Speaker Profile
Ph.D., President & Division Head, Gene Therapy Research & Technical Operations, Astellas
Biography
Morten Sogaard is President, Research TechOps at Astellas Gene Therapies. Morten oversees Research and nonGMP CMC in South SF and Japan with a remit to deliver 2 clinical gene therapy candidates p.a. Before Astellas Morten led human genetics, functional genomics, CompBio and diagnostics functions as Global Head of Genome Sciences and a member of Pfizer's RD LT, and later led Target Sciences. He also headed up Search Evaluation for Platform Technologies and Oncology. Morten started his industry career at Pharmacia (Sweden), where he oversaw NextGen immunooncology antibody therapeutics. Later at AZ he led Molecular Sciences providing biologics and genomics capabilities to TAs. 2004, Morten moved to BI (CT) as global head, enabling technology, building a companywide platform of global skill centers, research informatics and briefly served as Head of RD Informatics. Morten received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Univ. of Copenhagen and did postdoctoral studies at MSKCC.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2025 Silicon Valley
Track Co-Chairs:
Yael Weiss, Mahzi Tx
Morten Sogaard, Astellas Gene Therapies
- PMWC 2025 Award Ceremony
Pioneer Honoree: James M. Wilson, University of Pennsylvania
Luminary Honoree: Carolyn Bertozzi, Stanford
- Keynote: Bioorthogonal Chemistry, from Basic Science to Clinical Translation
- Carolyn Bertozzi, Stanford
- Keynote: The Promise of Genetic Medicines Unless You're Too Poor or Too Rare
- James M. Wilson, University of Pennsylvania
- Reimbursement for Genetic Medicines in Rare Diseases
Chair:
- Erin Satterwhite, Optum Specialty Pharmacy
- Next-Generation Delivery Systems for Gene Therapies (PANEL)
Chair: Morten Sogaard, Astellas
- Mathieu Nonnenmacher, Voyager Therapeutics
- Kevin Friedman, Kelonia Therapeutics
- Kunwoo Lee, GenEdit
- Haig Aghajanian, Capstan Therapeutics
- James M. Wilson, University of Pennsylvania
- Beyond the Genome: Harnessing Epigenetics in Rare Disease Treatment (PANEL)
Chair: Charles Gersbach, Duke
- Prashant Mali, UCSD
- Nadav Ahituv, UCSF
- Blythe Sather, Tune Therapeutics
- Fyodor D Urnov, Berkely University
- Navigating the Regulatory Landscape for Gene and Cell Therapies (PANEL)
Chair: Yael Weiss, Mahzi Tx
- Courtney Silverthorn, Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium (BGTC)
- Peter Marks, FDA
- Ben Dewees, Kyverna Therapeutics
- AI-driven Improvements in Gene and Cell Therapy (PANEL)
Chair: Morten Sogaard, Astellas
- Francois Vigneault, Shape Therapeutics
- John Androsavich, Ginkgo Bioworks
- Yogev Debbi, mana.bio
