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Chief Scientific Officer, Vor Biopharma

Chakraborty’s career was built on challenging the status quo and continuously pushing the boundaries in cell and gene therapy research. He began his career as an RNA biologist and an immunologist, and quickly became a pioneer in the CRISPR industry after paving the way for the first clinical trial in this space. He held multiple leadership roles at CRISPR Therapeutics, where he led the first gene-edited hematopoietic stem cell product from discovery and technology platform build to regulatory approval for beta-thalassemia and sickle cell disease, which led to his appointment as Head of Research.

Chakraborty was appointed as Vor Bio’s Chief Scientific Officer after leading efforts to expand the company’s technology platform and advance its science towards the clinic. Over the past two years, he has led a team of scientists advancing Vor Bio’s first product candidate into the clinic, for which the company recently announced initial clinical data providing proof-of-concept for its platform to potentially enable next-generation transplants for patients with blood cancers.

We asked…

What are the biggest challenges affecting the field?

The issue is ugly science, frequently practiced by our industry. This industry has become so much about the bottom line that we do not appreciate the culture of doing it right. The reward is for getting to the finish line. Most of the bottom line focus is understandable when it comes from the investor community, but the R&D leadership and the management of biotech companies must hold their own, and message their concerns and visions appropriately to the broader community.