10 Webinars, 5 Themes, 2 Months
September-October 2020

ABOUT THE EVENT

Conversations on Science, Society & the Future of Gene Editing

CRISPRcon is a unique forum bringing diverse voices together to discuss the future of CRISPR and related gene editing technologies across applications in agriculture, health, conservation, and more. CRISPRcon sparks curiosity, builds understanding, and highlights societal histories and other context relevant to decisions on gene editing technologies. CRISPRcon is a program of the Keystone Policy Center. Learn more.

CRISPRcon returned in fall 2020 with a series of discussions exploring gene editing’s role in COVID-19 testing and treatment, racial disparities and inequities, strategies to address climate change, and other pressing issues. In a year that has transformed the world in unexpected ways, CRISPRcon virtually hosted a dynamic, diverse, and timely lineup that considered gene editing across applications, disciplines, geographies, communities, cultures, and perspectives.

REGISTRATION

Spanning September and October, the CRISPRcon 2020 series featured two webinars every other week with moderated panels, short presentations, and virtual networking opportunities, as well as an online adaptation of CRISPRcon’s popular Ideas Marketplace to conclude the Thursday sessions.

The 10 sessions examined the following five themes.

September 1 & 3: Science and Societal Narratives: Recorded Sessions Linked in Agenda Below
September 15 & 17: Race and Health Equity: Recorded Sessions Linked in Agenda Below
Sept. 29 & Oct. 1: Hope and Hype: Recorded Sessions Linked in Agenda Below
October 13 & 15: Equity, Environment & Agriculture: Recorded Sessions Linked in Agenda Below
October 27 & 29: Priority and Agenda Setting: Recorded Sessions Linked in Agenda Below

The full agenda of the series is available below.

AGENDA

  • Science and Societal Narratives Narratives on science and society are shaped by the values and views of those that tell them. Within both CRISPRcon and societal dialogue on gene editing at large, how issues are framed and whose stories and perspectives are included in the discussion impact our collective understanding of what is at stake and how to govern emerging technologies. In its first week, CRISPRcon 2020 Virtual explored the shaping of societal narratives in two ways: first, through discussion of what stories are told by journalists and second by focusing on Indigenous perspectives that have been historically marginalized within discussions and decisions on genetics and society.

  • 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EDT Gene editing and journalism: What story? Whose story? And why? (in partnership with the Innovative Genomics Institute) News coverage and stories highlighted by journalists in a variety of forms are shaping society’s values and views on gene editing. This session explored the choices made around what stories are told, whose stories to tell, and how they are framed within and shape the overall societal dialogue on science and technology.

    Click here to read the full recap by the CRISPRcon organizers at Keystone Policy Center, and watch highlight videos from this discussion.

    Tamar Haspel
    Washington Post Columnist

    Tamar Haspel

    Washington Post Columnist

    Tamar is a journalist on the food and science beat, and writes the James Beard award-winning Washington Post column, Unearthed. When she’s not doing the heavy lifting of journalism, she helps her husband on their Cape Cod oyster farm.

    Antonio Regalado
    Senior Editor for Biomedicine, MIT Technology Review

    Antonio Regalado

    Senior Editor for Biomedicine, MIT Technology Review

    Antonio Regalado is the senior editor for biomedicine for MIT Technology Review. He looks for stories about how technology is changing medicine and biomedical research. Before joining MIT Technology Review in July 2011, he lived in São Paulo, Brazil, where he wrote about science, technology, and politics in Latin America for Science and other publications. From 2000 to 2009, he was the science reporter at the Wall Street Journal and later a foreign correspondent.

    Elliot Kirschner
    Executive Producer, Human Nature and the Wonder Collaborative

    Elliot Kirschner

    Executive Producer, Human Nature and the Wonder Collaborative

    Elliot Kirschner is the Executive Producer of the Wonder Collaborative, a New York Times best-selling author, and Emmy-award winning news and documentary producer. He got his start at CBS News, producing for such programs as 60 Minutes, Sunday Morning and the Evening News. In 2007, Kirschner joined legendary news icon Dan Rather to help manage a cable news and documentary program where he commissioned and oversaw numerous science reports. He joined iBiology in 2015 and is currently leading the group’s efforts to create content for the general public. His 2017 book What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism, written with Dan Rather, was a bestseller.

    Moderator

    Ting Wu
    Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School

    Ting (C.-ting) Wu

    Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School

    Ting (C.-ting) Wu is a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, where she is also a member of the Wyss Institute, Director of the Consortium for Space Genetics, and Director of the Personal Genetics Education (pgEd.org) Project. She earned her B.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University and is the recipient of an NIH Director’s 2012 Pioneer Award for work on the genome and inheritance and an NIH Director’s 2016 Transformative Research Award for work on genome integrity. In addition, her group develops technologies for visualizing the genome. The Wu laboratory also houses the Personal Genetics Education Project (pgEd.org), which works to promote public awareness and dialog about genetics and genetic technologies across all communities. Here, her group works in classrooms, provides curricula and teacher training, runs Congressional briefings, consults with the film and television industry, and partners with communities of faith.

  • 3:00 - 4:30 pm EDT Indigenous perspectives on gene editing in health and agriculture (in partnership with the Native BioData Consortium) Indigenous perspectives on genomic research and gene editing encompass a range of considerations of potential risks and benefits in applications of health, agriculture, and the environment. Of particular concern are sovereignty, control, access, and benefit sharing with respect to traditional knowledge, Indigenous data, and biological and cultural resources. This session will explore Indigenous viewpoints from a variety of geographies, considering current concerns and envisioning opportunities for more equitable Indigenous futures.

    Click here to read the full recap by the CRISPRcon organizers at Keystone Policy Center, and watch highlight videos from this discussion.

    Māui Hudson
    Associate Professor, University of Waikato

    Māui Hudson

    Associate Professor, University of Waikato

    Associate Professor Maui Hudson affiliates to the Whakatohea Nation in Aotearoa New Zealand.  He is the Director of the Te Kotahi Research Institute at the University of Waikato and was a co-author of the Te Mata Ira Guidelines on Genomic Research with Māori. He also leads research teams working on Te Nohonga Kaitiaki Guidelines for Genomic Research with Taonga Species (indigenous flora and fauna), as well as Māori Perspectives on Gene Editing.

    Keolu Fox
    Assistant Professor, University of California San Diego

    Keolu Fox

    Assistant Professor, University of California San Diego

    Dr. Fox earned his doctorate in Genome Sciences in 2016 at the University of Washington, Seattle. He then went on to serve as a postdoctoral fellow at UCSD since 2016, during which he was awarded the NIH, Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (2017) and the UC Chancellors’ Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018). Dr. Fox’s research program is multi-disciplinary in nature, reflecting his interdisciplinary research experience in anthropology, genomics, and computer science. His primary research focuses on questions of functionalizing genomics, which involves putting to the test theories of natural selection by editing genes and determining the function of the mutations. This unique approach of hypothesis testing through gene editing allows him to examine and test effects of genetic variants assumed to be under natural selection, such as “thrifty genes” in Polynesians, or Neanderthal variants in human cell lines. Dr. Fox is using the latest gene editing (CRISPR) technologies to ask anthropological questions about natural selection in humans and other closely related species that have never before been testable. Based on this work, he has been granted prestigious awards from Anthropological institutions including American Association for Physical Anthropology (Cobb Professional Development Grant) 2018 and the National Geographic Emerging Explorer (selected as one of fourteen ‘world-changers’). His work has implications for understandings fundamental biological processes and diseases, and for these as they affect social groups. Dr. Fox connects biological anthropology with other subfields to address the relationship of genomics to society, the relationship of indigenous communities to science, questions of human health from a holistic biocultural perspective, and paleogenetics as a complement to archeological science.

    Devon Peña
    Professor, University of Washington

    Devon Peña

    Professor, University of Washington

    Devon Peña is involved in several participatory action research (PAR) projects related to the protection of the acequia farming communities of the Upper Rio Grande watershed. This includes continuing work to implement and amplify the 2009 “Colorado Acequia Recognition Law.” He is a farmer, seed-saver, plant-breeder, and philanthropist through his family’s non-profit educational and research foundation, The Acequia Institute. The Institute is located on a 200-acre acequia farm in the San Acacio bottom lands and on the historic San Luis Peoples Ditch in southern Colorado. He lives and works at the farm during the irrigation to harvest cycle every year and continues with applied projects in restoration ecology, permaculture, shifting mosaics of annual-perennial polycultures, and plant-breeding and seed-saving programs for the conservation of the genomic diversity and integrity of local land race heirloom varieties of the “Three Sisters” – corn, beans, and squash in the Upper Rio Grande headwaters bioregion.”

    Calandra McCool
    Associate Attorney, Big Fire Law and Policy Group

    Calandra McCool

    Associate Attorney, Big Fire Law and Policy Group

    Calandra Dénanimnékiikwe McCool is an associate at Big Fire Law and Policy Group, a Native American-owned law firm that specializes in tribal law and federal Indian law. She focuses her practice on litigation in tribal and federal court. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Arts in History. She earned her Master of Arts in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine from the University of Oklahoma with her thesis, “Native American Stories as Scientific Investigations of Nature: Indigenous Science and Methodologies.” She graduated with distinction from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 2019. She is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.  

    Moderator

    Krystal Tsosie
    Co-Founder, Native BioData Consortium

    Krystal Tsosie

    Co-Founder, Native BioData Consortium

    Krystal Tsosie (Diné/Navajo), MPH, MA, is currently completing an interdisciplinary PhD in Genomics and Health Disparities at Vanderbilt University. She also co-leads genetic studies related to women’s health in a tribal community in North Dakota. Krystal advocates strongly for genomic and data sovereignty and is a co-founder of the Native BioData Consortium, the first Indigenous-led biobank for US tribes. While it may be unusual to lead a number of research projects as a graduate student, it is a reflection of the dire need for Indigenous scientists to promote equitable genomics research in tribal communities. Krystal has provided commentary on issues related to DNA, politics, and identity in her articles published in The Atlantic and others worldwide. She was also an early commentator on the Elizabeth Warren DNA test controversy in outlets such as The Atlantic, Washington Post, NPR, NY Times, Forbes, and The Boston Globe.

  • 4:45 - 5:15 pm EDT Ideas Marketplace: breakout discussions on Science and Societal Narratives Immediately following the panel discussion, we hold an Ideas Marketplace, where volunteer hosts lead other CRISPRcon participants in informal video breakout discussions on a topic of the host’s choice.

  • Race and Health Equity (in partnership with Howard University) In early June, almost 1,300 epidemiologists signed onto an open letter supporting protests across the country, describing white supremacy as a “lethal public health issue that predates and contributes to COVID-19.” The twin crises of 2020 – one 400 years in the making and the second beginning last year in Wuhan, China – make clear the relationship between racism and public health. This week’s sessions tackled race and health equity, exploring the relationship among race, gene editing, and COVID-19 and opportunities to responsibly innovate with the meaningful inclusion of Black voices in science, technology, and healthcare.

  • 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EDT Race, gene editing, and COVID-19: How far does CRISPR get us toward health equity? The COVID-19 crisis is affecting everyone, but in the United States, Black communities are contracting COVID-19 and dying at higher rates because of race-based inequities that persist in American society. In parallel, scientists are using CRISPR and other gene editing tools to develop COVID-19 vaccines and to create cures for other diseases that disproportionately impact Black communities. How might gene editing-focused approaches exacerbate and/or address racial health disparities, the various factors from which they arise, and the diseases in which they manifest? How far will gene editing really get us toward health equity?

    Click here to read the full recap by the CRISPRcon organizers at Keystone Policy Center, and watch highlight videos from this discussion.

    Flash Talk

    Vidhyanand (Vick) Mahase
    Graduate Student, Howard University Department of Biology; Lab: Dr. Teng Research Group

    Vidhyanand (Vick) Mahase

    Graduate Student, Howard University Department of Biology; Lab: Dr. Teng Research Group

    Vick is a pharmacist with over 20 years’ experience pursuing a PhD in bioinformatics/ computational biology with emphasis on protein modelling. Currently, he is applying numerous computational methods to investigate the binding of SARS-CoV-2 to the ACE receptor located in human lung tissue. Hopefully, the results will lead to vaccine development. 

    Moderator

    Rod McCullom
    Science and Technology Writer

    Rod McCullom

    Science and Technology Writer

    Rod McCullom specializes in reporting on the intersections of science, technology, medicine and socioeconomics. McCullom’s focus areas include reporting new research and developments around artificial intelligence, biometrics, cognitive and brain sciences, computer vision, epidemiology, infectious disease and the science of crime and violence. McCullom reports the “Convictions” column for Undark. He is a contributor to Scientific American, Nature, Undark, The Atlantic, The Nation and others. Rod McCullom attended the University of Chicago. He was Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    Debra Roberts
    Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology at Howard University

    Debra Roberts

    Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology at Howard University

    Debra D. Roberts, Ph.D. is Founding Director of the Cultural Socialization Lab (CSL) housed in Howard University’s Department of Psychology, where she is Professor and Chair. She received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology/Neuroscience from University of Toronto, Master of Science in Community Psychology from Florida A&M University, and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Temple University.

    Dr. Roberts’ primary area of research involves examining various aspects of culture and ethnicity as they impact the relationship between psychosocially toxic environments, otherwise known as PTEs (poverty, violence, discrimination, trauma, etc.) and psychosocial well-being among children and adolescents.  She has worked with diverse populations and has unique research experience with programs that target marginalized, vulnerable children and adolescents of color.  As someone of Caribbean descent who was raised in Canada, she is particularly excited about the prospect of working with youth of African descent throughout the Diaspora.  Her passion for research extends to the classroom, where both undergraduate and graduate courses motivate her to bring creative, innovative learning-focused instructional approaches to teaching.

    LaTasha Lee
    Vice President, Social and Clinical Research & Development, National Minority Quality Forum

    LaTasha Lee

    Vice President, Social and Clinical Research & Development, National Minority Quality Forum

    LaTasha H. Lee, PhD, MPH is responsible for the oversight and implementation of research projects and programs focused on reducing patient risk and identifying optimal care to reduce health disparities and bring about health equity.  She also provides input into the overall strategy for research partnerships and health equity research for NMQF. Tasha serves as the study manager of the recently launched Minority and Rural Health Coronavirus Study (MRCS), which focuses on assessing the impact of COVID-19 on racial minorities and underserved communities across the country.  Prior to joining the NMQF Senior Manager of Partnership Engagement of the Sickle Cell Disease Clinical Trials Network (SCD CTN) at the ASH Research Collaborative. She was responsible for establishing, implementing, and maintaining effective partnerships with stakeholders including patients, academic medical centers, other clinical research sites, industry, and Federal agencies regarding their interests in SCD CTN. As an experienced Research Manager at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) LaTasha was tasked with the development of a patient engagement strategy and clinical trials network for SCD, to change the culture and conduct of clinical research for this devastating disease. In her prior role at ASH she was for the development and execution of activities related ASH’s Call to Action on Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), as well as the Sickle Cell Disease Coalition (scdcoalition.org).

    A knowledgeable, skilled and energetic scientist and public policy advisor with experience on Capitol Hill, Dr. Lee has worked very closely with Congress and federal agencies to monitor biomedical research and access to care policy related to various diseases impacting communities of color.  She earned her PhD in Integrative Biology with a concentration on Neuroscience from Florida Atlantic University, a MPH in epidemiology from The George Washington University (GWU), and a Bachelor’s  in Biology from Florida A&M University. Dr. Lee is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at GWU School of Medicine and Health Sciences and the recipient of numerous awards including the 2018 National Minority Quality Forum’s 40 Under 40 Leaders in Minority Health, Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust Staff Leadership Award in recognition of efforts to end health disparities and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Florida Atlantic University.

    Carla Easter
    Chief, Education and Community Involvement Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health

    Carla L. Easter, PhD

    Chief, Education and Community Involvement Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health

    Carla Easter, Ph.D., is chief of the Education and Community Involvement Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). She played a major role in the development of the NHGRI/Smithsonian exhibition Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code, and its accompanying website, and serves as a liaison to the K-12 and university community as a speaker on genomic science and career preparation and pathways. Dr. Easter also serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of the District of Columbia Department of Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

    From 2003-2006, Dr. Easter was director of outreach for Washington University School of Medicine’s Genome Sequencing Center. Before assuming her role as outreach director, Dr. Easter was a research associate in the Department of Education at Washington University (2001-2003) where she explored the notions of science among secondary students. She served as pre-college coordinator for the NASA Summer High School Apprenticeship Research Plus Program and project associate for the Quality Education for Minorities Network. From 1997-2000, Dr. Easter conducted post-doctoral research at Washington University School of Medicine on the virulence factors associated with Streptococcus pyogenes.

    Dr. Easter earned her bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of California, Los Angeles and her doctoral in biology with an emphasis on molecular genetics from the University of California, San Diego.

  • 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EDT Responsible innovation, gene editing, and race: Amplifying Black perspectives in pursuit of improved health outcomes For various reasons, many Americans don’t trust scientific guidance or information. As we are witnessing with COVID-19, in a public health crisis, it is easy for misinformation, miscommunication, fear, and confusion to take root, especially without a baseline of “trust” or understanding among the scientific community, government institutions, technology companies, and the general public. What does COVID-19 reveal about the relationship between these institutions and the public – especially Black Americans? Are there models for innovating in responsible ways, using gene editing or other technologies, that better incorporate the voices of Black Americans?

    Click here to read the full recap by the CRISPRcon organizers at Keystone Policy Center, and watch highlight videos from this discussion.

    Jennifer Caldwell
    Doctoral Student, Graduate Researcher in the W. Montague Cobb Research Lab

    Jennifer Caldwell

    Doctoral Student, Graduate Researcher in the W. Montague Cobb Research Lab

    Jennifer L. Caldwell is a doctoral student in the Department of Genetics and Human and graduate researcher in the W. Montague Cobb Research.  She received two Bachelors of Science ( cum laude) in Chemistry and Physics from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 2011 and 2012 respectively and is a Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholar. She received a MPH Epidemiology from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Within the CRL, Jennifer’s research includes genetic and environmental interactions that influence CVD and Stroke in African American populations. The Gullah Geechee of the Coastal Sea Island are a prototype micro-ethnic group of African Americans, as they have a rich African heritage.  Jennifer has specific interest in population genetics and epigenetic methods used for gene discovery and expansion of precision medicine research. A native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, she loves all things southern, traveling, dance, and is a pseudo-chef.

    Eric Kyere
    Assistant Professor of Social Work and Adjunct Professor of Africana Studies, Indiana University, IUPUI in Indianapolis

    Eric Kyere

    Assistant Professor of Social Work and Adjunct Professor of Africana Studies, Indiana University, IUPUI in Indianapolis

    Dr. Eric Kyere is an Assistant Professor of Social Work and Adjunct Professor of African Studies at the Indiana University, IUPUI. His overall research focuses on working with communities to theorize racism, examine and identify the underlying mechanisms by which racism restrict/deny people of African descent’s access to psychosocial, educational and societal opportunities from an evolutionary standpoint, and ways to empower them to interrupt racism and advance social justice in their communities through education. He has expertise in a variety of areas including: students’ engagement, racial disparities in education and well-being, racial-ethnic socialization, racial identity and persons of African descent’s developmental outcomes, parenting, equitable school climate, program evaluation, international social work, and human trafficking. He employs transdisciplinary approach to research and teaching. Specific to structural racism, his research employs the history of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Colonialism to engage communities and educators in meaning making process to interrogate and interrupt its continuing effects particularly in the U.S and Africa. Dr. Kyere earned his BA in social work in 2006 from the University of Ghana, MSW in 2011 from the Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in 2017. In addition, Dr. Kyere acquired a graduate certificate in African Studies from the University of Pittsburgh Center for International Studies.

    Latifa Jackson
    Adjunct Assistant Professor at Howard University

    Latifa Jackson

    Adjunct Assistant Professor at Howard University

    Akua Page
    Geechee Language and Cultural Activist, Content Creator, Educator, The Geechee Experience

    Akua Page

    Geechee Language and Cultural Activist, Content Creator, Educator, The Geechee Experience
    Moderator

    Janina Jeff
    Senior Bioinformatics Scientist at Illumina, Host of In Those Genes Podcast

    Janina Jeff

    Senior Bioinformatics Scientist at Illumina, Host of In Those Genes Podcast
  • 12:45 - 1:15 pm EDT Ideas Marketplace: breakout discussions on Race and Health Equity Immediately following the panel discussion, we hold an Ideas Marketplace, where volunteer hosts lead other CRISPRcon participants in informal video breakout discussions on a topic of the host’s choice.

  • Hope and Hype In the less-than-a-decade since the discovery of CRISPR’s potential applications for gene editing in humans, animals, and plants, there has been much speculation on its possible harms and/or benefits as well as on how technology development and governance in one geography or sector might affect the global trajectory of gene editing as a whole. This week, CRISPRcon 2020 Virtual explored hope and hype. What can be learned from missteps, slowdowns, and breakthroughs in different sectors and geographies? In the agricultural sector, what gene-edited products have come to market or are likely to arrive soon, how have societal benefits been prioritized (if at all) within research, and how can benefits be assessed? In the realm of global leadership and coordination across sectors of agriculture and health, how is gene editing research and governance progressing in China, and how do these trends affect research and governance in the rest of the world?

  • 9:00 am - 10:30 am EDT Spotlight on gene editing in China: Scientific progress, governance, and implications for global trends China is home to nearly one-fifth of the world’s population and is a global leader on research and development of new technologies, including gene editing. This webinar looked beyond the headline-grabbing case of He Jiankui and explore China’s priorities for gene-editing applications in health and agriculture. What are Chinese scientists, biotech companies, and other institutions developing, how is China approaching governance of gene editing, and how do these approaches and outputs influence the progress and perception of the rest of the world?

    Click here to read the full recap by the CRISPRcon organizers at Keystone Policy Center, and watch highlight videos from this discussion.

    Yangyang Cheng
    Particle Physicist and Writer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cornell University

    Yangyang Cheng

    Particle Physicist and Writer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cornell University

    Yangyang Cheng is a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University, and a member of the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Born and raised in China, Cheng received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago in 2015, and her Bachelor’s in Science from the University of Science and Technology of China’s School for the Gifted Young. She won the Springer Theses Award in 2016, and was recognized as an LHC Physics Center Distinguished Researcher by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for her postdoctoral work. Cheng writes the monthly Science and China column for SupChina, a New York-based digital publication covering contemporary China. Her writings have also appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, MIT Technology Review, ChinaFile, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and other publications. She has appeared on numerous radio, print, and TV outlets to comment on science policy and Chinese politics, including BBC, NPR, and ABC Australia.

    Xiaomei Zhai
    President, Chinese Society for Bioethics

    Xiaomei Zhai

    President, Chinese Society for Bioethics

    ZHAI Xiaomei, Ph.D. of Philosophy of Science/Bioethics (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences CASS, Beijing, China), M.A. of Philosophy (Southeast University, Nanjing, China), Graduated from Changzhi Medical College, Shanxi, China. She has been IRB fellow at Department of Bioethics, NIH, USA, Visiting Scholar at Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University, USA, Visiting Scholar at Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands, Leuven University, Belgium, Visiting Scholar at, Johns Hopkins University, USA, Research Fellow at Harvard School of Public Health, USA, Visiting Scholar at Institute of Environment, Philosophy and Public Policy, Lancaster University, U.K, and at Center for Medical Ethics, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Now she is Professor & Supervisor of PhD graduate students at School of the Humanities & Social Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Executive Director at Centre for Bioethics, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College. Currently she serves as Vice-President & Chief of the Office of National Ethics Committee, National Health Commission (NHC), Member of National Expert Committee on Public Policy, NHC, Chief of the Office for Medical Ethics, Chinese Association of Hospitals, Member of National Expert Committee on Human Organ Donation and Transplantation, Standing Director & Chair of Ethics Working Group for Chinese Association of STD/AIDS, President of Chinese Society for Bioethics, Vice-Chair of ELSI Committee, Chinese Society for Genetics, and Fellow of the Hastings Center. She served as the Member of Ethics Committee, HUGO and Vice President of Asian Bioethics Association, and Temporary Expert for WHO. She published books, such as the book of Death with Dignity, An Introduction to Bioethics, Medical Ethics and Public Health Ethics, and a large number of articles on bioethics, biotech regulation and health policy.  

    Judy (Qinfang) Wang
    Senior Consultant, CORTEVA AgriScience. Former APAC Director for Product Approval and Advocacy, Dow Du Pont Agricultural Division

    Judy (Qinfang) Wang

    Senior Consultant, CORTEVA AgriScience. Former APAC Director for Product Approval and Advocacy, Dow Du Pont Agricultural Division

    Judy Wang  is a senior consultant for CORTEVA AgriScience and the former APAC Director for Product Approval and Advocacy, Dow Du Pont Agricultural Division. In that role, she led DuPont Pioneer’s biotech affairs, regulatory affairs, and biotech products registration in China.

    Judy started her engagement in biotech R&D and management since 1996 when she joined the Biotech Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. As Vice Chairman of Science Popularization Committee of China Society of Biotechnology, Judy actively participated in improving science-based biotech regulatory environment and enhancing public/media education on biotech in China. She was the consultant to the ISAAA China Biotech Information Center and contributed to sharing biotech knowledge and China experience with stakeholders around the world.

    Larry Au
    Ph.D. candidate, Department of Sociology, Columbia University in the City of New York

    Larry Au

    Ph.D. candidate, Department of Sociology, Columbia University in the City of New York

    Larry Au is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology with broad interests in political sociology, economic sociology, and science and technology studies. His dissertation examines the global emergence of the techno-scientific field of precision medicine, focusing on the construction of large speculative infrastructures for biomedical research in China. His other projects examine the translation of “good ideas” from the field of traditional Chinese medicine to solve “hard problems” in biomedicine, controversies in human germline gene-editing, and the role of expertise in making sense of the ongoing pandemic. These projects have been supported by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation/American Council of Learned Societies Program in China Studies, the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, and the Precision Medicine and Society Program. Findings from these projects have been published in Science, Technology, and Human ValuesBioSocieties, and other venues.

    Larry holds a B.Sc. in Social Analysis and Research with Honors and magna cum laude and a M.A. in History from Brown University. He also holds a M.Sc. in Global Governance and Diplomacy from the University of Oxford, where he was a member of St. Antony’s College and the Department of International Development.

    Moderator

    Lea Witkowsky
    Project/Policy Analyst, Innovative Genomics Institute

    Lea Witkowsky

    Project/Policy Analyst, Innovative Genomics Institute

    Lea has a B.A. in chemistry from Willamette University and received her Ph.D. from the University of California Berkeley working in Robert Tjian’s lab. Her doctoral work focused on mechanisms of human transcription and the influence of chromatin on CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. Lea joined the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) in 2017 as a science policy analyst, looking at the regulatory landscape as it relates to new genetic engineering technologies and the role of public perception in biotechnology development and adoption.

  • 10:30 - 11:15 am Ideas Marketplace: breakout discussions on Hope and Hype Immediately following the panel discussion, we hold an Ideas Marketplace, where volunteer hosts lead other CRISPRcon participants in informal video breakout discussions on a topic of the host’s choice.

  • 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EDT Peering into the ag pipeline: What gene-edited products are coming soon, and how should potential societal benefits be prioritized and assessed? Daily headlines share news of scientists using gene editing to research and develop agricultural products targeted at a range of applications including climate adaptation and mitigation, crop productivity, nutrition enhancement, disease resistance, animal welfare, and more. But we’ve heard promises of societal benefit from biotechnology in the past, and the anticipated benefits have not always been realized and/or readily apparent to society. What has gene editing delivered thus far in the agriculture sector and what might be coming soon? What can we learn from the past regarding the role of biotechnology in addressing pressing agricultural challenges? What, if anything, is different now with gene editing in terms of the expectations we should hold – beyond hope and hype – for how societal benefits will be prioritized, assessed and delivered?

    Click here to read the full recap by the CRISPRcon organizers at Keystone Policy Center, and watch highlight videos from this discussion.

    Chris Newman
    Co-founder, Sylvanaqua Farms

    Chris Newman

    Co-founder, Sylvanaqua Farms

    Sylvanaqua Farms’ co-founder, Chris Newman, is a permaculturalist and an outspoken evangelist of ecological, economic, and social sustainability in food. He’s garnered both criticism and praise for 1.) advocating a moderate, pragmatic approach to sustainable food systems that recognizes the complementary roles of both ecological farming and technological innovation; 2.) frank discussions of the intersection of race and agriculture; and 3.) blunt, unsparing criticism of the “clean food” movement’s often-elitist values and aversion to self-reflection.

    A member of the Choptico Band of Piscataway Indians, Chris places a heavy emphasis on the Indigenous ethics, values, and knowledge serving as the (often unacknowledged) foundation of the modern permaculture movement, and the decolonized worldview necessary to ensure the sustainable stewardship of natural resources. An engineer and technologist by trade, he also accepts and explores the potential of modern scientific innovation to address the gaps left by ecosystem farming in solving a sustainability problem wherein timeliness is a factor.

    Michael Doane
    Global Managing Director for Sustainable Food and Water, The Nature Conservancy

    Michael Doane

    Global Managing Director for Sustainable Food and Water, The Nature Conservancy

    Michael Doane is the Global Managing Director for Sustainable Food and Water for The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Michael leads a team of the organization’s foremost experts to scale up conservation outcomes across productively managed farming, ranching and agroforestry landscapes. Michael brings 20 years of relevant business and leadership experience to the role and holds a B.S. in Agribusiness and an M.S. in Agricultural Economics, both from Kansas State University. He has led high performing teams in the agribusiness and non-profit sectors across corporate strategy, business development, commercial sales and marketing, public policy and sustainability.  

    Modesta Abugu
    Fellow, Cornell Alliance for Science

    Modesta N. Abugu

    Fellow, Cornell Alliance for Science

    Modesta Nnedinso Abugu is fellow of the Cornell Alliance for Science and a graduate student in Horticultural Sciences Department, University of Florida. Before moving to Florida, she was the Programme Assistant for the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), Nigeria Chapter, where she engaged policymakers, the media, scientists and other stakeholders to promote access to agricultural innovation for small holder farmers. She was part of the inaugural cohort of Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellows program at Cornell University in 2015.  She now helps to lead and advance the communications strategies as well as train other cohorts on grassroots organizing and strategic communications. She is also a 2020 Conviron Scholar of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) 

    Leland Glenna
    Professor of Rural Sociology and Science, Technology, and Society, Penn State University

    Leland Glenna

    Professor of Rural Sociology and Science, Technology, and Society, Penn State University

    Leland Glenna is a professor of Rural Sociology and Science, Technology, and Society at Penn State University. His teaching and research program is in agriculture and natural resources. Within that more general program, he has three areas of emphasis: 1) social and environmental impacts of agricultural science and technologies, 2) the role of science and technology in agricultural and natural resource policy making, and 3) the social and ethical implications of democratizing science and technology research.

    Moderator

    Franklin Holley
    Senior Policy Director & Director, Agriculture & Food Program, Keystone Policy Center

    Franklin Holley

    Senior Policy Director & Director, Agriculture & Food Program, Keystone Policy Center

    Franklin Holley is the Program Director for Agriculture at the Keystone Policy Center, where she leads multi-stakeholder food and agriculture initiatives focused on issues such as sustainable natural resource use, wildlife habitat and biodiversity, climate change, and farm labor. Having also worked the World Wildlife Fund, Southern Maryland Resource Conservation & Development, and the University of Tennessee Extension, Franklin has over 15 years of experience in sustainable agriculture, community development, and conservation programming in both rural and urban settings. Franklin has an MS in International Agricultural Development from the University of California, Davis and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Virginia.

  • 12:45 - 1:15 pm EDT Ideas Marketplace: breakout discussions on Hope and Hype Immediately following the panel discussion, we hold an Ideas Marketplace, where volunteer hosts lead other CRISPRcon participants in informal video breakout discussions on a topic of the host’s choice.

  • Equity, Environment & Agriculture (in partnership with the Genetic Engineering and Society Center at North Carolina State University) Genome editing has been criticized by some as a product of the scientific, political and social approaches to ecological and agricultural systems that contribute to rather than curb social inequities. It has been touted by others as a breakthrough tool for addressing equity issues in public health, agriculture, food and conservation, including those related to climate change. This week, CRISPRcon explored how social equity factors into non-human gene editing, first exploring how risks are defined and governed in food systems and then exploring potential risks and benefits for climate justice.

  • 10:30 am - 12:00 pm EDT Risk governance in gene editing and food: Intersections of safety and equity Societal concerns regarding gene-edited food and agriculture products are wide-ranging, encompassing issues such as human safety, ecological impact, animal welfare, socioeconomic implications for agricultural communities, distribution of societal impacts and benefits, and control, access, voice, choice, and sovereignty within food systems. The assessment and management of various potential risks is distributed among regulators, researchers and developers, and other societal actors; questions of who defines what risks and concerns are managed, who manages them, and to what standard represent equity and political concerns in the risk governance process. This panel considered the scope and governance of different categories of risk in various geographies, including how risk is currently addressed and how it might alternatively be addressed through regulatory and other processes.

    Click here to read the full recap by the CRISPRcon organizers at Keystone Policy Center, and watch highlight videos from this discussion.

    Sarah Gallo
    Director of Market Access for Food & Farm Innovation, Biotechnology Innovation Organization

    Sarah Gallo

    Director of Market Access for Food & Farm Innovation, Biotechnology Innovation Organization

    Sarah Gallo is Director, Market Access for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s Food & Agriculture section. She is responsible for planning, developing, and facilitating innovative, productive and strategic relationships and partnerships with thought leaders and influential organizations and companies. In her role, she maintains productive, trust-based relationships and organizes collaboration to grow public support and market access for biology-driven tools to improve sustainability, nutrition, health and societal benefits.

    Sélim Louafi
    Social Scientist at the Centre International de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement

    Sélim Louafi

    Social Scientist at the Centre International de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement

    Sélim Louafi is a Social Scientist at the Centre International de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad, Montpellier, France). He is Assistant Deputy Director of the AGAP Research Unit mainly composed of biologists and geneticists and that deals with Genetic Improvement and adaptation of tropical and Mediterranean Plants. His main interest in on science and policy interface in the field of life sciences, and more specifically agricultural biodiversity and biotechnology. From 2007 to 2009, he served as Senior Officer at the Secretariat of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO) where he was in charge, amongst other things, of the implementation of the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit Sharing. He is also member of the Economic, Ethical and Social Committee of the French High Council on Biotechnologies, an independent body in charge of advising the French government on biotechnology issues. He was part of the team of the first external evaluation of the International Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) that has been presented at the last IPBES plenary in May 2019.

    Éliane Ubalijoro
    Deputy Executive Director for Programs at Global Open Data in Agriculture and Nutrition

    Éliane Ubalijoro

    Deputy Executive Director for Programs at Global Open Data in Agriculture and Nutrition

    Éliane Ubalijoro, PhD is the Deputy Executive Director for Programs at Global Open Data in Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN). She is a professor of practice for public and private sector partnerships at McGill University’s Institute for the Study of International Development where she co-led Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Challenges Exploration grants in agriculture and health.  She is a member of Rwanda’s National Science and Technology Council and the Presidential Advisory Council. Éliane is a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. She is a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) Special Policy Study on Post 2020: Global Biodiversity Conservation. Éliane is a member of the Advisory Panel of Scientific African, the open access journal published by the Next Einstein Forum (NEF). Éliane is a member of the Crop Trust Executive Board. She is a member of the Export Consultation Group on the Post COVID-19 Implications on Collaborative Governance of Genomics Research, Innovation, and Genetic Diversity. Éliane is a member of the African Development Bank’s Expert Global Community of Practice on COVID-19 Response Strategies in Africa. She is a member of the Advisory Panel of Scientific African, the open access journal published by the Next Einstein Forum (NEF). Éliane has contributed to the Digital Monetary Council. Prior to going back to Academia, she was a scientific director in a Montreal-based biotechnology company in charge of molecular diagnostic and bioinformatics discovery programs. Éliane is a member of the Advisory Board of ShEquity.

    Gregory Jaffe
    Director of the Project on Biotechnology for the Center for Science in the Public Interest

    Gregory Jaffe

    Director of the Project on Biotechnology for the Center for Science in the Public Interest

    Gregory Jaffe is the Director of the Project on Biotechnology for the Center for Science in the Public Interest (“CSPI”), a non-profit consumer organization located in the United States.  Mr. Jaffe came to CSPI in 2001 after a long and distinguished career in government service as a Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division and as Senior Counsel with the U.S. EPA, Air Enforcement Division.  He is a recognized international expert on agricultural biotechnology and biosafety and has published numerous articles and reports on those topics.  He was a member of the Secretary of Agriculture’s Advisory Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture from 2003-2008 and was reappointed for another term from 2011-2016.  He was also a member of FDA’s Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee from 2004-2008.  Gregory Jaffe earned his BA with High Honors from Wesleyan University in Biology and Government and then received a law degree from Harvard Law School.

    Moderator

    Jennifer Kuzma
    Goodnight-NC GSK Foundation Distinguished Professor in School of Public and International Affairs and co-Director of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center, NC State University.

    Jennifer Kuzma, Ph.D.

    Goodnight-NC GSK Foundation Distinguished Professor in School of Public and International Affairs and co-Director of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center, NC State University.

    Jennifer Kuzma PhD: Goodnight-NCGSK Foundation Distinguished Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs, and co-founder and co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center at NC State University.

    Prior to her current position, she was associate professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota (2003-2013); study director at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM); and an AAAS Risk Policy Fellow at the USDA. She has over 140 scholarly publications on emerging technologies, their societal and ethical implications, and governance systems and has been studying these areas for over 25 years.  Kuzma has held several national and international leadership positions, including a member of the World Economic Forum Council on Technology, Values and Policy; the NASEM Committee on Preparing for Future Biotechnology, Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) Council Member and Secretary, FAO Expert Group on Food and Nanotechnology, Council of Agricultural Science and Technology Committee on Gene Editing, and the AAAS-ABA National Council of Scientists and Lawyers.  In 2014, she received the SRA Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer Award for her contributions to the field of risk analysis and in 2017-2018 she was awarded the Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Science Policy.  In 2019 she was elected a lifetime Fellow of AAAS for her distinguished work in anticipatory governance of new technologies, and methods for oversight policy analysis.  She has given over 200 invited talks and is interviewed frequently in the media for her expertise in biotechnology policy, including the New York Times, Science, The Scientist, Nature, NPR, Washington Post, Scientific American, BBC, PBS Nova, Wired, and ABC & NBC News.   Prior to becoming a social scientist and policy scholar, she earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry at UC-Boulder and did a postdoc in plant molecular biology at Rockefeller University.  During her PhD, she was the first to discover that bacteria produce isoprene, a precursor to natural rubber. Bacterial isoprene (Bioisoprene) is now being used for more sustainable rubber production.  Her postdoctoral work helped to identify a biochemical and molecular pathway for plant drought and salinity tolerance and resulted in a publication in Science.

  • 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm EDT Gene editing and climate justice: Adaptation, mitigation, and conservation strategies in a changing world Societal impacts of climate change will not be distributed equally among geographies and populations. Proponents of gene editing forecast conservation applications whereby gene editing might aid in climate change adaptation (and, sometimes, mitigation) for vulnerable communities and ecosystems. Yet these technological solutions may create their own inequities and risks, both ecological and social. This session explored what is at stake -- including both risks and benefits -- in the use of gene editing to address climate justice/equity issues.

    Click here to read the full recap by the CRISPRcon organizers at Keystone Policy Center, and watch highlight videos from this discussion.

    Riley Taitingfong
    PhD candidate, Department of Communication at UC San Diego

    Riley Taitingfong

    PhD candidate, Department of Communication at UC San Diego

    Riley Taitingfong is a PhD candidate in the Department of Communication at UC San Diego. Her current project is an ethnographic study of the genetic engineering technology known as gene drive, and the role of community engagement in guiding decisionmaking about its use. Riley’s interdisciplinary scholarship looks critically at calls to test this emerging technology on islands, and advocates for Indigenous governance and oversight of gene drive. As a member of the CHamoru (Chamorro, Indigenous people of Guam) diaspora, Riley is committed to community-engaged scholarship that centers Indigenous knowledge and contributes to decolonial solidarities among Indigenous communities from Oceania to Turtle Island. Her work on gene drive has been published in the journal Human Biology.

    Shantha Ready Alonso
    Executive Director, Creation Justice Ministries

    Shantha Ready Alonso

    Executive Director, Creation Justice Ministries

    Shantha Ready Alonso has served as Executive Director of Creation Justice Ministries since 2015. Creation Justice Ministries’ mission is to educate, equip and mobilize communions and denominations, congregations, and individuals to protect, restore, and rightly share God’s creation. Creation Justice Ministries’ membership includes Baptist, Historically Black, Orthodox, Peace, and mainline Protestant traditions. Through its 38 denominational and communion members, Creation Justice Ministries serves about 100,000 churches and 35 million people in the United States. Based on the priorities of its members, with a particular concern for people who are most vulnerable and marginalized, Creation Justice Ministries provides collaborative opportunities to build ecumenical community, guides people of faith and faith communities towards eco-justice transformations, and raises a collective witness in the public arena echoing Christ’s call for just relationships among all of creation.

    Sara Fern Fitzsimmons
    Director of Restoration, The American Chestnut Foundation at Penn State University

    Sara Fern Fitzsimmons

    Director of Restoration, The American Chestnut Foundation at Penn State University

    Sara Fern Fitzsimmons has worked with The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) at Penn State University (PSU) since 2003, assisting chestnut growers and researchers throughout the Appalachian Mountains.  Born and raised in southern West Virginia (Hinton), Sara studied Biology at Drew University in Madison, NJ.  She then received a Master’s degree in forest ecology and resource management from Duke University’s Nicholas School.  After a short stint as an editorial assistant at All About Beer Magazine, Sara returned to the forestry field, where she has been ever since. Sara hopes her research and professional work will facilitate long-term conservation and restoration of native tree species at risk from exotic pests and diseases.

    Elizabeth Hobman
    Research Scientist, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

    Elizabeth Hobman

    Research Scientist, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

    Elizabeth is a registered Psychologist and behavioural scientist who uses psychological theories and experimental research methods, to understand and effect behavior change. Her work at CSIRO helps address a number of national challenges, including the development of novel biotechnology for environmental conservation. She has conducted large scale surveys exploring public perceptions of various synthetic biology technologies and is currently undertaking more place-based analysis to more deeply probe the attitudes and likely responses of affected communities. 

    Moderator

    Katie Barnhill-Dilling
    Postdoctoral Research Scholar; Affiliate, North Carolina State University, Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources; Genetic Engineering and Society Center

    Katie Barnhill-Dilling

    Postdoctoral Research Scholar; Affiliate, North Carolina State University, Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources; Genetic Engineering and Society Center

    Katie Barnhill-Dilling is currently a postdoctoral research scholar at North Carolina State University in the Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources and an affiliate with the Genetic Engineering and Society Center. Broadly, her research focuses on engaging diverse communities and stakeholders in complex environmental and natural resource governance questions. More specifically, she explores the politics and social science around emerging applications of biotechnologies for environmental releases. Her primary focus is on the use of environmental biotechnologies for the protection of biodiversity but also has experience in agricultural and public health applications. She has experience in cross-cultural and international scholarship, community-based research, and in co-constructing research agendas with Indigenous environmental leaders.

  • 4:45 - 5:15 pm EDT Ideas Marketplace: breakout discussions on Equity, Environment, and Agriculture Immediately following the panel discussion, we hold an Ideas Marketplace, where volunteer hosts lead other CRISPRcon participants in informal video breakout discussions on a topic of the host’s choice.

  • Priority and Agenda Setting In its final week, CRISPRcon 2020 Virtual explored priority setting in gene editing and the factors that shape research and development. What are the values and criteria that are being used to shape research and funding decisions for gene editing in health, agriculture and beyond? How are tradeoffs evaluated when determining which projects get prioritized, which applications are pursued, and which potential risks and benefits are created, for whom?

  • 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EDT Gene editing in public health and health autonomy (in partnership with the Innovative Genomics Institute) The values of improving public health and maximizing health autonomy can often be at odds, for example as a result of limited resources for research, disparities in prioritization of and access to care, and/or tensions between strategies requiring individuals to opt into vs. opt out of therapies or preventative measures. Gene editing offers the promise of therapies and preventative approaches to address life threatening diseases ranging from public health challenges like COVID-19 and malaria to rare diseases like sickle cell anemia and Huntington’s disease. What values are informing the choices of which diseases should be addressed, who bears the risks, and who stands to benefit? This session explored the complexities and tradeoffs of gene editing-focused health approaches for treatment vs. prevention as well as the scale and significance of impact for individuals vs. society at large.

    Elissa Prichep
    Project Lead Precision Medicine, World Economic Forum

    Elissa Prichep

    Project Lead Precision Medicine, World Economic Forum

    Elissa spent the past 12 years launching specialty therapeutics and initiatives in the bio-pharmaceutical industry and developing economic policy in the public sector. She most recently lead patient strategy and digital innovation for biosimilar immunology products at Merck, brought their ground-breaking immunotherapy cancer treatment to market and developed their first 24/7 patient support program. Elissa earned her MBA as a Woodruff Fellow at Emory University and her B.A. from Cornell University.

    Sharon Terry
    President and CEO, Genetic Alliance

    Sharon Terry

    President and CEO, Genetic Alliance

    Sharon F. Terry is President and CEO of Genetic Alliance, an enterprise engaging individuals, families and communities to transform health.  Genetic Alliance works to provide programs, products and tools for ordinary people to take charge of their health and to further biomedical research. As ‘just a Mom’ with a master’s degree in theology, she cofounded PXE International, a research advocacy organization for the genetic condition pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), in response to the diagnosis of PXE in her two children in 1994.  She is a co-discoverer of the ABCC6 gene, and patented it to ensure ethical stewardship in 2000, assigning her rights to the foundation.  She subsequently developed a diagnostic test and conducts clinical trials.  She is the author of 150 peer-reviewed papers, of which 30 are clinical PXE studies. Her story is the topic of her TED Talk and TED Radio Hour. In her focus at the forefront of consumer participation in genetic research, services and policy, she serves in a leadership role on many major international and national organizations and projects. Terry is an Ashoka Fellow.  She is an avid student and facilitator of Gestalt Awareness Practice, offering workshops and individual facilitation. Her daughter and son, their wives, and her granddaughter ground and enliven her. 

    Rena Conti
    Associate Research Director, Biopharma & Public Policy

    Rena Conti

    Associate Research Director, Biopharma & Public Policy

    Rena M. Conti is the Associate Research Director of Biopharma & Public Policy for the Boston University Institute for Health System Innovation & Policy. She is also an Associate Professor at the Boston University Questrom School of Business. From 2006 through June 2018, Professor Conti was an Associate Professor of Health Economics and Policy at the University of Chicago Medical School and the Harris School of Public Policy. Dr. Conti is a health economist. Her research focuses on the organization, financing and regulation of medical care. She has written extensively on the pricing, demand and supply of prescription drugs

    Glenn Ellis
    Visiting Scholar at the National Bioethics Center at Tuskegee University

    Glenn Ellis, MPH, CHCE

    Visiting Scholar at the National Bioethics Center at Tuskegee University

    Glenn Ellis, MPH, CHCE is a health educator, lecturer, and syndicated health columnist. Ellis is a Visiting Scholar at the National Bioethics Center at Tuskegee University and was a Research Bioethics Fellow at Harvard Medical School. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Glenn Ellis was a Pre-Med undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, did his Hospital Ethics graduate studies at St. Joseph University (Certified Health Care Ethicist). and received a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Liverpool. Ellis is selected in 2018 as a Research Bioethics Fellow Harvard Medical School and is a 2020 Writing Fellow at Harvard Medical School. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the National Bioethics Center for Research and Healthcare at Tuskegee University. He lectures frequently on “Inclusion and Retention of African Americans in Clinical Trials”.  

    Moderator

    David Sittenfeld
    Manager of Forums and National Collaborations, Museum of Science in Boston

    David Sittenfeld

    Manager of Forums and National Collaborations, Museum of Science in Boston

    David Sittenfeld is Manager of Forums and National Collaborations at the Museum of Science in Boston.  In this work, David and his colleagues engage publics, policymakers, and scientists in conversations around emerging scientific and technological issues.  In addition to overseeing the Museum’s Forum program, David regularly gives talks on topics in current science and technology at the Museum, delivers demonstrations in the exhibit halls, and manages special programs and exhibit projects.  David leads national efforts such as the NSF-funded Building with Biology project, which facilitated conversations among public audiences and members of the synthetic biology community at over 200 informal science education sites around the United States including over 50 deliberative Forums on topics including mosquito engineering and human genome editing.  David is a co-founder of the Expert and Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology Network, which will be organizing NIH-funded US deliberations on genome editing technologies as part of an upcoming global deliberation on genome editing that was recently highlighted in Science magazine.

  • 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EDT The role of funders and philanthropists in setting the gene editing agenda Investment in gene editing technologies plays a significant role in the technology’s evolution and its application to issues in health, agriculture, conservation and more. This panel explored current funding pathways and priorities for applications of gene editing – who is creating them and what values are being used to evaluate their application and impact? How are societal risks, benefits, and perspectives incorporated into the investment decisions that are shaping the future of gene editing?

    Anne Cheever
    Program Manager, DARPA Biological Technologies Office

    Anne Cheever

    Program Manager, DARPA Biological Technologies Office

    Dr. Anne Cheever joined DARPA as a program manager in August 2020. Prior to joining DARPA, Cheever was a lead biotechnologist at MITRE Corporation, where she provided scientific and strategic support to multiple federal institutions in the areas of biodefense, biosecurity, disruptive technologies, and emerging infectious disease. She also led a team focused on COVID-19 vaccine acceleration, communications, security, and data analytics in support of Operation Warp Speed (OWS) and the Department of Defense (DoD). She is a former fellow of the Johns Hopkin’s Center for Health Security Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative and an alumni of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellowship. Dr. Cheever received her Doctor of Philosophy degree in cell and developmental biology, Bachelor of Science degree in ecology, ethology, and evolution; and certificate in business administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

    Brantley Browning
    Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

    Brantley Browning

    Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

    Brantley Browning is a Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, focusing on policy, advocacy, and communications for agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Previously, Brantley worked at Starbucks Coffee Company, where he was responsible for integrating social and economic development programs within coffee, tea, and cocoa producing communities.. Brantley worked for the World Bank in several capacities, including the development and administration of Global Environment Facility grants in Africa and as liaison supporting regional and sectoral staff with their efforts to better engage NGOs globally on a range of policy and programs. He is a former Peace Corps volunteer and has a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School. 

    Shahram Seyedin-Noor
    Founder, General Partner of Civilization Ventures

    Shahram Seyedin-Noor

    Founder, General Partner of Civilization Ventures

    Shahram is Founder/ General Partner at Civilization Ventures (inquiries to info@civilizationventures.com), a venture capital firm focused on supporting cutting-edge innovations in health tech and biology. Prior to CV, Shahram was a serial entrepreneur and founding executive in several life science companies, raising over $100M. Shahram was the founding CEO of Rgenix, a clinical-stage biotech company with multiple first-in-class therapeutics for cancer, and the CFO and VP of Corporate Development at NextBio, a genomics software pioneer acquired by Illumina. As an investor, Shahram has backed some of the most transformative companies in health tech and the life sciences, including digital health leader Omada Health, gene therapy leader Rocket Pharma (NASDAQ: RCKT), Singular Bio (acquired by Invitae), Counsyl (acquired by Myriad), Bina (acquired by Roche), and Avantome (acquired by Illumina). Shahram founded CV to support a new generation of category-defining companies, including Billion-to-One (diagnostics/ genomics), Evonetix (gene synthesis) and Catalog (DNA data storage). Outside of work, Shahram is passionate about education and science, human rights and nature.

    Jeremy Ouedraogo
    Head, African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) regional office for West Africa African Biosafety Network of Expertise

    Jeremy Ouedraogo

    Head, African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) regional office for West Africa African Biosafety Network of Expertise

    Dr. Ouedraogo is as a scientist in genetics and plant breeding and got his PhD in Canada. He focused his research on the use of biotechnology and biosafety tools in crops. As a plant breeder, he has established the Plant Genetics and Biotechnology laboratory in the national research system of Burkina Faso. He has contributed to create many cowpea varieties that are released in Burkina Faso as well as in West African countries. 

    From 2007 to 2014 he has been elected Member parliament and nominated minister of animal resources and fisheries in Burkina Faso. 

    Dr. Ouedraogo is also member of the Board of Trustees of the African Agriculture Technology Foundation (AATF) that is based in Nairobi, Kenya.  

    Moderator

    David Winickoff
    Head of the Working Party on Bio-, Nano-, and Converging Technology

    David Winickoff

    Head of the Working Party on Bio-, Nano-, and Converging Technology

    David Winickoff heads the Secretariat of the Working Party on Bio-, Nano-, and Converging Technology (BNCT) at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In this capacity he leads research, policy work, and soft law development in the area of science, technology, and innovation at the national and international levels. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School (JD), Cambridge University (MA), and Yale (BA). Prior to his work at the OECD, he was a tenured professor at the University of California, Berkeley, (2010-2017) where he directed the Program on Science and Technology Studies (STS) and supervised PhD students in law, STS, and Environmental Policy. He is currently an Associated Researcher at Oxford University and an Affiliated Professor at SciencesPo School of Law in Paris.  

  • 12:45 - 1:15 pm EDT Ideas Marketplace: breakout discussions on Priority and Agenda Setting Immediately following the panel discussion, we hold an Ideas Marketplace, where volunteer hosts lead other CRISPRcon participants in informal video breakout discussions on a topic of the host’s choice.

PARTNERS

This series of webinars and interactive discussions is being developed by the Keystone Policy Center in partnership with the following organizations on specific sessions as indicated in the agenda: Howard University, the Innovative Genomics Institute, the Native BioData Consortium, and North Carolina State University Genetic Engineering and Society Center.

 

 

Session hosts are in-kind partners to CRISPRcon and do not receive funding from CRISPRcon nor CRISPRcon sponsors for their work in this event.

EVENT SPONSORS

SESSION SPONSORS

                                                  

CRISPRcon 2020 Virtual programming is supported by Corteva Agriscience and United Soybean Board. Additional support for the October 1 session comes from Illinois Soybean Association. Additional support for the September 29 and October 14 sessions comes from Bayer. CRISPRcon is managed by Keystone Policy Center under a statement of independence and welcomes sponsorship from organizations, businesses, foundations, universities, NGOs, and others interested in supporting the CRISPRcon mission to create a unique forum of diverse perspectives on gene editing across a variety of applications. Learn more at https://crisprcon.org/about/.

To view sponsors for our past events click here for CRISPRcon 2017, CRISPRcon 2018, CRISPRcon 2019 and CRISPRcon Midwest. If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact: contact@crisprcon.org

PRESS

For press inquiries concerning CRISPRcon, media access, and other questions, please contact:

press@crisprcon.org

CRISPRcon is a program of the Keystone Policy Center. Keystone is a nationally recognized nonprofit working to bring diverse perspectives to bear in helping leaders, stakeholders, and communities reach common higher ground on society’s most challenging issues. Keystone manages overall development of CRISPRcon programming, planning, and fundraising. Keystone operates under a statement of independence to serve all of its project participants and does not take a position of advocacy on any specific or general use of CRISPR and other gene-editing technologies.

For more information about CRISPRcon, contact us below:

CONTACT