Wilmington, DE, March 26, 2019

Biotechnology expert Byung-Chun Yoo, Ph.D., has been appointed associate director of Christiana Care Health System’s Gene Editing Institute of the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute. Dr. Yoo brings more than 18 years of experience leading projects in genome editing, advanced molecular biology and biochemistry to this position.

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Dr. Yoo will oversee translational research activities centered on the use of gene editing for the treatment of various cancers and inherited diseases. He will also be responsible for developing new collaborative business opportunities. Dr. Yoo joins an 18-person team of research scientists, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows at the Gene Editing Institute under the direction of Eric B. Kmiec, Ph.D.

Dr. Yoo comes to Christiana Care from Napigen Inc., a Delaware based genome editing biotech startup, where he served as director of enabling technology, developing CRISPR/CAS9-driven genome engineering technologies and conducting business analytics and strategic planning.

Prior to that, he was a principal investigator in the Genetic Discovery Group at DuPont Pioneer in Wilmington, Delaware, where he led biochemical and molecular discovery projects as well as early-stage genome editing technology development. He received the inaugural DuPont Knowledge Center Gala Award for Best Productivity Effort of the Year in 2015.

“We are excited to welcome Dr. Yoo to the leadership team of The Gene Editing Institute,” said Nicholas J. Petrelli, M.D., Bank of America endowed medical director of the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute at Christiana Care. “His biotech and business analytics experience are an important addition to the extraordinary team of scientists at the Gene Editing Institute who partner with our clinicians to bring personalized, genetic medicine to our patients.”

 “With Dr. Yoo on our team, we look forward to expanding our translational research and genetic engineering programs and to building new public and private partnerships that will accelerate the drive to more personalized cancer care, translating basic science to patient treatment at an entirely new level,” said Dr. Kmiec.

Dr. Yoo is a graduate of Korea University in Seoul, Korea, with an MS in biology and a Ph.D. in plant molecular and cellular biology from the University of Florida. Following post-doctoral work, he remained at the University of California, Davis, as a project leader, developing insect biocontrol technology with RNAi machinery.

Throughout his career, Dr. Yoo has managed international projects, coordinating multidisciplinary teams of molecular biologists, bioinformaticians and geneticists with forward-thinking approaches. He holds several patents in genetics and gene editing technology and has authored multiple peer-reviewed scientific publications. Dr. Yoo is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Delaware in Newark.

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About the Gene Editing Institute
The Gene Editing Institute is the only research institute of its kind in the nation based within a community health care system. Led by gene editing pioneer, Eric Kmiec, Ph.D., and based in Christiana Care Health System’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute, the Gene Editing Institute is a worldwide leader in gene editing biomedical research in cancer and other inherited diseases, and the only one working in the same space with oncologists, genetic counselors and patients, bringing translational research from basic science to patient treatment to a new level. You can find the Gene Editing Institute on Twitter and Facebook.

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