Speaker Profile
Ph.D., Professor, UCSF
Biography
Nadav Ahituv is a Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and the Interim Director of the Institute for Human Genetics at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his PhD in human genetics from Tel-Aviv University working on hereditary hearing loss. He then did his postdoc, specializing in functional genomics, in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the DOE Joint Genome Institute. His current work is focused on identifying gene regulatory elements and linking nucleotide variation within them to various phenotypes including morphological differences between species, drug response and human disease. His lab was one of the co-developers of massively parallel reporter assays (MPRAs) that allow for high-throughput functional characterization of gene regulatory elements and pioneered the use of gene regulatory elements as therapeutic targets. Finally, the lab also utilizes short DNA sequences for diagnostic purposes.
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
