Winston Yan

Co-Founder, Arbor Biotechnologies

Boston

Winston is a biotechnologist discovering and developing applications for novel molecular technologies. Prior to co-founding Arbor, Winston worked in the laboratory of Feng Zhang at MIT and the Broad Institute, where he focused on addressing challenges that limit the in vivo therapeutic applications of CRISPR-Cas nucleases. This included developing smaller orthologs of Cas9 for better packaging into the most therapeutically promising viral vectors for gene therapy, building assays that enhance off-target detection to evaluate the genomic safety of CRISPR-Cas enzymes, and additionally searching for new enzyme systems to power genome engineering capabilities beyond nucleases. Winston graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Physics from Harvard College, and PhD in Biophysics from Harvard University as a part of the Harvard-MIT MD/PhD program. Recognition for his research and entrepreneurship has included the Sir Peter Mansfield Research Fellowship, Herchel Smith Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Olken Brothers’ Award for Entrepreneurial Spirit, Harvard I3 Innovation Challenge Winner, Micron Science & Technology Scholarship Top Awardee, and the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship.