Luk H. Vandenberghe, PhD is on leave from his position as the Grousbeck Family Professor in Gene Therapy at Mass Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School to lead a spinoff venture from his laboratory. He directed a center aimed at broadening opportunities for patients to benefit from genetic medicine and co-directs the Mass Eye and Ear Ocular Genomics Institute. He is further affiliated with the Broad Institute at Harvard and MIT, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute,  and various graduate programs at Harvard.  Dr. Vandenberghe’s research is focussed on basic, translational and clinical gene transfer. His group studies fundamental mechanisms of how somatic gene transfer can be achieved safely and efficiently, they study how these understandings can be leveraged to improve or build technologies that overcome the current limitations of genetic medicine in the clinic, and importantly, in a multidisciplinary team approach he seeks to bring translational programs to patients.  While much of his work focuses on the adeno-associated viral vector (AAV), the lab’s interest is on all aspects that further genetic medicine. Previously, Dr. Vandenberghe’s team elucidated entry mechanisms for AAV, discovered and developed novel AAV technologies, some of which are at various stages of clinical development, and progressed translational programs for retinal, cochlear, liver, and infectious diseases. His group leads the development of AAVCOVID, a gene-based single dose COVID-19 vaccine with potential benefits from a global health perspective. Dr. Vandenberghe is the founder of multiple biotech companies and holds several patents used in clinical and product stage gene therapy programs in the industry. He founded and serves on the board of Odylia, a non-profit catalyst for ultra-rare gene therapy development. He further serves on the board of Addgene, a non-profit with a mission to democratize science.