President & Chair of the IGI Governance Board

Full Jennifer Doudna biography >

Jennifer Doudna is a Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology and Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Doudna lab pursues a mechanistic understanding of fundamental biological processes involving RNA molecules.

Executive Director

Brad Ringeisen is a physical chemist with a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a pioneer in the field of live cell printing, and an experienced administrator of scientific research and product development.

Deputy Director

Mike Botchan is the Dean of Biological Sciences and a Professor of Molecular & Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. The Botchan lab studies the mechanisms and regulation of DNA replication and gene expression in eukaryotes.

Deputy Director

Bruce Conklin is a Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institute and a Professor of the Departments of Medicine, Ophthalmology, and Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco. The Conklin lab is developing genome surgery methods to treat severe mono-allelic genetic diseases of the retina, motor neurons, and cardiomyocytes.

Director, Microbiology

Jill Banfield is a Professor of Earth and Planetary Science and Environmental Science, Policy, & Management at the University of California, Berkeley with an appointment in Earth and Environmental Sciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. The Banfield lab studies the inter-organismal and environmental interactions of natural microbial communities using cultivation-independent approaches such as metagenomics and community proteomics.

Director, IGI Clinical Laboratory

Petros Giannikopoulos is the Laboratory Director of the IGI Clinical Laboratory, a CLIA-certified laboratory that is accredited by the College of American Pathologists to perform high-complexity molecular testing. His research focuses on the development and deployment of laboratory-developed companion diagnostics for novel CRISPR-based genomic therapies.

Director, Public Impact

Melinda Kliegman holds a Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University. Before joining the IGI, she worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she was a Fellow in Global Policy and Advocacy, advising on the use of genome editing in agriculture and human health. In an earlier role at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Melinda served as a Science Advisor to the Foreign Agricultural Service, where she helped design and fund international trade programs and worked with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on international policy around plant biotechnology.

Director, Human Health

Alex Marson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco. The Marson lab uses genome editing to study how different DNA sequences control human T cell function, and applies this knowledge to develop next-generation therapies for cancer as well as infectious and immunological diseases.

Director, Sustainable Agriculture

Brian Staskawicz is the Maxine J. Elliot Professor of Plant & Microbial Biology at The University of California, Berkeley. The Staskawicz lab studies the molecular basis of plant-pathogen interactions and applies their discoveries to engineer resistance in crop species.

Director, Technology & Translation

Fyodor Urnov is a Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley and the Director of the Center for Translational Genomics at the IGI. His research focuses on advancing genome editing technology and pushing the boundaries of how it can be applied to solve real-world problems.

Director, Therapeutic Delivery

Ross Wilson is an Assistant Adjunct Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is working to enable widespread clinical use of genome editing, which is currently limited by the difficulty in delivering therapeutic enzymes to the cells in need of correction. To address this need, the Wilson lab is engineering CRISPR enzymes to create effective methods of administration that will facilitate targeted delivery to specific cells, tissues, or organs.