevie founded Kizuna Foundation to develop a gene therapy to save their sight, and launched Nome.bio to use AI to make personalized therapeutics accessible to any rare disease family.

Giuseppe Ronzitti, PhD

Director of Research Strategy, Genethon; Research Director, Inserm

A leader in AAV gene therapy for rare diseases, Giuseppe heads Genethon's Immunology and Liver Disease laboratory, where his work spans liver-directed gene transfer, immune responses to AAV, and therapies for Pompe, Crigler-Najjar, and glycogen storage disease type III.

Pablo Sardi, PhD

Senior Vice President, Rare and Neurologic Diseases Research, Sanofi

Pablo leads Sanofi's research in rare and neurologic diseases, advancing gene and genetic therapies for conditions like Gaucher and Parkinson's disease from discovery toward patients.

Yiwei She, PhD

Founder & CEO, TNPO2 Foundation

A mathematician and machine learning scientist turned rare disease leader, Yiwei drove development of an experimental antisense therapy for her son's ultra-rare TNPO2 disorder in roughly a year, and now builds scalable pathways from NICU genome sequencing to individualized treatment through Project Baby Lion.

Jacob Stern

CEO, Team Sid & GP, Even One Ventures

Jacob leads operations for Sid Sijbrandij's personalized medical team, pioneering a data-driven, N=1 approach to treating Sid's high-grade osteosarcoma, and co-founded Even One Ventures to productize patient-first development.

Dean Suhr

President & Cofounder at MLD Foundation

After two daughters were diagnosed with metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) in 1995, Dean co-founded the MLD Foundation, partnered with researchers to bring gene therapy Lenmeldy to FDA approval in 2024, and fought in parallel to add MLD to newborn screening.

Ruxandra Teslo, PhD

Writer, Stripe Press

A genomics PhD turned writer, Ruxandra authors one of the most-read science Substacks, championing scientific optimism, faster clinical trials, and patients' freedom to try, and edits books at Stripe Press that shape how a generation thinks about progress.

Yael Weiss, MD, PhD

Founder & CEO, Mahzi Therapeutics

A physician-scientist and former Ultragenyx executive, Yael founded Mahzi Therapeutics to develop treatments for ultra-rare genetic diseases too often left behind, partnering directly with patient families to advance programs from gene discovery to the clinic.

Sajith Wickramasekara

Co-founder & CEO, Benchling

Saji co-founded Benchling, the R&D platform used by thousands of biotech and pharma teams, and is rebuilding how scientific work gets done in the AI era, from lab data to the models that learn from it.