The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) is pleased to announce the election of its new Executive Committee members for the 2020-2021 term. Additionally, eight new board directors and four new section governing board chairs and vice chairs were elected. BIO’s Board elections took place Monday, June 8 and Tuesday, June 9, 2020 during BIO Digital, a virtual convention hosted by BIO that ran June 8-12, 2020. BIO’s Executive Committee members for the 2020-2021 term are: Jeremy Levin, Ovid Therapeutics – Board Chair/Health Section Chair  Julie Gerberding, Merck – Board Secretary Brad Zakes, Ceravast Medical – Board Treasurer Paul Hastings, Nkarta Therapeutics – Health Section Vice Chair Jill Zullo, Cargill – Industrial & Environmental Section Chair Jennifer Holmgren, LanzaTech – I&E Section Vice Chair Ted Love, Global Blood Therapeutics – Emerging Companies Section Chair John Crowley, Amicus Therapeutics – ECS Vice Chair Sylvia Wulf, AquaBounty Technologies – Food & Agriculture Section Chair Brian Brazeau, Novozymes – F&A Section Vice Chair John Maraganore, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals – Immediate Past Chair Rachel King, GlycoMimetics – Past Chair Stuart Arbuckle, Vertex Pharmaceuticals – At-Large Ron Cohen, Acorda Therapeutics – At-Large Douglas Doerfler, MaxCyte – At-Large Alexander Hardy, Genentech – At-Large Richard Pops, Alkermes – At-Large Christi Shaw, Kite Pharma – At-Large Bill Sibold, Genzyme Corporation, A Sanofi Company – At-Large Helen Torley, Halozyme Therapeutics – At-Large “On behalf of BIO, I want to personally extend my heartfelt welcome to our incoming board directors and section chairs and vice chairs,” said Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, President & CEO of BIO. “These leaders work on the cutting edge of biotechnology innovation each day, and I look forward to getting to know them, to learn from them, and to work with them.  Together we will drive BIO’s mission to foster collaboration and…

Washington, D.C. (June 11, 2020) – Dr. Clint Nesbitt, Senior Director of Science and Regulatory Affairs for Food & Agriculture at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), was named today to a Task Force on Gene Editing in Animal Agriculture. The Task Force is being led by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). “We applaud the APLU and the AAVMC for launching this initiative that brings academic experts to the table,” said Dana O’Brien, BIO's Executive Vice President for Food & Agriculture. “We’re honored that Clint will be representing BIO among this impressive slate of individuals, some of the foremost animal science leaders in the world.” The 11-person panel is comprised of scientists and industry leaders who will develop recommendations for regulating the use of gene editing in animal agriculture with appropriate safeguards and procedures. “Animal biotechnology has enormous potential to address animal health and welfare, and numerous agricultural, environmental, humanitarian, and public health challenges, including helping to prevent and respond to zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19,” said Nesbitt. “New biotech methods like gene editing can make animals resistant to disease and enhance animal well-being. But an optimal regulatory system for animal biotechnology needs to address safety and oversight while paving the way for innovation to flourish,” Nesbitt added. In a letter sent last week to Congressional leaders, BIO joined with 27 members of the Council of State Bioscience Associations calling for legislative action to streamline the regulatory oversight of animal biotechnology. According to the APLU and the AAVMC, the task force was born out of a September 2019 symposium, “Gene Editing in Livestock: Looking to the Future,” which the two associations organized. During that event, 23 of the nation’s leading experts from academia, government,…