Claudia Lee Velvet Therapeutics

Dr. Claudia Lee is the VP of R&D at Velvet Therapeutics, an in vivo CAR company with a non-viral vector platform deliverying DNA to multiple immune cell types. Claudia has a PhD from the University of California, Irvine in Biomedical Engineering, a postdoctral professional masters in Bioscience Management from Keck Graduate Institute and over a decade of experience in advanced therapeutics medicinal products inlcuding cell and gene therapy. She was previously the discovery director at the Gene Therapy Program at the University of Pennsylvania, responsible for evaluating the novel AAVs, mRNA/LNPs, and gene editing platforms, matching the vectors with therapeutic payload to address orphan disease. During the pandemic, she worked on the storage and the stability of COVID-19 vaccines. Post pandemic, she directed the Moderna collaboration with Carisma Therapeutics and demonstrated the proof of concept of in vivo CAR delivery against solid tumors.