Christian Matranga, PhD
Director, Protein Replacement, Orbital Therapeutics
Former RTI Lab: Doctoral Candidate, Zamore Lab
Training Period: 2002 - 2007
Funding: America Heart Association pre-doctoral fellow
Prior Academic Degree Institution: UMass Amherst
Chris received his B.S. in microbiology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He worked as a research associate at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute before obtaining his Ph.D. After graduate school, he was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University.
After his postdoc, Chris was a research scientist in the Infectious Disease Program of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, working in partnership with the Sabeti Lab. The main focus of Chris’ work at the Broad was viral genomics; he developed methods currently used for next-generation sequencing of RNA viruses including Lassa and Ebola, work that was of particular importance during the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
Chris now applies his background of RNA-based research, discovery, and technology toward the goal of developing new RNA-based therapies. Currently, he leads a team in the development of novel therapeutic programs using a low-cost RNA synthesis platform.