Morgan Maeder

Senior Director of Payload Sciences, Chroma Medicine

Dr. Morgan Maeder has over a 15 years of experience in the field of Gene Editing.  She obtained her PhD from Harvard University in the lab of J. Keith Joung where she worked with zinc finger nucleases, TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9.  During her graduate work she focused on the development of tools for targeted epigenomic modifications, such as gene activation and repression, and DNA demethylation.  In 2013, she joined Editas Medicine as the first Scientist.  At Editas, she led the development of EDIT-101, a CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing approach to target the CEP290 gene for treatment of Leber Congenital Amaurosis type 10. EDIT-101 became the first in vivo use of a CRISPR genome editing medicine with the dosing of the first patient in the BRILLIANCE clinical trial in March of 2020. After leaving Editas, Morgan spent 2 years as a consultant to Third Rock Ventures helping to launch Faze Medicines, a biotech company pioneering therapeutics based on the science of biomolecular condensates and their formation through the process of liquid liquid phase separation. After this brief stint in the world of small molecule drug development, Morgan returned to gene therapy in the summer of 2020 when she joined Chroma Medicine, where she currently works as a Senior Director of Payload Sciences. At Chroma, Morgan works to develop programmable epigenetic editors to specifically modulate gene expression and provide novel, durable treatment options to patients suffering from a wide range of genetically treatable diseases.