About Us

Dr. George Church is professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, a founding member of the Wyss Institute, and director of PersonalGenomes.org, the world’s only open-access information on human genomic, environmental, and trait data. Church is known for pioneering the fields of personal genomics and synthetic biology. He developed the first methods for the first genome sequence & dramatic cost reductions since then (down from $3 billion to $600), contributing to nearly all “next generation sequencing” methods and companies. His team invented CRISPR for human stem cell genome editing and other synthetic biology technologies and applications – including new ways to create organs for transplantation, gene therapies for aging reversal, and gene drives to eliminate Lyme Disease and Malaria.  Church is director of IARPA & NIH BRAIN Projects and National Institutes of Health Center for Excellence in Genomic Science.  He has co-authored more than 625 papers and 156 patent publications, and one book, “Regenesis”. His honors include Franklin Bower Laureate for Achievement in Science, the Time 100, and election to the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering.

Dr. Farren Isaacs is an Associate Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Biomedical Engineering at Yale University. Dr. Isaacs has pioneered technologies for genome and RNA engineering for the construction of organisms with recoded genomes and production of novel chemicals, proteins, and materials to solve problems in biotechnology, materials science, environmental health, and medicine. Dr. Isaacs has been recognized with various awards, including a Beckman Young Investigator award by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation and a Young Professor award from DuPont, Inc. Innovations from his lab have led to the formation of biotechnology companies including enEvolv (acquired by Zymergen), 64x Bio, Peter Bio, and Pearl Bio. Dr. Isaacs received his B.S.E. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering-Bioinformatics at Boston University, and conducted postdoctoral training in Genetics at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Michael Jewett is the Professor in Bioengineering at Stanford University. Dr. Jewett received his PhD in 2005 at Stanford University, completed postdoctoral studies at the Center for Microbial Biotechnology in Denmark and the Harvard Medical School, and was a guest professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). He is the recipient of the NIH Pathway to Independence Award, David and Lucile Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering, Camille-Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and a Finalist for the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists, among others. He is the co-founder of SwiftScale Biologics (acquired by National Resilience Inc), Stemloop, Inc., Pearl Bio, Induro Therapeutics, and Design Pharmaceuticals. Jewett is a Fellow of AIMBE, AAAS, and NAI.

Dr. Jesse Rinehart is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cellular & Molecular Physiology at the Yale University School of Medicine with a joint appointment in the Yale Systems Biology Institute. Dr. Rinehart has led groundbreaking research in genetic code expansion by producing enabling technologies that have provided insights into cancer, diabetes, and hypertension. His technologies have been utilized by hundreds of academic labs world-wide as well as biotech and pharma. Dr. Rinehart received his PhD in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and conducted postdoctoral training in Genetics at the Yale School of Medicine.

Amy Cayne Schwartz is spearheading operations, business strategy and is the General Counsel for Pearl Bio. Ms. Schwartz is also the President and General Counsel of Genome Project-write (GP-write), a non-profit global consortium, where she oversees the technology development of a foundry and startup ecosystem for genome writing, including the creation of a first-of-its kind computational genome design platform. To translate these efforts, Amy has established partnerships with life science companies, venture firms and accelerators. Amy also serves as a biotechnology consultant for life science ventures. Prior to her work in the life sciences, Amy was an attorney at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and Nixon Peabody. Amy holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and studied at the London School of Economics (LSE). She earned a JD from Fordham University School of Law, where she was a member of the Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal, and has completed coursework in Biomanufacturing at M.I.T.