2seventy bio R&D Deep Dive

Nick Leschly is chief kairos* officer at 2seventy bio. Previously, Nick served as chief bluebird at bluebird bio for 11 years. Prior to bluebird, he was a partner and founding member of Third Rock Ventures in 2007. Nick played an integral role in the overall formation, development, and business strategy of several of Third Rock’s portfolio companies, including Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Edimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to joining Third Rock, he worked at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, leading several early-stage drug development programs and served as the product leader for Velcade. Nick also founded and served as chief executive officer of MedXtend Corporation. He received his B.S. in molecular biology from Princeton University and his M.B.A. from Wharton Business School. He currently serves as a board member of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and Synlogic Therapeutics. *Kairos is an Ancient Greek word meaning the right, critical, or opportune moment

Chip Baird is chief financial officer at 2seventy bio. Previously, Chip served as CFO at bluebird bio for over two years. Chip has over 20 years of financial and strategic planning experience in the biopharmaceutical sector. Prior to bluebird, he served as CFO of Amicus Therapeutics for seven years and spent 10 years as CFO of PTC Therapeutics with responsibility for all areas of finance, investor and public relations, human resources, facilities, and project management. Chip also worked in the life science practice at L.E.K. Consulting, a strategy consulting firm, and began his career at First Union National Bank in corporate debt underwriting. Chip currently serves as a Director of Axcella Health. Chip received a B.S. from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and an M.B.A. in finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Philip Gregory, D.Phil., is chief scientific officer at 2seventy bio. Previously, Philip served as chief scientific officer at bluebird bio for over six years. Philip was formerly with Sangamo BioSciences, where he held multiple leadership positions over a nearly 15-year tenure, most recently serving as chief scientific officer and senior vice president, research. In this role, he was responsible for the scientific direction and strategic research planning for the company. Philip played an integral role in Sangamo’s partnerships and drove early discovery and development for several IND candidates in multiple therapeutic areas. Prior to joining Sangamo, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Philip holds a D.Phil in biochemistry from Oxford University, Keble College and a B.Sc. in microbiology from Sheffield University.

Steven Bernstein, M.D., has more than 25 years of experience as a treating physician, translational scientist, and pharmaceutical executive. Prior to joining 2seventy, Dr. Bernstein served as Chief Translational Officer at Turnstone Biologics. Before that, he served as Chair, Immuno-Oncology Translational Research and Development, and Head, Integrated Science, at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). Prior to BMS, he was an academic physician scientist most recently at the University of Rochester’s James P. Wilmot Cancer Institute, where he was Professor of Medicine, Co-Director of the Hematological Malignancy and Lymphoma Biology Programs and Co-Principal Investigator of the University of Rochester/Arizona Cancer Center NCI SPORE grant in lymphoma. Dr. Bernstein was a member of the Lymphoma Working Group of SWOG, and the Scientific Advisory Boards of both the Lymphoma Research Foundation and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He has a B.A. from Brandeis University and a M.D. from New York University School of Medicine.

Steven Shamah, Ph.D., is Head of oncology research at 2seventy bio. Previously, Steve led the oncology research team at bluebird bio. Steve has over 19 years of experience driving innovative science in biotech settings including X-Body, a human antibody discovery company Formerly, he was at Obsidian Therapeutics working with innovative CAR T cell-based products. Steve built the research team at Obsidian and led the company’s ongoing and successful partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb. Steve earned his Ph.D. in biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology from the Harvard Medical School.

Mike Certo, Ph.D. is Head of Genome Editing at 2seventy bio where he recently was the research lead for the bbT369 program. Previously he was the Head of Genome Editing at bluebird bio where he was responsible for optimizing the Company’s megaTALTM gene editing platform and implementing into several therapeutic research programs across the company. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Washington where he trained in Andrew Scharenberg’s lab developing methods to bias DNA repair downstream of site-specific endonucleases to increase the efficiency and specificity of gene editing. Following graduate school, he did post-doctoral research in the labs of Mike Jensen at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Pamela Silver at Harvard Medical School working on various aspects of T-cell immunotherapies and synthetic biology.