Genome Editing Applications in Drug Discovery and Target Validation

Scott Younger, Ph.D., is the Director of Disease Gene Engineering within the Center for Pediatric Genomic Medicine at Children's Mercy Kansas City. His laboratory is focused on dissecting the molecular mechanisms through which rare genetic variants identified in patients at Children's Mercy lead to disease. Younger joined Children's Mercy from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard where his group worked on the development of new methodologies to expand the utility of CRISPR-based genetic screens. Prior to working at the Broad Institute, he completed his postdoctoral studies at Harvard University as an American Cancer Society Fellow. He holds a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from UT Southwestern Medical Center. He also received an M.S. in biotechnology from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a B.S.I. in bioinformatics from Baylor University.

Sam Hasson is currently an Associate Director at Voyager Therapeutics (Cambridge, Massachusetts). His lab focuses on emerging applications of gene therapy in the central nervous system in addition to expanding the molecular toolbox of gene therapy. Previously, as a lab head within Amgen Neuroscience and Pfizer Neuroscience, Sam has utilized genome editing in the deconvolution of human genetics to enable target validation and selection. A major goal of Sam’s past work in industry has been to identify modulators of neuroimmune phenotypes utilizing innovative assay design strategies such as high content screening. As a postdoc, Sam trained with Richard Youle and Jim Inglese at the National Institutes of Health.