Tom Adams, PhD
Co-Founder & chief executive officer
Dr. Tom Adams co-founded Pairwise and serves as Chief Executive Officer. Tom has over 25 years of leadership experience heading up biotechnology for global companies, serving most recently as Vice President of Global Biotechnology at Monsanto where he led the team developing a broad range of innovative products. Tom wanted to realize the possibilities of CRISPR and gene editing in plants, and co-founded Pairwise to realize this potential in a mission-based environment. Formerly a faculty member at Texas A&M University, Tom holds a PhD in microbiology and plant science from Michigan State University and a BS in botany and plant pathology from Oregon State University. Tom is a long-time distance runner and often competes in local events.
David R. Liu, PhD
Co-Founder
David R. Liu is the Richard Merkin Professor and director of the Merkin Institute of Transformative Technologies in Healthcare, vice-chair of the faculty at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard University, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator. Liu’s research integrates chemistry and evolution to illuminate biology and enable next-generation therapeutics. His major research interests include the engineering, evolution, and in vivo delivery of genome editing proteins such as base editors and prime editors to study and treat genetic diseases; the evolution of proteins with novel therapeutic potential using phage-assisted continuous evolution (PACE); and the discovery of bioactive synthetic small molecules and synthetic polymers using DNA-templated organic synthesis and DNA-encoded libraries. Base editing—the first general method to perform precision gene editing without double-stranded breaks, and a Science 2017 Breakthrough of the Year finalist—as well as prime editing, PACE, and DNA-templated synthesis are four examples of technologies pioneered in his laboratory. These technologies are used by thousands of labs around the world and have enabled the study and potential treatment of many genetic diseases.
Feng Zhang, PhD
co-founder
Dr. Feng Zhang is a core institute member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, an investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, as well as the James and Patricia Poitras Professor in Neuroscience at MIT, and a professor at MIT, with joint appointments in the departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Biological Engineering. Zhang is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Zhang developed the CRISPR-Cas9 system for gene editing in eukaryotic cells and continues to identify and adapt gene-editing tools including CRISPR-Cas12s (Cpf1), CRISPR-Cas13s, and CRISPR-associated transposases. He is a founder of Sherlock Biosciences and the public companies Editas Medicine, and BEAM Therapeutics.
J. Keith Joung, PhD
co-founder
J. Keith Joung is a leading innovator in the fields of gene and epigenetic editing. He is currently a Lead Translator at Arena BioWorks and was formerly the Robert B. Colvin, M.D. Endowed Chair in Pathology and a Pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He is also a Professor of Pathology (on leave, 2023-2024) at Harvard Medical School. Joung has been a pioneer in the development of important technologies for targeted gene editing and epigenetic editing of human cells. He has received numerous awards including the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Outstanding Achievement award in 2023, the 2022 Samsung Ho-Am Prize in Medicine, an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, an NIH Director’s Transformative Research Project R01 Award, the MGH Research Scholar Award, an NIH R35 MIRA (Maximizing Investigators Research Award), election into the American Association of University Pathologists and designation as a “Highly Cited Researcher” for eight consecutive years (2016-2023) by Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics. Joung has co-founded and advises multiple biotechnology companies, including Beam Therapeutics, Chroma Medicine, Editas Medicine, Nvelop Therapeutics, Pairwise Plants, SeQure Dx, and Verve Therapeutics. He holds a Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.
Haven Baker, PhD
Co-Founder
Dr. Haven Baker co-founded Pairwise and served as Chief Business Officer. Haven is the former Senior Vice President / General Manager of Simplot Plant Sciences, where he led the team that launched the innovative, non-browning Innate® potato. He holds a PhD in chemistry from Northeastern University, an MBA from Harvard University, and a BS in biomedical engineering from Yale University. Hailing from central Washington state, Baker describes himself as an “an over-educated farm kid.” A lover of the outdoors, Haven enjoys hunting, fishing, and hiking in his native Pacific Northwest.
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