Graphite Bio Appoints Jane Grogan, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Grogan Brings More Than 20 Years of Industry Experience Building Research Teams and Executing Drug Development Strategies Across Therapeutic Areas and Modalities

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#GraphiteBIo—Graphite Bio, Inc., a clinical-stage, next-generation gene editing company focused on therapies that harness targeted gene integration to treat or cure serious diseases, today announced the appointment of Jane Grogan, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer and a member of the company’s executive leadership team.

Dr. Grogan is a renowned scientist in the fields of immunology, oncology and cell therapy with over two decades of biotech and life sciences industry experience, including a tenure of more than 15 years at Genentech advancing programs from discovery biology and target identification through to late-stage clinical development and approval. At Graphite Bio, Dr. Grogan will apply this extensive relevant experience to lead robust research efforts, leverage the company’s targeted gene integration platform technology in new therapeutic areas to impact patients and guide the continued growth of the company’s world-class research group. She will also play a critical role in advancing research of targeted and safer bone marrow conditioning regimens to improve and expand the applications and impact of Graphite Bio’s hematopoietic stem cell therapies for patients with serious diseases.

“Dr. Grogan is a highly experienced drug discovery scientist and senior research leader with a proven track record advancing groundbreaking scientific discoveries into important new therapies. Her experience across multiple therapeutic areas and modalities will be important assets in developing a strategy to fully realize the broad potential impact of our targeted gene integration platform,” said Josh Lehrer, M.Phil., M.D., chief executive officer of Graphite Bio. “Working alongside our founders, Jane will execute the strategies that will advance and expand our platform in order to urgently move our pipeline programs forward for patients.”

Immediately prior to joining Graphite Bio, she served as chief scientific officer and a member of the executive leadership team at ArsenalBio, a programmable cell therapy company, where she established the research organization and preclinical pipeline of cell therapies for solid tumors. From 2004-2019, Dr. Grogan distinguished herself as an influential scientist throughout her tenure at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. As head of adaptive tumor immunity and principal scientist of cancer immunology discovery research at Genentech, Dr. Grogan oversaw discovery research programs from idea and target identification through clinical development, and she managed in-licensing business partnerships and external development collaborations. Dr. Grogan served as a key partner to Genentech’s business development teams to access new technologies and programs to support the company’s research and development strategies. She is also widely recognized as the founder and original host of the popular podcast series “Two Scientists Walk into a Bar.”

During her career, Dr. Grogan has published over 60 papers in a wide array of journals and is the inventor on over 20 patents. She obtained her Ph.D. from Leiden University, The Netherlands, and her BSci (Hons) degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Grogan completed her post-doctoral training as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the German Rheumatism Research Centre Berlin (DRFZ) and as a Howard Hughes Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

“Graphite Bio’s mission to expand the boundaries of gene editing by harnessing the cell’s own homology directed repair mechanism to advance an entirely new class of potentially curative therapies is profoundly inspiring to me as a discovery scientist,” said Dr. Grogan. “The company’s ambitious clinical plans hold vast implications for the field of gene correction and bold promise for patients suffering from life-threatening diseases. I am excited about the opportunity to work with Graphite Bio’s extraordinary scientific team to help realize the enormous potential of this novel targeted gene integration platform approach for patients.”

About Graphite Bio

Graphite Bio is a clinical-stage, next-generation gene editing company harnessing high efficiency targeted gene integration to develop a new class of therapies to potentially cure a wide range of serious and life-threatening diseases. Graphite Bio is pioneering a precision gene editing approach that could enable a variety of applications to transform human health through its potential to achieve one of medicine’s most elusive goals: to precisely “find & replace” any gene in the genome. Graphite Bio’s platform allows it to precisely correct mutations, replace entire disease-causing genes with normal genes or insert new genes into predetermined, safe locations. The company was co-founded by academic pioneers in the fields of gene editing and gene therapy, including Maria Grazia Roncarolo, MD, and Matthew Porteus, MD, PhD. For more information, please visit www.graphitebio.com.

Contacts

Media
Christy Curran

615.414.8668

[email protected]